Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
I am so happy to bring this amazing lemon coffee cake into your life. It’s dense and moist just like a classic coffee cake, but is baked with lemon cream cheese, tart lemon curd, and a fine crumble topping. This cake is creamy, sweet, tangy, crunchy, and just so delicious. It’s what every brunch needs.
Tips for making the BEST lemon coffee cake
The cream cheese layer is what takes this recipe over the top, but the lemon cake itself it so delicious that you could make it all on its own. It’s dense, moist, and bursting with zesty lemon flavor. Here are my top tips to ensure it turns out just right:
- The Flour – I say this in almost all of my recipes, and for good reason! Flour is the number one reason why recipes can flop because it is so easy to use too much. To ensure you have the right amount, gently spoon it in your measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge. Don’t pack or shake it down and don’t scoop directly from the flour bag or container. It can become compacted into the measuring cup, leading to way too much flour in the recipe. If you can, use a food scale first.
- The Lemon – A simple trick I like to use in every lemon recipe is to rub the lemon zest into the sugar before starting the batter. This helps loosen up the zest and release those natural oils. It enhances the lemon flavor to create a really delicious lemon cake.
- Moisture – The reason why this cake is so dense and moist is mainly due to the use of sour cream. Sour cream is a classic coffee cake ingredient for this exact reason. It falls more on the acidic side, creating a tender texture that helps leaven the cake (especially paired with baking soda and another acidic ingredient like lemon juice). I recommend sticking to sour cream, but you can also use full fat Greek yogurt as well.
How to layer coffee cake with cream cheese
This is when a springform pan comes in handy. It has tall straight sides that is perfect for this dense lemon coffee cake.
When the batter is ready, pour it into the bottom of your pan and spread it even. Make sure it touches all sides.
Next, spread an even layer of the cream cheese filling on top. This is a delicate process so here’s what I like to do to make sure it doesn’t blend into the cake batter: gently spoon the cream cheese all around the surface of the cake batter. Using this method will cover the most surface before going in with a spatula to even it out.
Then, take a spoon or small offset spatula and gently spread it even. Leave about a 1/2 inch gap all around the edge of the pan and repeat this same process with the lemon curd. Sprinkle all of the crumble on top and it’s ready to bake!
Tips for baking lemon coffee cake
Since there are so many layers to this lemon cream cheese coffee cake, it can be difficult to tell when it’s done. To ensure yours turns out just right, here are a few tips:
- Assess the crumble on top. It might still look a little wet, but it should be slightly darkened in color with golden edges. As the cake cools, the crumble will fully set and not look so underdone.
- Do the jiggle test. Since the center is essentially a cheesecake, the cake itself will jiggle a bit when it’s hot. To make sure it’s done, give the cake a nudge inside the oven. If the center wobbles like a bowl of milk, it’s not done. If it jiggles like a jello mold, it’s ready.
- Completely cool the cake. This allows all the layers to set so each slice can show of these gorgeous flavors.
Different fruit toppings
I love to use homemade lemon curd for this recipe because I find it’s much more flavorful than store bought. HOWEVER, I’m aware that there are a lot of steps to this recipe so it’s totally fine to take a shortcut and use store bought!
This recipe also works great with other fruity spreads. Feel free to substitute the curd with your favorite fruit jam just as long as it’s thick and not too runny.
Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake FAQs
Yes! Just swap the flour with a gluten-free all-purpose baking flour. I like Bob’s Red Mill (the blue bag) or King Arthur measure for measure.
You could definitely skip the curd and just go for cake, cream cheese, and crumble. It’s up to you! Or swap the curd with your favorite fruit jam.
Yes, you can make the curd a few days in advance and store in the refrigerator.
Store this cake in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
For more lemon desserts, check out my:
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Cupcakes
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Lemon Zucchini Bread (GF DF)
- Lemon Blueberry Loaf
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
- Gooey Lemon Butter Cake
Make sure to tag me @butternutbakery on Instagram if you make this lemon cream cheese coffee cake. I love seeing my recipes come to life in YOUR kitchen! To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, the buttons above or below this post, or on any of the photos above. Happy baking!
Watch how to make this lemon coffee cake:
Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes + 1 hour cooling
- Yield: 12-16 slices
Description
This moist lemon coffee cake is taken to the next level and layered with lemon cream cheese, lemon curd, and a fine crumble sprinkled on top! It’s SO lemony and well worth all the dirty dishes required to make it.
Ingredients
Crumble
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (65g) all-purpose flour or 1-to-1 gf baking flour, spooned and leveled
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed
Lemon Cream Cheese
- 8 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temp
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 large egg, room temp
Lemon Cake
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temp
- 2/3 cup (160g) sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (200g) lemon curd (store bought or homemade recipe in notes) (or use your favorite jam!)
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- If going the homemade route, make this first by following the recipe in the notes!
Crumble
- In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, and salt.
- Toss in the cold and cubed butter and use your fingers to mush it into the dry mixture to create a very fine crumb. The mixture will overall appear very dry which is what we want! Store in the refrigerator.
Lemon Cream Cheese
- In a medium bowl, mash together the cream cheese and sugar with a fork and mix until smooth. Then mix in the zest and egg.
- Switch to a whisk to mix out any lumps and once smooth, set aside.
Lemon Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F and grease the inside of a 9” springform pan. Remove the ring and lay down a sheet of parchment paper over the bottom plate. Return the ring to create a fully covered bottom.
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the sugar and zest and use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar, releasing even more flavor.
- Then add the butter and mix on medium high speed until smooth and pale.
- Mix in the egg, egg yolk, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth.
- Scrape down the bowl and mix in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Once combined, mix in the flour until smooth.
- Spread the batter into the pan. Then carefully spread the cream cheese on top in an even layer, leaving a ½ inch border around the edge.
- Carefully spread the lemon curd on top, also leaving a small ½ inch border, and then top with all of the crumble.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the top is lightly golden with darker/wrinkly edges and the cake is jiggly (not liquid) in the center.
- Allow to cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely, about 2 hours.
- Once chilled, it’s ready to slice and enjoy!
Notes
Lemon Curd
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup (80g) fresh lemon juice (2-3 large lemons)
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, sliced
- Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and eggs in a medium saucepan until smooth and combined. Then whisk in the juice.
- Place over medium heat and whisk occasionally until it starts to steam and bubble, then whisk constantly until thickened, about 5-8 minutes.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter to melt.
- Pour the curd into a wide and shallow dish and place in the refrigerator uncovered to chill and thicken.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Meet Jenna
I’m the creator, baker, and photographer behind Butternut Bakery. Here I share desserts for every diet because I believe everyone should have a chance to indulge!
I made this recipe for my husband, parents and brothers and it turned out Beautifully!!! letting it cool is key for proper cutting for sure. My particularly brother told me something like: “I’ll be honest Beck when I heard what this was I was not thinking I’d like it, but wow! It was so good!”
I was shocked! It is an interesting trio to combine in one dessert but absolutely a rewarding combination !
Hey there, thank you for sharing this recipe. The flavor was phenomenal but I struggled a bit with the bake. Had a beautiful bake on top but the cream cheese filling seemed to compress the first layer. It also took a long time to bake through resulting in burned edges. Did I maybe make the batter too dense? I like to troubleshoot, adjust and try again. Any tips to avoid burned edges with a dense cake? Thanks!
Its soo delicious, decadent and the texture is amazing! I’m just trying to figure out why they call it coffee cake! Other than that everyone in the world should make this :)!
This was really good!! I used grapefruit instead of lemon (just because in my head I had lemons in my fridge but I was sadly mistaken!) but the grapefruit was also delicious! I did have to bake it for quite a bit longer, and the sides got a little overdone but otherwise it was perfection!
Exceptional flavor and texture. Thorough instruction allowed success on my first attempt. Thank you!
Made these as muffins, and they turned out perfectly. I used tulip liners, so somewhat bigger than a typical muffin. Baked at 375 for about 25 minutes. There was no sinking. Just dolloped the cream cheese filling into the middle. Excellent flavor and texture.
Followed directions but my cake collapsed in the middle. Very frustrating and disappointing.
super yummy! I was almost worried there wouldn’t be enough cake batter to cover the cream cheese fully but the crumple covering made everything work out perfect! I’m not usually one to repeat recipes but this was so tasty I must make it again!
I made this today and it’s a fabulous cake. I did have to bake it 15 longer (total 70 minutes) but had no issues with the middle sinking. An easier way to add the lemon cream cheese: place 1/2 batter in the pan and level using an offset spatula; place the remaining batter into a piping bag. Pipe an 1” ring around the inside of the pan and fill the open area with the lemon cream cheese (mine was not of pouring consistently, so I followed it and used an offset spatula to even it out). Then pipe the remaining batter over the lemon cream cheese and use the offset spatula to even it out. Works like a charm (i got the idea from a Bake From Scratch Sugared Jam Cake recipe). Thanks for the recipe.
Made this cake and it tasted amazing. I used Meyer lemons so the citrus flavor was more subtle – will probably use regular lemons next time. Followed all the steps and used a 9” springform, but still came up with a couple of issues: 1) it was so hard to keep the cream cheese in the middle without spreading over to the edges, and it ended up mixing in with the batter poured on top. 2) the cake ended up caving in the centre despite baking an extra 15 and then 10 mins. Toothpick came out clean. Do you think issue #2 happened as a result of issue #1? Would love some advice so I can nail this recipe on the second try. Thank you!