Made with simple ingredients, this Best Ever Coffee Cake is a traditional yellow cake with a classic cinnamon & brown sugar swirl and topping.
The recipe is the best and easiest way to make a sweet breakfast treat. It is one of our favorite family recipes you’ll want to make again and again.
A tender, soft coffee cake does not need to be challenging to make friends. Use a yellow cake mix and add a homemade topping; no one will ever guess you didn’t make it from scratch. Trust me – everyone will want a second slice of this breakfast treat.
My Favorite Kitchen Tools To Make This Recipe
From trusty pots and pans to handy gadgets, I’ve curated a list of products I use and love.
Recipe Inspiration
I call this recipe “Shelia’s Breakfast Cake” because my mom’s dear friend Shelia always made it for us and gave my mom the recipe. Growing up, I had the best childhood; many memories were of my parent’s most beloved friends: the Augustines, Vilhauer, and Gotschall. We were all like family.
Shelia Augustine was a gem, and on top of that, she made the best sweet treats EVER! Every camping trip was adorned with her goodies, half of why I loved going.
This is her most coveted recipe. Judging from the taste of it, one would have assumed she worked on it for hours, slaving away in the kitchen till the wee hours of the night making this delicious treat. Oh, were we wrong! Shelia gave the recipe to my mom, and we were shocked to find out how simple and easy it was.
What is coffee cake?
Coffee cake is a sweet, dense cake with a cinnamon sugar crumb topping. There are many variations, and this recipe is made easy with a cake mix.
While it’s usually served with coffee or tea for breakfast, I love it as a snack cake.
Ingredients
- Yellow cake mix – I like Duncan Hines
- Eggs
- Canola or vegetable oil
- Water
- Instant vanilla pudding mix
- Vanilla
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
Without fail, anytime I give this recipe to a friend or neighbor, they always, and yes, I mean always, say, “This is the best” or “I never knew it was this good.”
What to serve with coffee cake
How to make this recipe
Preheat oven to 350; grease a 9×13 metal pan.
Mix all the ingredients for the cake in a mixer for 7 minutes. Meanwhile, mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
Once the cake is made and mixed for 7 minutes, pour half the batter into the greased 9×13 metal pan. Sprinkle ½ of the brown sugar mix over the cake in the pan. Pour the remaining batter on and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Place in oven and bake for 25-35 minutes. Or until the cake is set and pulled away from the edges. Let it cool completely so it doesn’t crumble when you cut and serve.
This recipe will be known to the masses thanks to Shelia and her willingness always to share her unique recipes. Shelia is no longer with us today. Her love and laughter will never be forgotten, and her recipes will be passed on for generations. Love & miss you, Shelia.
More Coffee Cake Recipes
Pin to Pinterest.
Shelia’s Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 1 yellow cake mix I like Duncan Hines Just use the mix, don’t not follow the directions on the back!
- 4 eggs
- ¾ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup instant vanilla pudding (just the dry mix, not prepared)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon Swirl & Topping Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350; grease 9×13 metal pan.
- Mix all the ingredients for the cake in a mixer for 7 minutes (this is key to make the pudding set). I love to use my Kitchen Aid mixer for this!
- Meanwhile, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
- Once the cake is done mixing for 7 minutes, pour half of the batter in the greased 9×13 metal pan. Sprinkle ½ of the brown sugar mix over the cake in the pan.
- Pour the remaining batter on and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
- Place in oven and bake 25-35 minutes. Or until the cake is set and is pulling away from the edges. Let it completely cool so it does crumble when you cut and serve it.
This coffee cake looks so amazing and delicious, I will definitely gonna try it . One thing I want to ask is , coffee is hot in nature is it good for cake like stuff??? BTW thanks for sharing this content
This coffee cake looks so amazing and delicious, I will definitely gonna try it .
This cake is looking so delicious and i will definitely gonna try it .Thanks for sharing this recipe in this article.
will definitely gonna try it .Thanks for sharing this recipe in this article.
Never tried this coffee cake one, this one looks so delicious . Will definitely gonna try it. Thanks for sharing recipe and ingredients
Never tried this coffee cake one, this one looks so delicious . Will definitely gonna try it.
For first time gonna this Coffee cake, never tried this before, super excited !!! Thanks for sharing recipe and intructions
This Best Ever Coffee Cake seems so delicious and amazing , love this coffee cake and amazing one . My little one gonna love this recipe.
Seems delicious , will love to try this one . Thanks for sharing this Coffee Cake recipe with us. Just waiting for week end to make this delicious recipe .
Love this Best Ever Coffee Cake, this one seem super delicious , will love to try this delicious coffee cake . I love dark cake btw !!!, thanks for sharing this recipe .
Love this Best Ever Coffee Cake, this cake seems super delicious and amazing . Super excited to try this delicious cake, hope my kids gonna love this .
you will love it!
Love this Best Ever Coffee Cake, this one seems super delicious and amazing . Super excited to try this one, thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
This Coffee Cake seems amazing and unique . Super excited to try this one, thanks for sharing this one with us.
Of course! Hope you enjoy it xo
Love this delicious Coffee Cake ,this coffee cake seems delicious and amazing . Super excited to try this amazing one, thanks for sharing with us.
Super excited to try this delicious Coffee Cake , can’t wait to try this one . Thanks for sharing this one with us.
This moist and buttery Coffee Cake is topped with cinnamon filling, vanilla cheesecake, and a sweet streusel topping.
Can you use a glass 9×13? And what about white cake mix rather then yellow
Yes, I would use a yellow or butter cake mix, but a white one would also work, just a little bit different in flavors. Yes, glass works just as great!
OMG! Just made this (used white cake mix because that’s what I had)and it tastes awesome!! I could eat the whole cake!!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
You are so welcome!
This has been my go-to coffee cake recipe for years! Thanks so much for sharing it! 🙂
This makes me so happy! Happy Holidays!
Made 9 of these in a bundt pan for neighbors for Christmas and they all said it was the best coffee cake they ever had!
Even greasing bundt pan, some didn’t come out clean so I poured the dough and cinnamon crumbs in two loaf pans and it worked great.
Thank you!
This makes me so happy! I am glad you enjoy it as much as we do!
Hi Sandra,
If I want to use a Bundt pan instead, how do I adjust the recipe, timing etc.
Thanks
I would check at 25-30 minutes, but your cake should be done about 40-45 minutes.
Could you use this to make muffins? Do you suppose the. Asking time would be similar?? Love this recipe!
So my sister does this and has success, she just adjusts the baking time.
I love this recipe! Can I make this the night before and bake it in the morning?
I would just make and bake the night before, I sometimes makes a couple days before.
Being snowed in for several days now, I thought it was time to get creative with what I had on hand. With that in mind, I found your recipe since I had a Butter Golden cake mix. I only had chocolate pudding, so that changed the flavor profile a bit. However, this was still so delicious! My husband is already saying he can’t wait to take some of it to work.