Lemon Poppyseed Coffee Cake

If there’s a quintessential breakfast/brunch recipe, it’s the humble coffee cake.  A cake with a rich and tender crumb, topped with a buttery streusel and a sweet glaze.

Made to be served alongside a fabulous cup of coffee or glass of cold milk, it’s a great way to start off your day!

However, a great coffee cake is part breakfast/brunch, and part dessert, this recipe is perfect for any time of day.

This version combines the classic coffee cake with a lemon poppyseed muffin!

We like to make this coffee cake to have for special occasions, as it’s every bit as decadent as it is delicious!

What do I need to make this recipe?

• Granulated sugar – there’s granulated sugar in both the cake batter and the streusel.
• Lemon zest – lemon zest is where most of the bright lemon flavor comes from.
• Eggs – this recipe was tested with large eggs.
• Vegetable oil – this adds moisture and richness. It’s important to use a neutral oil, like vegetable oil.
• Sour cream – just like the oil, sour cream adds a wonderful richness and moisture to the cake, as well as a slight tang.
• Lemon juice – fresh lemon juice will yield the best flavor, but bottled will also work in this recipe.
• Lemon extract – this punches up the lemon flavor, and can be found in the baking aisle of your grocery store, or online.
• Flour – no fancy flour is needed here, just plain all-purpose.
• Baking powder – baking powder is what makes this cake rise and be light and fluffy, so don’t skip it.
• Salt – in baking recipes, salt accentuates the other flavors and adds a nice balance.
• Poppyseeds – can’t have lemon poppyseed without the poppyseeds!
• Brown sugar – this recipe was tested with light brown sugar.
• Butter – I prefer to use unsalted butter, but salted would also work well.

How to make lemon poppyseed coffee cake?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Combine dry ingredients. This is the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and lemon zest.
2. Add butter. For this recipe, the butter is melted, which makes this streusel even easier to make.
3. Crumble. Use a fork to mix the melted butter into the dry ingredients, and mix until crumbles form.

1. Mix sugar and lemon zest.
2. Beat in eggs. Do this until the sugar has mostly dissolved.
3. Mix in remaining wet ingredients. This is the sour cream, vegetable oil, lemon juice, and lemon extract.
4. Mix in dry ingredients. This is the flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. Mix until just combined. You’re looking for no flour streaks to remain.
6. Stir in poppyseeds. I prefer to do this with a rubber spatula rather than a hand mixer, so the batter doesn’t get over-mixed.
7. Transfer to baking pan. I prefer to line my baking pan with parchment paper.
8. Top with streusel and bake.

Variations of this recipe

• No lemon extract – if you don’t have this on hand, or would rather not buy some, you can make this recipe without it. You may want to double the amount of lemon zest though.
• Zucchini – this may sound odd, but it’s delicious! Try grating about 1 cup of fresh zucchini, pressing it between two paper towels to remove some moisture, then stir into the cake batter when you add the poppyseeds. I do this in my lemon poppyseed muffins with zucchini, and it’s delicious!
• Streusel layer – if you love streusel, double the streusel ingredients and add a layer in the middle of the cake. Add half the cake batter, top with half the streusel. Then repeat.
• More streusel – this recipe uses a moderate amount of streusel, but if you’re like me, you’ll want as much of that deliciousness that you can get!  Feel free to make extra and add more to the streusel layer on top.
• Larger pan – if you’re making this coffee cake for a crowd and would like more than 9 slices, my advice would be to use 2 separate 8×8 pans, rather than trying to fit it all into a 9×13 pan.  I’ve not tested using a 9×13 with a doubled recipe, and I wouldn’t want your pan to potentially overflow.

Making coffee cake ahead of time

Personally, I think this coffee cake, as with most baked goods, tastes best when made right before serving.  Even though it’s fine to make it a day ahead of time, I just prefer it fresh.

However, you can make your streusel up ahead of time, and measure your dry ingredients ahead of time, cutting down on your prep time.

Freezing

If you’re wondering if you can freeze coffee cake, the answer is yes!

To freeze, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and add to a freezer bag or container.  Freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw in the refrigerator.  You can even freeze individual slices, so when you want a little taste of decadence you don’t have to thaw out a whole cake. 

When freezing individual slices, I like to double wrap them in plastic wrap before adding to the freezer bag.  With a slice, the sides of the cake are exposed, so you want to take extra care that it doesn’t get dried out.

Storage

Leftovers should be covered tightly and stored at room temperature for 1-2 days, or refrigerated for up to 1 week. 

If storing in the refrigerator, be sure to make sure the cake is covered well, otherwise it could dry out.