Strawberry cream cheese coffee cake is a from-scratch recipe made up of moist cake layered with a cheesecake like filling and swirled with strawberry jam. The key to this moist coffee cake is Greek yogurt. For richness, there’s nothing like the cheesecake filling you get from cream cheese. It will take your brunch or breakfast to a new level.
Use Cream Cheese for the Perfect Coffee Cake
It won’t be long until we have fresh strawberries from States south of us, until then Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is the perfect breakfast addition. With strawberry jam on top of a cream cheese layer, it’s almost like strawberry cheesecake.
Not sweet enough to call it dessert, but sweet enough to feel like a treat, this berry breakfast cake is a perfect addition for your next weekend brunch.
With a creamy cheesecake filling and a burst of strawberry jam tucked between layers of sweet vanilla cake this is the ultimate coffee cake and one I like to serve on Christmas morning. It’s great with eggs or my family’s favorite – sausage balls.
This strawberry coffee cake recipe is as easy as mixing, spreading, and baking! There are no fancy techniques or complicated steps. Mix up the cake batter, layer it with a dreamy cream cheese filling and strawberry jam, top it off with a sweet crumble, and let your oven work its magic.
The easy cake recipe bakes up light and moist while the cream cheese and egg form a cheesecake layer swirled with strawberries. A buttery crumble adds the finishing touch. You can easily adjust the filling to include other flavors of jam and if you’ve got a crowd, you can double the recipe and make it in a 9 x 13 baking pan.
It’s completely different from my traditional streusel coffee cake. This is the coffee cake recipe I choose when I want something special but not overly sweet.
Coffee Cake Ingredients
For the full list of ingredients, go to the Recipe Card below.
- Cream cheese – This will need to be at room temperature, so remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before you start baking. I prefer to use full-fat cream cheese for baking, but low fat will also work.
- Greek yogurt – Greek yogurt will give your cake plenty of moisture and a tangy flavor that’s just so yummy! You can easily replace this with sour cream instead.
- Strawberry jam – Your favorite brand will do, it’s even better with my homemade strawberry jam recipe!
Pro Tip: If you forgot to take out the cream cheese, you can easily bring cream cheese to room temperature in just a couple of minutes, the same goes for bringing butter to room temperature.
How To Make a Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
There are 3 primary steps to making this cake: Make your separate layers, assemble the layers in a baking pan, and bake. Here’s what to do:
Step 1: Prepare the layers.
For the filling:
For the cake: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each one. Finally, add in the vanilla and yogurt and mix again. In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients and add to the we, don’t over mix!
For the topping:
For the strawberry filling layer: If your jam is cold, measure it into a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave it for about a minute or until it’s easily spreadable, but don’t overheat it. It just needs to spread, not get hot.
Step 2: Assemble the cake layers.
Step 3: Bake the cake.
Tips for Making The Best Coffee Cake
- Don’t over mix when you’re making your cake batter. The more you mix, the more you overwork the gluten in your flour, and you can end up with a dense and heavy cake instead of a light and fluffy cake.
- Don’t try to cut this cake when it’s hot! It will fall apart! Let it cool at least 15-20 minutes before you serve it.
- You can line your pan with parchment paper if you need to remove the cake easier.
How to Store Coffee Cake
You’re leftover coffee cake will remain fresh for 2-3 days, then the cake will start to dry out. Store it covered on the counter, in an airtight container, or at least cover it well with plastic wrap.
You can also freeze your leftovers for up to 3 months.
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Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
Cake
- ¼ cup butter room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup greek yogurt
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Jam Layer
- ½ cup strawberry jam
Crumble Topping
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Line an 8 x 8 inch pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray.
To make the filling:
- In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and an egg, and mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Set aside.
To make the cake:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing to combine, then add vanilla and yogurt and mix again, until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix just until combined. Do not overmix.
- Spread half of the cake batter into the prepared pan so that it covers the bottom. It will be sticky, Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the top.
Jam layer:
- If the jam is cold, microwave it for about a minute so that it is easily spreadable. Spread onto the top of the cream cheese layer. Top with dollops of the remaining cake batter.
To make the crumble topping:
- Using a pastry blender or your fingers, combine the sugar, flour, and butter. Sprinkle on top of the cake.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean and it is slightly brown on top. Do not over cook.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Don’t overmix when you’re making your cake batter. The more you mix, the more you overwork the gluten in your flour, and you could end up with a dense and heavy cake instead of a light and fluffy cake.
- Don’t try to cut this cake when it’s hot! It will fall apart! Let it cool at least 15-20 minutes before you serve it.
- You can line your pan with parchment paper if you need to remove the cake easier. You can also spray it with cooking spray before you add the layers.
- You can use any type of jam that you prefer.
Nutrition
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Merritt Overly says
This coffee cake is amazing. Fluffy and soft even with GF flour. We tired it with strawberry jam but prefer blueberry. The vibrant berries makes for a beautiful finished product! Make a kid friendly blueberry jam (chunk free) using frozen blueberries. It has become a weekend favorite. We do have to make a 13×9 or it goes too fast!!
Barbara Curry says
Thanks for sharing that it worked with GF flour. I’m going to try blueberry jam next time, that sounds great.