Vanilla Bean Coffee Cake
Dense, sour cream loaf built on a split fat — oil for lasting moisture, butter for flavor and set. A cinnamon-cocoa streusel runs through the middle and crowns the top. Finished with a crackly vanilla bean glaze.
Ingredients
Cake Batter — Dry
- cake flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp fine sea salt
Cake Batter — Wet
- granulated sugar
- light brown sugar, packed
- canola oil
- butter, melted and cooled slightly
- sour cream
- 1 large egg
- milk
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
Streusel
- granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- butter, melted
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
Vanilla Glaze
- powdered sugar, sifted
- milk, room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- pinch fine sea salt
Instructions
Make the streusel: Whisk the flour, sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, and salt. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla bean paste until the mixture clumps into crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk all the wet ingredients until smooth. Let the melted butter cool before combining so it doesn't seize the cold dairy.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold just until combined — straight muffin method, no creaming, don't overwork.
Spread just under half the batter into the prepared pan. Top with half the streusel. Add the remaining batter and spread gently, then top with the remaining streusel — don't press it in.
Bake 50–60 minutes, tenting loosely with foil if the top browns too fast. Pull when the center reads 200–203°F on an instant-read thermometer and moist crumbs cling to a tester.
Cool the cake completely in the pan before glazing.
Make the glaze: whisk the powdered sugar and salt, add the vanilla bean paste and 3 tablespoons of milk. Thin with more milk until glossy and just pourable. Drizzle over the cooled cake and let set until crackly.
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