Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins are super moist and delicious thanks to sour cream in the batter. A sweet streusel is both inside the muffin, as well as sprinkled on top!
School vacation week is winding down for us today (boo!) – but we’ve had a great ‘staycation’ at home this week! Actually, my husband Jack worked all week, but my seven-year-old and I had more time to relax… sleeping in every morning, seeing a Disney on Ice show with her Daisy Girl Scout troop, as well as some play dates with friends.
And for me, not playing chauffeur to so many activities meant that I could spend some extra time in the kitchen. That usually means some baking, and I finally got a chance to try this recipe for Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins!
These sour cream coffee cake muffins have been on my to-make list for a while ever since I spotted the recipe here. I love muffins with a sweet, crumbly streusel topping, and with a cup of sour cream in the batter, I knew that these would be perfectly moist as well.
I adapted the original recipe just slightly – adding more butter to the streusel mixture so that the topping would hold better to the top of the muffin after baking. But otherwise, this is the perfect coffee cake muffin – not too sweet, filled with wonderful vanilla flavor with a sweet cinnamon streusel baked inside as well as on top!
These muffins are a wonderful morning treat – and they freeze well too. So, even though we’ll be back to our busy lives next week, we can still enjoy these delicious sour cream coffee cake muffins for breakfast!
Adapted from Just a Taste
You may like these other Muffin recipes:
- Cream Cheese Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Lemon Curd Filling
- Maple Streusel Muffins
- Buttermilk Corn Muffins
- Cashew Cranberry Crunch Muffins

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: muffins
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the streusel
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces
For the batter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the dry streusel ingredients (flour, sugar and cinnamon) and stir with a whisk to combine. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, add the butter pieces and work into the dry mixture until well incorporated. Set aside.
- To make the batter, in another medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk together. Set aside.
- In the bowl of stand mixer, beat together softened butter, oil, and sugar and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added.
- Keeping the mixer on a low speed, slowly add in the sour cream and vanilla and finally the flour mixture and mix until fully combined, but being careful not to over mix the batter. (Once you’ve turned off the mixer, using a spatula, give the mixture one additional stir by hand just to make sure that all of the wet ingredients from the bottom are completely mixed into the flour mixture.)
- Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into each prepared muffin cup. Then sprinkle some of the streusel mixture on top of the batter. Divide the remaining batter into the muffin cups (spoon on top of the streusel layer) and then divide the remaining streusel over each muffin, sprinkling it over the batter.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.
- Remove the pan from the oven and remove each muffin to a wire rack to cool completely.
Keywords: Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins
Martha, Can I use a full fat plain yogurt in place of sour cream?
Sure Blanche – the taste might be slightly different, but yogurt and sour cream are definitely interchangeable in this recipe.
What are the Nutrition numbers on these muffins.
Hi Theresa – I’ve added them to the bottom of the recipe card.
They are currently in the oven and smell delicious!! I used cannabis infused butter and coconut oil to make these to ensure my good nights sleep!
Thank you!
Sounds great Doreane! 🙂
Sorry but These sour cream coffee cake muffins are not worth the time. Do not like the oil in the batter, which resulted in a flat tasting dough. Quantity was listed as 12 muffins. In my pans, it made 18. When i tried to get them out of the pan, tops of the muffins separated where the streusel was in the middle and I ended up with a real mess. I threw out the batter before even baking the last 6.
Thanks for your feedback Donna – sorry you were disappointed
Is it possible to substitute sour cream for greek yogurt?
Hi Samantha – I think you’d be fine doing that swap. The flavors may be a bit different but I think the yogurt would add similar moistness and properties as the sour cream.
Sour cream coffee cake muffin just want to print out the receipes
Hi Roberta – There is a print button at the top of the recipe card.
I have made these several times but a plant based version, flax egg, dairy free plain yogurt, gf flour and almond flour, half the sugar but used coconut palm sugar. I have added blueberries or apple pieces before the streusel topping. They are a huge hit over here.
★★★★★
Great to know that the substitutions work Denise – thank you!
For the one who said these didn’t turn out: possibly your baking powder was old. I made these and filled 12 average size muffin cups over the top. Baked at 375° f for 20 minutes. Increased baking soda to 1 teaspoon. I did not use a mixer. Included sugar with dry ingredients. I whisked the wet ingredients and then added to the dry with a wooden spoon. They turned out perfect and moist
★★★★★
Thanks Mary!
Delicious! Moist with a wonderful cinnamon flavour. So easy – I used my mixer and after adding the flour mixture, I stopped and mixed by hand so that there was no chance of over mixing. Thanks for a great recipe.
★★★★★
Thanks Nora – great thinking!
Easy to make, delicious with coffee!
My husband is a coffee cake lover and really liked these. It will now be a go to recipe. Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
You’re welcome Sindy – glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Excelentes, deliciosos!! Muchas gracias.
★★★★★
You’re welcome Bertha!
Can you substitute yogurt for the sour cream?
Hi Helen – We’ve never tried it ourselves, but I suspect it would work. Please let us know how it comes out!
Made these for a friend post surgery! “ Best I’ve ever had!” This made 16 muffins- all big….cooked a few minutes longer than the recipe called for; but that might just be my oven. GREAT RECIPE!!
Thanks Barbara – so glad the muffins were a hit!
These muffins are awesome! Super tasty and fun to bake! Added pecans and used the coarse/sanding sugar in the streusel mix.
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
★★★★★
You’re very welcome Miriam – great suggestions!
These are fantastic! They are moist and so tasty! They took more like 30 mins to bake though.
★★★★★
Thanks Gina – glad you enjoyed the muffins!
could i add blueberries to these w/o messing up the texture? thx
Hi Steph – we haven’t tried doing so, but I think it would work. It will probably increase the overall volume of the batter so plan for additional muffins. Let us know how it comes out!
I thought these were rather labor intensive.
It would have been nice to know what size and how many muffins the recipe would make!
After filling 12 regular muffin cups. I had a lot left and transferred them to a large baking sheet and had a total of 20 . They took 25 min. To bake.
(My oven is accurate).
They also don’t look anything like your picture! 🙁
Too hot to taste but I’m sure they will be good!
I’ll go back to my Jewish Coffee. cake made in a Bumdt pan.
Thanks for your feedback Ingrid (we used a regular muffin pan too).
So delicious and moist!!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed the muffins Gina!
The batter is very versatile and fluffy. I added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter. I liked the streusel, but may consider substituting brown sugar for white sugar next time. Recipe made 18 muffins. I plan to freeze some of them.
★★★★
Thanks for the suggestion Lori!
Hello.. thanks for this recipe but what about the coffee? It was not mentioned in the ingredients . Thanks
Hi Diana – “Coffee” cakes recipes are vintage recipes that were typically eaten with coffee…but it doesn’t necessarily mean that there is coffee in the cake as an ingredient. Hope that helps!
These are incredible! I even made them using gluten free flour. So good! Thank you.
Thank you Lainie – it’s always so helpful to us (and other readers) to know when swaps like that are successful. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Delicious!!! Thank you for new best muffin recipe to add to our breakfast rotation!
So glad you liked the recipe Sherry!
Can you use cupcake pan in ace of muffin pan
Hi Kristen – yes
Would really love to explore this web site but to have nearly a third of the page covered by ads is just too much. I will print and leave.
Thanks for your feedback Jo. We do run ads to cover the fairly significant cost of providing you free access to our recipes. The alternative would be to charge you to access our site – which I suspect none of our readers would like either. BTW – You can click on the “Jump to recipe” button at the very top of all of our posts, to get right to the recipe, and all ads are closeable so you can have an obstructed view. Hope that helps.
I tried this recipe today i got 18 muffins and we absolutely loved it! 5 out of 5 agree! Thank you for sharing. I only had 1/2 c of sour cream so i used 1/2 c of plain non fat greek yogurt to copensate , came out wonderful. Even at higher elevation 7000ft didnt have any problems.
★★★★★
Thanks Kim! We always appreciate when our readers share subtitutions that work well for our recipes! Glad you enjoyed them – and had no issues at a higher elevation.
Please consider leaving off full color photo at the end of your recipe wasting printer ink. I had to take screen shots in order to get recipe.
Thanks for your feedback Cammie – I’ve reached out to our developer to see if it’s possible.
Where is the coffee in the recipe
Hi Mary – A “coffee cake” is actually a cake intended to be served with coffee – and most of them have a streusel topping. That was the inspiration for our coffee cake muffins. Sorry for the confusion!
Made them and they were crazy yummy. Very moist. Ate one with a hot cup of coffee and it was amazing. I did get 18 good size regular size muffins. My husband asked me to make more but I don’t have sour cream so I am going to use buttermilk. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Glad you enjoyed the muffins Maria!
I also made these and they did not rise like the pictures, they were flat on top. Most recipes call for more baking soda than baking powder. This one calls for more baking powder than baking soda, which is how I made them. Is the recipe correct?
★★★
Thanks for the feedback Cris – Yes, the recipe is correct as written (and this is the same proportion as the original recipe we linked to). Assuming both your baking powder and baking soda were fresh and you followed all of the other instructions/measurements including oven temperature, I’m not sure I have any suggestions for you. I’m sorry you were disappointed in the recipe!
Can I USE regular butter?
Hi Roberta – Do you mean salted butter? If so, yes, but you might want to cut back on the additional salt in the batter.
I have always made these with regular sour cream, but I currently have light sour cream on hand. Do you think the lower fat content would alter the muffins too much or would it be fine?
★★★★★
Hi Katie – It might alter it a little, but overall, I think you’ll be fine using the light sour cream.
Great!
I made these this morning and made 12 Jumbo Muffins and we loved them. The only thing I am going to change is 1/4 less sugar
★★★★★
Thanks Marlene!
I made these & actually got 18 regular sized muffins. Super moist & delicious!
★★★★★
Glad you liked the muffins Rachael!
I added cinnamon chips and loved them
★★★★
Great addition Terri!
I made these today, which is a snowy day. My whole kitchen smells like cinnamon, love it! We had them for a late breakfast with home made hot cocoa. This muffin is so good!
★★★★★
Thanks Jennifer!
The muffin looks delicious. I will try this week! Thanks for sharing. Martha.
★★★★★
Thanks – We hope you love the muffins, Kathy!
I just made these. Very easy and really good. You can get more then 12 muffins from the recipe. Would definitely recommend this recipe.
Thanks Michele!
I just made these to send out with the family for early fishing. I was looking for an easy but good looking coffee cake muffin recipe. I always follow new recipes exactly the first time, and I did this one (I even read back through to see what I missed). However, my muffins had no dome and instead spilled out over the top of the tins. I am assuming I should have used my oversized muffin tin. As I had lot of batter left over after filling, I had a feeling I should have used a bigger muffin tin. I filled to just under the top because there was so much batter, rather than 3/4 full like I normally do. Bummed these didn’t turn out, as it was a waste of good ingredients. I am not an inexperienced baker, and honestly cannot remember the last time a recipe I tried didn’t turn out. If you used an over-sized muffin tin, you should state that in the recipe.
Hi Sarah – I’m so sorry you had problems with the recipe – wish I knew what went wrong. We used a standard-sized muffin pan (not mini and not over-sized/jumbo) when we made these. Having said that – if you click on over to the original recipe that we adapted for ours, she states in her recipe that she made 12 ‘jumbo sized’ muffins (although to me they look like the standard size in the photos). I remember the first time that we made this recipe (following hers) that we knew that we wouldn’t have enough batter to fill 12 jumbo size muffin pans – so went with the more common size. Either way, I’m sorry you were disappointed in the recipe – I hope the recipe wasn’t a complete waste for you. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback.
Loved the Sour Cream Coffee Cake muffins. They freeze beautifully. The only change I made was to substitute the oil for unrefined organic virgin coconut oil and they were delicious. Being a native New Englander(living in Texas) next on my list is your New England Apple Cider Cake. It looks wonderful!!
Great idea Sherry! We’ll have to try swapping in the coconut oil the next time we make the muffins! Hope you enjoy the Apple Cider Cake too!
How long would I bake these if I used an oversized muffin pan?
Hi Marybeth – I haven’t made these in an oversized muffin pan myself. But here is a helpful chart from Wilton: http://www.wilton.com/cupcakes/making-cupcakes/batter-amounts.cfm This is specific to cupcakes and cakes but the timing should be fairly close for muffin batter as well! Hope this helps!
Can I bake this batter in a loaf or other pan or does it need to be changed up? Thanks again. Andrea
Hi Andrea – I’m sorry, I never tried it as a loaf bread. It might work – please let us know if you try it!
It worked beautifully, about 40 minutes at 350. Thanks.
I was looking for a pumpkin coffee cake recipe, this sound like it’s very adaptable. I will try it and get back to you!
Sounds great Andrea! I’d love to hear how it comes out with the added pumpkin puree!
I substituted a 1/4 cup of the sour cream with pumpkin and everyone loved them! The batter is soo light! Thanks. Andrea
What a great idea Andrea! I’m going to try that myself! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Hi Martha,
these muffins sound delicious. Do you think I could add some fruit, e.g., cherries or apples? TIA!
Hi Tina – Yes – I’m sure you could add some fruit. You might need to adjust the cooking time since the fruit will add some extra moisture – but it should work!
I made these for a party last night and they went down a storm. I don’t have any left! Which is a shame, because I’d love to have some with my coffee this morning. Maybe I need to do another batch…
Great recipe!
Glad they were a hit Gwen! (And yes – definitely make a double batch the next time!) Thanks for writing to us!
Do you think you could freeze these? Have you tried freezing them? Thanks
Hi Julianne – Yes – we’ve frozen them! Like any baked goods – these are best fresh out of the oven, but they were still delicious after freezing them!
Can I double this recipe and do I use a standard-size cupcake pan or a muffin-sized pan?
Hi Christine – Yes – we baked ours in standard size cupcake/muffin pan. And sure – you can double the recipe and it will fill two pans.
So you put some batter in the pan, than streusel, than more batter and finally sprinkle some more streusel? Or just put the streusel on the top? These muffins sound delicious:)
Hi Susie – Yes – batter then streusel then more batter and a final sprinkle of streusel on top! Hope you enjoy the muffins!
A friend of mine made these and they were simply wonderful! I would like to make them in a cake pan but I’m wondering what size and for how long shall I bake them?
Hi Joanne! I haven’t made these in any other form – just the muffins so I can’t say for sure. The recipe I adapted (link in the post) suggested a loaf pan or even a bundt pan could be used – but she didn’t specify how long to bake it. If you try it – please let us know how it worked out!
Do you have any suggestions on how to make these healthier?
You could use low-fat sour cream to reduce some fat and calories without changing the recipe too much.
You can also use apple sauce in place of the oil.
Great suggestion Erica!
I would recommend using some applesauce in place of the oil and maybe increase the butter by 1 TBS. You could also use half (or all) whole wheat flour. Both of these options would definitely make it more heart healthly!!
Thanks Kimberly!
these look great!
Thanks Dina!
I love coffee cake – and to put them in a muffin makes so much sense! Yum!
Thanks Kristi! Have a great weekend!
I make a muffin very similar to this and they are delicious! I love when I have extra time in the kitchen to bake!
I find baking very therapeutic. 🙂 I’ll definitely check out your recipe Kathy! Thanks for visiting us today!