Cranberry coffee cake is perfect to serve for breakfast on a winter morning. The sweetness of vanilla and cinnamon come together with cranberries and pecans to make a winning treat that will start everyone’s day off on the right note.
What Goes Into Cranberry Coffee Cake with Sour Cream?
Believe it or not, this cranberry coffee cake takes only 4 simple steps to achieve. You can either get up early and enjoy the quiet as houseguests and children sleep, or you can make it the night before and simply slice it up.
What makes this cranberry coffee cake stand out is the addition of sour cream. It adds a distinctive richness and tang that complements the tart cranberries. You simply combine the dry ingredients, make the base, beat the moist ingredients together, pour it in and bake.
The result is a heavenly cake with a moist texture and incredible flavors that will have every slice vanishing in an instant!
Common Questions
Like any other coffee cake, it doesn’t contain any coffee in it. Coffee cakes get their name because of the tradition of enjoying them with coffee. They’re often served for breakfast, but they can be served in the afternoon or even as a dessert after dinner if you choose.
You can use Greek yogurt which tastes similar to sour cream but has a healthier profile. It will work the same way in the recipe too by keeping it moist and balancing out the flavor.
That’s entirely up to you! If you have any leftover cranberry sauce from your holiday feast, you can certainly use it in this recipe. Frozen will work too, but we recommend fresh cranberries.
Chopnotch Tips
- Choose a sour cream that is full-fat to keep from compromising the texture. You can sub in Greek yogurt too as long as it isn’t reduced fat to get the same feeling without compromising texture or taste.
- Be sure you let your cranberry coffee cake cool first before removing it from the pan.
- Ease your cranberry coffee cake out of the pan before you flip it by using a butter knife around the edges.
- Don’t forget to serve it with your favorite coffee morning, noon, or night!
Make a sweet start or finish to your day!
Cranberry Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For base:
- 1 ¼ cups cranberries
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup butter
For batter:
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a pie pan with foil. Mix last 5 ingredients of batter in a bowl and set aside.
- Add butter and brown sugar for the base to a pan and place over low heat. Stir until melted and combined. Bring to a boil and pour the mixture into the pie pan. Top with pecans and cranberries.
- Beat butter for batter and sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add one egg at a time and beat well to combine. Add vanilla, flour mixture and sour cream, beat well to combine. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 60 minutes.
- Let cool and then flip the cake onto the plate. Remove foil and enjoy!
This coffee cake is the bomb! I love the combination of the tart cranberries in this. Such a perfect holiday breakfast treat!
I love a good coffee cake, but I have never thought of adding cranberries to one! I am definitely giving this a go, thank you so much for the recipe! 🙂
You’re welcome! Hope you love it!
I love any kind of coffee dessert and the addition of cranberries in this is delicious.
The topping on that cake looks just divine. I want a slice with hot custard for breakfast. I kid you not!
Thanks, Jacqueline!
I love this type of cake where the topping is baked at the bottom. Fab flavours!
Sour cream makes any cake so much better! Love the cranberries on top for some fruity bursts!
So true!
This was so flavorful and easy to make. Everyone loved it!
Awesome! Glad to hear it was a hit!
This looks so delicious and yummy! I can’t wait to give this a try! My hubby is going to love this!
This cake is so soft and moist and what a delicious cake for the season. All the warm winter goodness in one delicious cake!
What a tasty looking cake! It looks so moist and flavorful and just want to dive right in.