Pecan Praline Coffee Cake

Realizing the house had absolutely nothing for breakfast, with baking an entire cake somehow feeling easier than a grocery run, is exactly what led to this pecan praline coffee cake at six on a Tuesday morning. Calling something coffee cake counts as a fully legitimate way to eat dessert before noon, and this recipe leans into that logic completely.

A previous attempt at a healthy oatmeal bake once left the kids looking betrayed, which made redemption with a tub of sour cream and an outrageous amount of butter feel entirely necessary. Here is exactly how I do it.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Breakfast loophole. This is literally cake disguised as a morning meal, which means winning parenting for the day.
• Sour cream magic. Sour cream keeps the crumb incredibly tender, masking a few extra minutes left in the oven.
• Outrageous topping. The streusel tastes like a praline crumb cake exploded in the best way possible.
• Make-ahead friendly. Baking it the night before allows sleeping in while everyone else thinks dawn baking happened.

Tools You’ll Need

Nothing fancy, I promise.

• stand mixer You can use a hand mixer if you want an arm workout, but this makes creaming the butter and sugar foolproof.
• 9×9 baking dish. Glass or metal both work, as long as the pan gets greased well.
• Offset spatula. This spreads the thick batter without disturbing the streusel layer.

Ingredients

Pecan Streusel

• 3 tablespoons melted butter – Do not let it cool too much or your streusel will clump weirdly.
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar – Pack it in there.
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – The older the cinnamon in your pantry, the less flavor it has, so maybe check that expiration date.
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt – Essential to balance the sugar so it does not just taste like pure syrup.
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour – Helps bind the crumble together.
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans – If you leave them in huge chunks, slicing the cake later will be a complete nightmare.

Cake

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter – If you forgot to take it out of the fridge, do not microwave it to a puddle. Just wait.
• 1 cup granulated sugar – Standard white sugar here.
• 2 eggs – Cold eggs will curdle your batter, so let them sit out with the butter.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract – Yes, a whole tablespoon. Trust the process.
• 1 cup sour cream – Full fat is best. Baking with sour cream adds crucial moisture and acidity to the batter.
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt – Do not skip this.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder – Check that it is fresh so your cake actually rises.
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda – Reacts with the sour cream to make the cake tender.
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour – Spoon and level it, do not scoop it like you are digging for treasure.

Icing

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar – Sift it if it looks like a pile of rocks.
• 1 tablespoon milk – Add a tiny drop more if it is too thick, but go slow.

How To Make Pecan Praline Coffee Cake

Do not let the three separate components scare you; this pecan coffee cake recipe is mostly just dumping things in bowls and stirring.

1. Prep your pan: Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×9 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside. If you forget to grease the corners, you will be eating those pieces with a spoon out of the pan.
2. Make the streusel: Combine melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and pecans in a medium bowl. Stir until evenly combined. Set aside. Try your hardest not to eat half of this with a spoon before the cake is even baked.
3. Cream butter and sugar: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and the sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the eggs and continue mixing on medium for 2 more minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. If it looks a little curdled, that is completely fine, the flour will fix it.
4. Add wet ingredients: Add in the vanilla, sour cream, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix for 1 minute until combined. Do not panic if the batter looks thick, it is supposed to.
5. Add flour: Turn the mixer to low and add in the flour until just combined. Don’t over mix. Seriously, step away from the mixer the second you no longer see dry flour, or your southern pecan coffee cake will turn into a brick.
6. Layer the cake: Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture on top of the batter. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top of the streusel, spreading it out with a spatula or offset spatula. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top. The batter is thick, so just do your best—imperfection is the goal here.
7. Bake: Bake for 30-35 minutes. A toothpick should come out mostly clean, but a few crumbs sticking to it are totally fine.
8. Make the icing: Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until no lumps remain. Drizzle this on top of the cake while warm. If your icing is too watery, just pretend it is a thin glaze.

Make it yours

• Bourbon glaze version. You add a splash of bourbon to the icing for a boozy twist on this southern pecan coffee cake.
• Chocolate chip version. You fold mini chocolate chips into the batter for a dessert-leaning take on this pecan streusel coffee cake.

Perfect Pairings

This pecan streusel coffee cake suits two specific pairings particularly well.

• A cold glass of milk works well for anyone under twelve or just appreciating the classics.
• A lazy holiday morning brunch needs exactly this kind of bake where nobody puts on real pants.

Pecan Praline Coffee Cake

This pecan praline coffee cake proves that a tub of sour cream and a generous handful of pecans can turn into a genuinely impressive breakfast bake with almost no effort. This pecan coffee cake recipe layers a double pecan streusel around a tender, sour cream batter, delivering everything a proper praline crumb cake should taste like. Whether served at a lazy holiday brunch or dressed up as a southern pecan coffee cake with bourbon icing, this praline pecan crumb cake earns a permanent spot in the regular rotation.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 9 servings

Course: cake

Cuisine: Breakfast

Calories: 450

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 3 tablespoons butter melted
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup butter room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk

Equipment

• stand mixer
• 9×9 baking dish
• Offset spatula

Method

 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×9 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and pecans in a medium bowl. Stir until evenly combined. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter and the sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the eggs and continue mixing on medium for 2 more minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
4. Add in the vanilla, sour cream, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix for 1 minute until combined.
5. Turn the mixer to low and add int he flour until just combined. Don’t over mix.
6. Spread half of the batter in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture on top of the batter. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top of the streusel, spreading it out with a spatula or offset spatula. Sprinkle the remaining streusel on top.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
8. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk until no lumps remain. Drizzle this on top of the cake while warm.

Recipe Notes

Sour cream: I always use full-fat, since it gives the richest, most tender crumb in this batter.

Pecans: I chop mine finely, since large chunks make slicing the finished cake far more difficult.

Butter: I use melted for the streusel and room temperature for the batter, since each component needs a different texture.

Walnuts: I swap these in for pecans when that is what sits in the pantry, since both work equally well.

Vanilla extract: I use a full tablespoon in the batter, since it adds real depth of flavor to this cake.