Add a pop of warm flavor to your morning coffee cake. This Chai Spice Coffee Cake is topped with a pecan streusel flavored with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and black pepper.
You don’t have to like coffee to love coffee cake.
As a kid I thought I had to be a coffee drinker before I could enjoy such baked goods. I could barely stomach coffee during high school.
My affinity for coffee and espresso grew during my undergrad years, more specifically during all-nighers and cram sessions before midterms and finals.
Prior to such times, chai latte was my morning drink of choice.
Chai Spiced Coffee Cake with Streusel
Chai is still pretty high up on my list of favorites. Although now that I have been introduced to Dirty Chai (Chai with a shot of espresso), it may take number one again.
I just love the mixture of spices and the intoxicating aroma of freshly brewed chai tea. The cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, they all come together to tickle and excite my senses.
Why not put those spices into a coffee cake? Genius. I can have my cake and drink it, too.
Regardless of its name, coffee cake does not necessarily have coffee in it (or needs to be eaten with coffee).
Coffee cakes refer to a simple cake with some sort of streusel topping. It is an informal cake served to guests over for coffee or tea. Coffee cake can also be served for breakfast or as an afternoon snack.
It is a simple, no frills, yet super delicious moist cake.
Fan of chai flavors? Here’s another recipe you might like. This Chai Layer Cake features three layers of chai infused cake frosted with vanilla bean Swiss buttercream.
Chai Spice Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel:
- 3 Tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup lightly toasted pecans, chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp
Cake:
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3 large eggs, room temp
- 2 teaspoon vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
Streusel:
- In a bowl, whisk together brown sugar, sugar, pecans, spices and flour. Cut in butter using a fork or pastry blender until mixture is crumbly and like coarse sand in texture.
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour 9" or 10" two piece tube cake pan or angel food cake pan. Set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cardamon.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Scrape bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla paste.
- Add sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add flour mixture in two additions. Mix until combined.
- Transfer half of batter to prepared bundt pan. Add half of streusel pan and swirl into batter using a knife or fork. Pour in remaining batter to pan and sprinkle remaining streusel on top. Gently press streusel into batter to ensure that it sticks.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes top of cake is rich golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a couple minutes before unmolding. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before serving. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
- Coffee cake can also be baked in a 3-inch deep (or deeper) 9-inch round cake pan.
That looks like a wonderful smelling loaf of cake, I love all the spices added to it! yum!
It smells amazing out the oven!
Thank you for posting this. Just what I was looking for! My family and I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for trying out the recipe! I am so glad you and your family liked it!! :)
I just made this cake in a fluted style bundt pan not thinking about the fact (until it was in the pan) that the streusel topping would end up on the bottom of the cake since it’s inverted when removed from pan! Would you recommend maybe using a glaze on the cake ‘top’ which now doesn’t have the streusel showing??
Dont’t worry about it! I would just dust the top with powdered sugar.
Just baked this in an 8 in round cake pan it worked out great. Super moist and tasty, not too sweet and not too much of a strong spice flavor. It’s perfectly subtly spiced and well rounded overall (note: the spices I used aren’t the freshest). The streusel part was also really very good. Thank you!
Thanks for trying out the recipe! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! Can I bake this in a cupcake/muffin pan? Would you know the baking time for that? Thank you!