Recipe Summary
Enjoy this delicious Cream Cheese Coffee Cake! With a golden cake like crust and a luscious baked cream cheese topping finally dusted with powdered sugar.
0gFat
0gProtein
It’s all full of gooey yumminess …
Cream Cheese Coffee Cake!
This cake is SO good! My mom got the recipe from a neighbor when I was a wee little girl (yes I said wee). It’s had many names through the years and in our family we always referred to it as Columbus Cake. No idea why. Maybe it was all the rave in Columbus, GA during the 60’s and 70’s. But what I do know is that our friends lived in Columbus, GA for a while so maybe it was where she first heard of this Cake.
My brother and I would frequently beg for mom to make this dessert. My favorite part is the CORNER piece where it’s slightly chewy, gorgeous! I have been known to be fairly cranky if you touch my corner piece. Touch it and things could get messy *mine mine mine* 😉
Goodness me! Do you see that drool worthy gooey top??? It’s mighty good stuff! Cream Cheese. POWDERED SUGAR. Heaven.
Tips for Moist Coffee Cake
Bring the cream cheese to room temperature. Cold cream cheese doesn’t incorporate properly and leaves lumps in the batter that never quite bake out. Set it out at least an hour before you start. This is the single most important step and the easiest one to forget.
Don’t overmix. Once the dry ingredients go in, mix until just combined and stop. Overmixing develops the gluten and turns a tender cake dense and tough. A few small streaks of flour in the batter are fine. They’ll sort themselves out in the oven.
Watch your oven temperature. Coffee cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges have pulled slightly away from the sides of the pan. An oven running too hot will set the outside before the center is done. If your baked goods are consistently over-browning, an inexpensive oven thermometer is worth having.
Use a splash guard when mixing powdered sugar. I’ll just say this once and speak from experience. Turn the mixer on low before you increase the speed, or better yet, drape a clean kitchen towel over the bowl for the first few seconds. A cloud of powdered sugar rising out of a mixing bowl and covering everything in the general vicinity, including your face and your black shirt, is a very effective way to learn this lesson. Those around me found it considerably more amusing than I did.
If you survive and come out of the kitchen unscathed, unlike me, then such a treat awaits! The golden cake like crust with a luscious baked cream cheese topping then dusted with powdered sugar (be careful of that stuff and DON’T inhale!). Serve it up with your favorite coffee or tea (best at room temperature) and enjoy every morsel.
Make-Ahead & Storage
Make it ahead. Cream cheese coffee cake is a genuinely good make-ahead bake. The flavor actually improves overnight as everything settles, making it an ideal choice for a morning when you want something special on the table without the early start. Bake it the evening before, let it cool completely, cover tightly, and leave it at room temperature overnight.
Room temperature storage. Covered tightly with plastic wrap or in an airtight container, this cake keeps well at room temperature for up to 3 days. The streusel topping stays crisp longer at room temperature than it does in the fridge, so resist the urge to refrigerate it unless your kitchen runs particularly warm.
Refrigerator. If you need to keep it longer than 3 days, the fridge will take it to about 5 days. Bring it back to room temperature before serving or warm individual slices for about 20 seconds in the microwave. Cold coffee cake straight from the fridge is a little dense and doesn’t do the recipe justice.
Freezer. This cake freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Slice it first, wrap each piece individually in plastic wrap then foil, and freeze in a single layer before transferring to a freezer bag. Thaw slices overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature for a couple of hours. A few minutes in a warm oven brings the streusel back to life.
Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and Flour either a rectangle 8 1/2 x 11 or 9 x 13 baking dish. (Do not use a smaller size or it will not bake as well)
- In large bowl, mix together Cake Mix, melted Butter and beaten Eggs until it's a stiff batter.
- Spoon out and spread in prepared Baking Dish.
- In large bowl, mix together the softened Cream Cheese, Eggs and all but 1 Tablespoon of the Powdered Sugar. (Add Powdered Sugar 1 cup at time until well blended.)
- Spread over bottom layer.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 - 40 minutes until lightly golden brown and started to slightly crack on top.
- Remove from oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes.
- Sift remaining 1 Tablespoon of Powdered Sugar over top of cake.
- Can be kept covered up to 5 days at room temperature or refrigerated. Serve at room temperature or warm.
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!7-Day Email Series
Seven dinners worth getting undressed for.
One lands in your inbox every morning for a week — plus the side and the drink I’d pour with it. Free.
No chef’s journey. No weird ingredients. Unsubscribe whenever.
I love these! This dessert is called chess squares. I grew up in Memphis & we had these often. So good!
Thank You Nancy!!! It’s one of those recipes that had an ever changing name when I was growing up 🙂 I’m so glad to know the name now, lol!