This Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is truly the ultimate brunch dish! It’s loaded with fresh juicy strawberries in every bite and has a cream cheese/cheesecake like layer in the middle that is SO delightful. All you need is a hot cup of coffee!
Happy Friday, friends! Since Spring is officially in swing and Mother’s Day is just around the corner, I wanted to share this delightful new coffee cake recipe with you!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
It’s SO Spring forward. I absolutely love the sweet strawberries in each bite and best part is – they are FRESH strawberries – since they are in season right now in NC, each bite is incredibly sweet and delicious.
The cream cheese layer really adds a delightfulness to this recipe – it’s tangy but not overly so and helps add a depth of flavor to this recipe that doesn’t just make it one note sweetness.
One special thing I *really* love about this recipe is that when you bite into it, the coffee cake crumble topping isn’t: 1) so dry that you immediately need a beverage or 2) doesn’t make a huge powdered sugar crumbly mess on your cute brunch outfit.
Instead, it is chewy and the perfect texture to top this coffee cake.
This is truly the ultimate brunch dish to make for your mom or any lady you love for Mother’s day coming up….or maybe even a bridal or baby shower! I can imagine this served alongside hot coffee, mimosas….crispy bacon. Okay, I’m hungry.
Let’s get into what you need to make it!
Ingredients You Need:
Fresh Strawberries – I used fresh because as I mentioned above, they are in season. However, if you want to use frozen strawberries, be sure they are thawed ahead of time.
Salted Butter – I personally love using salted butter in all of my baking recipes for added flavor, but feel free to use unsalted if needed. You will melt butter for this recipe so it’s ultra easy!
All Purpose Flour – of course! You need this for both the coffee cake and the crumble topping.
Granulated Sugar + Brown Sugar + Powdered Sugar – alllll the sugar! Okay, the combo of the granulated inside the cake and the brown sugar in the crumble is delightful and you can’t have coffee cake without a little bit of powdered sugar on the top right?!
Eggs + Whole Milk + Vanilla Extract – these three act as the wet ingredients and they form together to bind everything and add flavor.
Baking Powder – to help the cake rise!
Cinnamon – to add a little bit of extra flavor to the cake!
Cream Cheese + Egg Yolk + Granulated Sugar – this will be used to make the cream cheese layer in the middle!
How to Make Coffee Cake in 9 Simple Steps:
- Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and grab the 8×8 baking pan. I used a glass one! Be sure and grease the pan well or line it with parchment paper. Set this aside for now. Quarter the strawberries and set those aside as well.
- In a large bowl, melt one stick of butter and let it cool for a few minutes. Add in the granulated sugar and using a whisk, whisk it for 20 seconds or so to really combine it. To this, add in the eggs, milk and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- To the bowl, add in the all purpose flour, baking powder and cinnamon and use a wooden spoon or silicon spatula to gently combine until there are no flour streaks present in the dough. Lastly, gently fold in the strawberries into the dough.
- In a small bowl, add the softened cream cheese along with the egg yolk and granulated sugar. Using a whisk and a lot of arm strength whisk it to combine until it’s creamy. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, melt one more stick of butter. To this, add in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and more all purpose flour. It will look a little weird….like this:
but trust me, go with it! - Add HALF of the coffee cake batter into the prepared 8×8 pan and spread it evenly. Next, add the cream cheese layer on top. Spread it evenly. Add the other half of the coffee cake batter on TOP of the cream cheese layer. Finally, add the crumble topping onto the top of the coffee cake batter, making sure it’s evenly dispersed.
- Bake this for 50-55 minutes or until the middle of cake can have a toothpick inserted and it comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for 10 minutes inside the pan and then remove it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
- Top with powdered sugar if desired and slice into pieces and serve! Enjoy!
Best Baking Tips:
Be sure to properly grease your 8×8 baking pan for this recipe! You want it to be able to come out of the pan easily – so either use a ton of butter (or baking spray) or if you want to be extra positive it won’t come out, I recommend using parchment paper to line your pan. It’s easier to clean up that way as well!
When you are spreading the layers in the coffee cake, be gentle with it and take your time to really make sure each layer is spread over the last. You don’t want to intertwine the layers *too* much…so it’s important to take your time here.
Speaking of spreading the layers, I recommend using a small silicone spatula if you have one available to help you spread the layers evenly.
Storing Leftovers:
Store leftover coffee cake in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container. When ready for leftovers, simply warm up the coffee cake in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and enjoy!
I hope you all love this coffee cake as much as I do….cheers to strawberry season!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few other brunch recipes you might like:
Brown Butter Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
This Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is truly the ultimate brunch dish! It’s loaded with fresh juicy strawberries in every bite and has a cream cheese/cheesecake like layer in the middle that is SO delightful. All you need is a hot cup of coffee!
Ingredients
Coffee Cake Ingredients
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) melted salted butter, cooled
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 and 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
Cream Cheese Layer
- 4 oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Coffee Cake Crumble Topping
- 1/2 cup melted salted butter (1 stick)
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- powdered sugar to top (optional)
Instructions
Prepping to Bake
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray or butter. You can also line it with parchment paper for easier clean up. Quarter the fresh strawberries and set those aside.
Making the Batter
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In a large bowl, melt one stick of butter. Let it cool for a few minutes. Next, add in the 3/4 cup granulated sugar and using a whisk, whisk vigorously for about 20 seconds until combined. Add in the eggs, milk and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
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To the bowl with the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients which includes the all purpose flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Stir to combine with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, making sure it’s fully mixed together.
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Lastly, gently fold in the quartered strawberries until combined.
Assembling the Coffee Cake
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Grab the prepared baking pan. Add HALF of batter to the bottom of the greased pan - making sure it's spread out evenly.
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In a medium size bowl, add the softened cream cheese, egg yolk and granulated sugar. Using a whisk, whisk vigorously to combine until creamy.
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Add the cream cheese layer to the pan, taking your time to spread it out carefully and evenly (it's okay if it doesn't fully cover the bottom layer).
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Add the other half of the coffee cake batter on top of the cream cheese layer, making sure you spread it evenly to mostly cover the cream cheese layer. (See photos in blog post above to see what this looks like.)
Making the Crumble Topping
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In a small bowl, melt another stick of butter and add in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and all purpose flour. Mix together until it comes together...it might look a little wet, but that's okay!
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Spread the brown sugar mixture over top of the batter evenly.
Baking the Cake
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Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes or so and then place it onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely!
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Once it's cooled, add powdered sugar on top if desired. Slice into pieces and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
I sliced this coffee cake into 9 slices so you will get around 9 servings from this cake...however, you can always slice the cake bigger or smaller for more or less servings.