Strawberries make me restless.
It’s a fact. Yes, a strange fact, but no less true.
See, in my part of the world, strawberries come along every year right around May. This is around the time when I’ve loooooong ago let slide any New Year’s resolutions I might have made for myself, when it’s possible that I’ve slacked a bit on my workout routine, and the goal of reading a chapter of a book a night before I fall asleep has somehow transferred into watching an old episode of House every night before I pass out.
Don’t even get me started on the mania that I try to pass off as my closet. It’s not pretty.
So…. strawberries come along at a time of year when I’ve cemented in some slightly lazy and ooooooh so comfortable habits for myself.
I don’t know how or why this works, but strawberries inspire me to shake my world up a bit, maybe introduce something new, maybe hop on one leg every morning just for the hell of it…. whatever. This is the time of year when I change things up a bit.
This year, strawberries have inspired me to do two things: learn Italian and combine fresh strawberries with one of my favorite cakes of all time…. streusel topped coffee cake.
Let’s do this.
Now seems like a good time to admit that you could put streusel topping on just about anything and I’d devour it with few regrets. Please don’t let that take away from how crazy awesome this strawberry coffee cake is. Moist sour cream coffee cake is mixed with cooked down fresh strawberries and topped with streusel topping. It’s both lovely ad humble, and just the perfect little cake to sit with in front of my computer as I work my way through Italian flash cards.
Strawberry Coffee Cake
inspired by Panache at Rose Hill
1 heaping cup sliced strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a few drops of almond extract (optional)
Topping:
3 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To make the topping:
Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly. Set aside.
To make the strawberry mixture:
Combine strawberries, 1/3 cup sugar, water and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly until the sauce is thickened and strawberries are soft and somewhat broken down. Set aside to cool.
Grease and flour a 10×10-inch baking dish, knocking out excess flour, and set aside.
To make the coffee cake:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract, and almond extract if you’re using it.
Sift dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter in 3 parts alternating with the sour cream in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat just until combined.
Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the cooled strawberry mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter onto the strawberries and spread evenly. Top with streusel topping and bake in the upper third of the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
JoAnna Witzig
Just made this cake today — so so delicious! Great way to use up strawberries in my fridge that weren’t so pretty but still tasted lovely. I put everything into a 9×13 pan, and although I had to spread the batter a bit thin, it rose up beautifully and filled the entire pan! Perfect for brunch. Thanks so much for this yummy recipe!
Sarah
Joy I am a big fan of your site!! Tried this recipe twice but I always screw up the layering :( i can’t seem to perfectly spoon it evenly on top especially. However it turned out perfect and got rave reviews on the taste!! Tried the 2nd batch with blueberries which is equally great but i should cut down the sugar a little.
Anne
Made it. Doubled the strawberry amount and used a 9 by 13 inch pan (all I had). It was FABULOUS! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Mercedes@Satisfy My Sweet Tooth
I was looking and looking for a cake to use up some raspberries, and I just new you would be a reliable source! This cake is in my oven (with raspberries in place of strawberries) as I write this and I can hardly wait to try it! Thanks for coming through yet again!
Shannon McCarthy
Joy,
Kudos on a great looking Strawberry Coffee Cake! I’m going to give this a shot for July 4th weekend and serve it to a few family members and service-folks that will be visiting. Wish me luck!
– Shannon, Crumb Cake Creations, LLC
Joel
I lol’d at the “watching an old episode of House everynight before passing out”. I used to do that too! I thought I was the only one…well I think I’m going to make this for my office party tomorrow, seems like a good break from the more traditional standard coffee cake. I’m sure it’s going to be delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Emily C
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I made this last night to bring over to my parents house, and have eaten some both for dessert last night, and breakfast this morning. It is so light and wonderful, the strawberry filling is delicious, and I love crumbly toppings, so that was just a bonus!
Ri
I just made this cake and it was great! I was really apprehensive when I had a hard time spreading the (thick) strawberry layer, and then an even harder time spreading the (very thick) top layer of the cake batter, but it baked up just fine. I subbed out half of the regular flour for whole wheat flour, but I don’t think I’ll do that again because it was too hearty of a flavor for those delicate strawberries. Oh yeah, I also subbed plain Greek yogurt and a splash of heavy cream for the sour cream, just because it’s what I had on hand.
Thanks for the recipe!
Jenny H
This was so delicious and very moist! Per the recommendations of a few of the previous comments, I doubled the strawberry filling, and it came out perfect. I brought it in to work today and have received many compliments. Now I’m thinking about switching out the strawberries for other berries too – blueberries, raspberries…I love versatile recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Rachel Peters
Day two of cooking in my new kitchen and I’m not sure which I like better, the butterscotch pudding and caramelized bananas from yesterday, or this cake from tonight. It’s a toss up! I’m excited to prowl around your blog more tomorrow to figure out what to make next… marshmallows maybe? or those amazing looking apple oatmeal cookies.. I have a huge bag of beautiful crisp Okanagan, BC apples that would be perfect.
Angie
Just made this. Added some blueberries as well. It’s delicious, and made good use of the almost expired sour cream and about to go bad strawberries hanging out in my fridge. Thanks!
emiko
what do you think of making this with cranberries instead of strawberries? about how much sugar would you add when cooking the cranberries? thanks!!
Ama
I made these as muffins/cupcakes to bring in to a weekly work baking event — they came out *fantastic*! I’m saving this link. :D
Susan
Made this recipe this weekend!! Delicious. So light and delicious! Thank you!
Marina
My mouth is watering just reading this recipe! I like the idea of using them as cupcakes too and nice to know it works like a charm. I would really love to see the images but they never seem to open up on my computer… if any techies can shed some light I’d be eternally grateful:-)
Elizabeth
The coffee cake is so amazing, so light and airy yet hearty and yumtastic however, I have been getting many a complaint that 1 cup is simply not enough strawberries for the cake! I think my tasters are just wanting more of the yummy sweet stuff :) Anyways, I might add more strawberries next time but the coffee cake is never changing, totally a keeper!
Kelly
I just made this, but since I didn’t have a 10×10 pan (thought it might overflow my 9×9 pan), I thought I’d try making these as muffins. Turned out perfect! I made 11, but they would have made 12 if I had evened out the batter just a bit better. I have some rhubarb in my garden at the moment, so I used 1 stalk of rhubarb and then topped up with strawberries to make roughly 1 1/2 cups of fruit. I added about 2 tbsp more sugar with the fruit to help out with the tartness of the rhubarb. They baked in my convection oven for about 30 minutes, so they would need a few minutes longer in a normal oven. Since I make fruit crumbles often, I usually make loads of crumble topping so that I have extra to freeze. So I didn’t actually make the topping found in this recipe, but it worked beautifully and I got to skip that step. I definitely recommend making extra of things like that. Always a help!
These turned out to be absolutely georgeous! I took some over to my husbands office and they went crazy over them. They will definitely be on my list to make over and over again.
Amanda
I just made this. Phenomenal. However, next time I’m going to double, maybe even triple the strawberry sauce. Soooo good!
Avril Miller
Hey Joy! Just wanted to let you know that I can’t get enough of this coffee cake!!! I adore this recipe to pieces!!! Merci Beacoup…..=)
Georgia
Hi Joy,
I made this coffee cake today, and it’s SO moist and delicious! Here’s my post about it:
http://comfortofcooking.blogspot.com/2010/04/strawberry-coffee-cake.html
(It looks ALMOST as good as yours ;)
Thanks so much for this recipe. Looking forward to meeting you at Surfas next weekend!
Georgia
Mariam
Can you please tell me if you use Salted or Unsalted Butter in your recipes?
joythebaker
i always use unsalted butter mariam.
Tamar
This was absolutely delicious! My boyfriend and I ate about 3/4 of it in one night! I do agree with other comments saying to increase the strawberry filling. I halved the cake batter part (we’re only 2 people here) without changing the amount of strawberry filling, and next time I will still double even that amount.
zip
It’s looked amazing, but i just wonder why it’s named coffee while there no coffee in the ingredients, please help me, is there coffee or not?
Carol
Looks yummmmmmmmmmy
can I substitute yogurt for the sourcream?
Kathleen
This was EXTREMELY well received at work. I don’t have a 10 by 10 pan so I used a 10 inch tube pan and it worked fine. I also threw in some frozen strawberries I had thawed into the fresh strawberry sauce because it’s not really strawberry season where I am. I doubled the crumb topping because I love crumbs:). Yum. Thanks, Joy.
olgalopez
looks so yummy.
Michele
A little piece of Heaven! That is the only way that I can describe this coffee cake. My family devoured the entire cake in 1 day. Next time I think I will double the berries.
I was just wondering if you have ever made this cake with Apples or Blueberries? Also, have you tried this with a cinnamon/brown sugar streusel topping?
Just wondering….but it IS perfect just the way it is. The topping tasted just like a shortbread cookie. YUM!
Rebecca
Thanks for the great recipe! This will be on standby for the future.
Heather Rose
I’m not even a big strawberry person (I know, I’m a weirdo) but that looks delicious. And yay for old House episodes once a day – I do that now and again myself. :-)
lisa g
joy, how do you think this would come out if baked in jumbo muffin cups (w/ liners)? it’s so handy to be able to run out of the house with a muffin. would it leak all over and be goopy?
joythebaker
Lisa G! I think the liners might help solve any goopyness. Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you!
Win
This recipe has been a HIT in the family!Everybody loves it!Thank you very much!
It’s an awesome combo!
Suzie
I live in NE and our strawberry season is just a few short weeks. We’re at the end now and I don’t want to waste a single berry. This is an excellent addition to my favorite strawberry recipes. I am so glad I found you!
AnnG
I found out about your blog after I Googled “strawberry coffee cake” because I had some strawberries I wanted to use up in this way. Boy, am I glad I found you! Love your site, your writing, your great photos, and your fabulous recipes. I made the coffee cake this morning, and it is as scrumptious as it looks! My husband, who doesn’t even have the sweet tooth that I do, said it was the best coffee cake he’d ever eaten. (And I’ve made a lot of them.) Thank you for continuing to blog and share your recipes.
cramped kitchen
this looks great i just made a strawberry coffee cake and may try your topping next time!
Jen
I made this cake and doubled the strawberry filling with no problems. The cake was moist and delicious, but I think the strawberry filling could have used something to perk it up, like some orange peel or orange oil. My strawberries were also not as red as the ones in the picture once cooked. I might also cut back on the sugar in the filling a bit, it seemed kind of sweet.
Anna
So I made this last night and gave a slice to my husband to eat, the words that came out of his mouth said it all, “oh so good, so so good you have to make this again…”
Thank you for such a superb recipe, I’m going to make another one and bring it into work.
Paola
Hi Joy, I’ve baked this delicious cake last weekend.
Instead of sour cream, I have used cream and half a lime: here in Italy it’s impossible to find sour cream anywhere!
If you need help with italian lemme know :-)
Ciao ciao, Paola
Lisa
Made this yesterday and it is delicious! I agree with Stephanie about doubling the strawberry mixture next time. I wished it had more. And my strawberry mixture wasn’t as beautifully red as the pictures?
Stephanie
This was absolutely delicious and really pretty to look at too :). I will also be doubling the strawberry mixture next time for a little extra gooey goodness!
Jack
Made a triple batch early Friday morning and took almost all of it to work. Left for home that night with just enough left over for my own Saturday and Sunday breakfasts. At least four recipe requests will drive just a little bit more traffic your way!
Chaya
I get restless with cherries. I was thinking, I could use your coffee cake recipe with cherries rather than strawberries since I have lots of extra cherries, in the kitchen. Your photos look scumptious. Chaya
Sarah
Oh my. I made this last night and immediately ate two giant pieces with milk. The delicious strawberry syrupy goodness is almost too good to be true.
My co-workers thank you ma’am, as they devour the leftoevers
Meagan
Whoa! This looks so amazing. I will have to try this soon.
Deanna
I just bought these cute measuring cups from anthro. I love them.
Tina
That looks soo yummy! My friend promised me these yummy strawberries, i think she has a farmer friend and i tasted some at work and they were soo sweet and juicy. I can’t wait to make this coffee cake! I just made a Japanese cheesecake today, so I understand when you say you have lapsed in your workout routine, same here, lol. Anyways, ty for this yummy recipe :)
Millie
Oh, that looks SO good! I absolutely love strawberries! I need to hunt down some good strawberries here in AK, though. They’re hard to find.
ap269 (Family & Food)
@jolynn:
I have a nice rhubarb vanilla jam recipe. Check out my site (link is above).
ap269 (Family & Food)
I am soooooooooo going to make this! Just waiting for the strawberries in my backyard to ripen. I should be able to harvest the first strawberries in about a week or so ;o).
Adriella
Wow!!
This is good!! It’s really soft, moist and has a little cripy crust that totally adds up!!! But I’ll make double the strawberry mixture next time!!! So yum!!!
Thank you Joy
Julia @ Mélanger
Hello, I just found your blog. It is so lovely. This dessert looks amazing. Will mark this one down for when we hit strawberry season!
manda
Strawberries have a weird effect on me, too… they make me want to go on a road trip. The best strawberries I have EVER had were in Ponchatoula, LA on a return trip from New Orleans, and somehow the strawberry brain cells are now irrevocably attached to the road trip brain cells.
This looks amazing, and I just happen to have strawberries in my fridge. (Not Louisiana strawberries, but they’ll just have to do!)
sofia
i rarely comment…but i couldn’t help myself. this looks absolutely AMAAAAZING! wow. :)
Priscila
Dear Joy,
I just have to bake that cake ! It is also strawberry season now here where I live: Ribeirao Preto – Brasil. Our city was once famous for its coffee, as a matter of fact, that’s how the town started ( now we only have sugar cane, pity…). And I also study Italian ( where do you get flash cards? Hopefully a website where you can give a link), because I am married to one…
When I do, I’ll post a picture in my flickr page….
thanks for your wonderful, mouth watering recipes….
Karolina
This not only looks, but also tastes delicious;) Joy, have you been reading my mind? I sat down to my computer thinking “I’d like some yummy strawberry recipe for my moms birthday…” and I made this cake as soon as I opened my favorite foodblog. Everyone loved it. Actually I had to guard it from my family to leave it until the guests arrive.Each of my them entered the house sniffing with delight and followed the smell brought them to the kitchen;)
Thanks a lot!
jolynn@thedish
Is anybody else thinking rhubarb jam? Joy (or anyone else) – do you have a good rhubarb jam or sauce recipe?
Jessica
Ohh my! This looks simply delightful! Coffee and strawberries together? It’s like a dream come true!
April
Wow, this looks delicious! I think I might put it on my baking list, but switch it up and make a blueberry version. Sadly, the only blueberries I can buy here in Central America are dried or super-pricey frozen, but I’m sure it will be great!
Monica
I will definitely be trying this recipe out!! It looks divine!!
Danger Kitten
This looks exceptionally good! I love the uniqueness of strawberries in coffee cake, and it’s such a perfect time of year for this posting. When you start learning Italian, let me know and we can talk about fragole and other food things. Good luck!
Gayathri
Oh never mind! Ignore my question…I understand now..sorry!
Gayathri
Hello Joy!
I am totally going to make the cake this weekend. Drooling as I type….
In your recipe you mentioned sugar twice (1/3 cup and 1 cup)…did you mean to do that??
Mej
joy. i love you. when i clicked on your site today the picture took a second to load and all i saw were the words strawberry coffee cake and i was immediately swoony. then the picture loaded and i was done. you’re the best.
brandi
WOW – I’m from Montgomery and I used to make my dad take me to that restaurant every time I visited! It makes me so happy to see someone cooking their food. I didn’t even know they had a cookbook, I’ll definitely give this recipe a try.
Mama_G
Yum! thanks for sharing. My husband suggested I make this today with some berries.
(I have to modify this a bit because I took the strawberries we picked yesterday and let them macerate overnight before cooking them down this morning into a pseudo-jam. Since we have loads of jam in the house, I’ll toss it into your coffee cake. mmmm.)
EB
We’re clearly in the same frame of mind. Closet? Tragedy. Stack of books by the bed? Dusty. Strawberries? Macerating in wine and sugar as I type. :)
Lisa S
This looks so delicious. I live in an area that grows massive amounts of strawberries, lots of avocados and lemons and oranges too. The neighboring town has a yearly strawberry festival.
Sara
This looks sooo good! :)
Whitney
I love the 1 cup picture! So cute.
What a yummy looking cake!!
Carmen Ortiz
A must try!
Kate
Strawberries in my neck of the woods (which I don’t think is very far from your neck!) have been around since March or April, but they are still going strong. But this looks fabulous, and maybe I’ll sacrifice some precious strawberries for the cake. Mmm.
Bellisimo! (My Italian, not so great)
Kerstin
Now that’s an amazing coffee cake! Great idea to use strawberries, it looks very addictive!
unconfidentialcook
Gorgeous! I just bought armfuls of strawberries at my Farmers’ Market yesterday. Perfect timeing.
rebekka
Seriously, that is MY kind of cake, I can’t even tell you. Bravo! Can’t wait to try this one!
Cate
I’m afraid you’ve caught me procrastinating- I should be studying for my Italian final! Mille grazie per la ricetta!
Kim
Joy – That sounds fantastic! And I happen to have ALL of the ingredients for once. Can’t wait to make it!
Laurel
Hello Joy, this looks delicious–thank you so much! I have fairly recently stumbled upon your site, and think you are absolutely delightful. Thank you for bringing many smiles to my day.
I look forward to baking this. Yummy! Grazie mille!
Megan
Yum and yum.
Lauren
Joy, this looks delicious!
My Two Seasons
Thank you for the awesome recipe! I happen to have some strawberries, I think I will try it this afternoon! I love reading your blog! It’s so fun and cheery! Thanks!
The Duo Dishes
What a way to do the morning. This looks superb.
Sarah Jackson
GREAT! Now I have make this! I’m going upstate this weekend to OrchardLand. There’s no way I”m not coming home with a 100,000 strawberries now.
This is not great news for the pre-vacation diet, but I will do it for you, Joy. A belated gift for your birthday. Come to Queens and we’ll have a party..Strawberry Shortcake-themed, of course.
-Sarah
Amanda
This looks delicious. I saw your tweet and have been anxiously awaiting a recipe to use up some of the half-flat of strawberries I bought this weekend. Not that I can’t just gobble them plain, but I try to mix it up a bit for my family. Thanks.
Julie
Looks wonderful! Can it be made in a 9×9 or 8×8 dish? What would the baking time be?
Deanna
This looks fabulous! I will have to give it a try.
Amanda
It all looks lovely Joy! And I find that sumer comes at the best time ever, right in the middle of the year when you are needing some more motivation for all things. Love, life, friendships, etc. It’s time for longer nights, brighter days, and bigger smiles. That’s a motto I need to pick up ASAP!
Baking and Mistaking
Oh man. This one I have to try. Except I have no time. If anyone wants to make it and mail me a piece, feel free.
I’ll be waiting.
Ash
Very pretty! This is one I need to try!
Stefanie
is this combined with a planned trip to italy?! it should be, just in case you’re still pondering it ;) and if you are, i’d be happy to give you all sorts of info on roma! i did my study-abroad there and hope to move there permanently someday….
ps: the cake looks delicious!
Cori
Tartine in SF, my favorite bakery ever!, has made something similar to this in the past if I remember correctly. I’m not a big fan of baked strawberries, but this looks divine.
By the way, I find that Iron Chef is a great show to fall asleep to. Consequently, I’ve had many a dream about shark head pizza.
marianne
Oh my stars!! Thank you for another spectacular recipe, Joy! Your posts are always so bubbly and sunny … um, I’d like to say full of joy, if that isn’t redundant!
Lauren
Joy,
Do you have any suggestions for the perfect picnic/bbq dessert? It’s hot as you know what and we won’t have refrigeration. I’m probably making your oatmeal cookies but also looking for something citrusy, berry-ish, or summer inspired. Brownies are also an option but I’m thinking something lighter. Any ideas?
Thanks <3
PS…I already have plans for this coffee cake :-)
Katrina
That looks and sounds delicious!
Tina
That looks so divine. I love Strawberry Bread but the coffee cake sounds so much better. i am going to make you Southern Style Strawberry Cake this month I cant wait.
Romy
I’ve got strawberries. I’ve got sour cream. I’ve got work tomorrow where people will love eating this cake.
Off to the kitchen I go! :)
Alyssa Goodnight
That looks scrumptious! And yay you for learning Italian and shaking up a golden standard!
Evan
Thanks for using my grandmother’s cookbook! I heart you.
kristie
What a beautiful combination! I am sure after having a slice of this, you can blabber in Italian hehe :)
Mary Beth
what a wonderful combo! Two of my favorite foods , strawberries and sour cream coffee cake together in one treat! thanks!
Practically Perfect...
Looks and sounds delicious!
HoneyB
This looks totally amazing.
P.S. I bet my closet looks worse than yours! ;o)
joythebaker
so you guys want to use other fruits!? well…. raspberries and cherries sound like they would work, but you’ll have to give it a whirl and let me know. happy baking!
memoria- i actually understood that! grazie mille!
Memoria
Io spero che impari e parli molto italiano! Buona fortuna, Joy! :)
marion
Oh my !
looks gorgeous !
Do you think I can try with raspberries ?
Vanessa
Hi Joy,
I just want to say what a great pleasure it is to read this blog. It inspires me when I’m ready to throw in the towel because everything is just so gorgeous and delicious. Can’t wait to try this cake either. LIke you, I’ve broken my good resolutions and I’m still messy and disorganised. But surely if you can make a cake like this, it can’t be all bad. Good luck with Italian.
shipra
Hi Joy,
this sounds delish! do u think i could use fresh sour cherries (with a little more sugar i guess) instead of strawberries in this recipe? i have a box i need to use up…i so hope you’ll say yes!
Cheers,
Shipra from Bombay, India