This Yellow Cake Mix Coffee Cake is another easy winner for a quick breakfast or dessert! I really love recipes that start with a cake mix because it saves me time AND mess. And this breakfast cake has that perfectly soft cake layer topped with a sweet, nutty crumble. Coffee cake perfection!
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My Favorite Cake Baking Essentials
I’m a total sucker for a baking pan with a lid. This 9×9 set of two from Wilton is perfect!
Kitchen Aid Hand Mixer. I’ve used this one for years, and I love it!
Parchment paper – I like these pre-cut cookie baking sheets because you can cut them in half for a perfect cake pan liner!
All Clad Measuring Cups – I know these are in investment, but they’re sturdy, beautiful and you’ll never have to buy another set again. I use them constantly!
This non-stick baking spray is by far my favorite way to bake with peace of mind. NOTHING ever sticks! This is not an affiliate link because the price on Amazon is ridiculous. So pick it up at Williams Sonoma.
How to make a perfect coffee cake
The ideal coffee cake should include 2 essential things. Deliciously soft and moist cake coupled with a brown sugar crumble in the middle and on top. I love how the middle layer of crumble gets soft and a little gooey, and the topping gets a little crispy. Such a great combination of flavors and texture.
Start by removing 2/3 cup of the cake mix and combining with brown sugar, butter and pecans. This makes the crumble. Easy, right?
Next, stir up the rest of the cake mix with sour cream (this makes it super fluffy and moist) and eggs.
Last, pour half the coffee cake mix into your prepared baking pan, then add 1/2 the crumble, then more layer of cake mix and top with the rest of the crumble.
Bake it up for 45 minutes to an hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it rest 15 minutes and then slice it up and enjoy!
Love this coffee cake recipe? Try these other awesome cake recipes!
Orange Blueberry Coffee Cake 
Gluten Free Banana Coffee Cake
If you decide to give this recipe a try, be sure to snap a photo to share, tagging @theovenlight and #theovenlight on Instagram or Facebook!
Yellow Cake Mix Coffee Cake
Ingredients
- 1 yellow cake mix
- 1/4 C unsalted butter melted
- 1 C brown sugar
- 1 C chopped pecans or nut of your choice
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 C sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 9×9 inch pan; set aside.**
- Remove 2/3 Cup cake mix and combine with melted butter, brown sugar and chopped nuts; set aside.
- Combine remaining cake mix with the eggs and sour cream, mixing until batter is smooth. Pour half into prepared pan. Top with half of the nut mixture. Repeat layers.
- Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Trying it now! Looks and sounds delicious.
Use a bigger pan if not you will have a mess in oven
I’m so sorry it overflowed! I’ve not had this problem, but the recipe could also be made in a larger pan (9″x13″) if it seems overly-full. I hope you’ll try it again!
I just put mine in the oven in a 9 x 13 pan
The same thing happened to me. I believe it needs to be baked in a 9 x 13. It’s frustrating that this created another job for me to do (clean my oven).
I’m so sorry! Truly. I hate cleaning my oven. I’ve added a note to the recipe that a 9×13 pan may be better if you don’t have a 9×9 with high sides. I really am sorry and I hope you give it another go, it’s really delicious!
I made this last night, so delicious! Amazingly I had all the ingredients. So easy to make. Thanks so much for the recipe.
I just made it- I added a little vanilla bean paste too. So yummy ! I was tempted to add some apples but maybe next time! I also skipped the nuts and baked it on top of a sheet pan in case it overflowed. Ps. We couldn’t wait for it to cool and ate the first 2 pieces about 5 minutes out of the oven. Ty ty. Sharing!! Theresa
So happy you liked it! Such a deliciously simple recipe. Love your apple idea, I’ll have to give that a try.
I made this in a greased and floured Bundt pan. Looks and tastes delicious. It is always a crowd pleaser for a brunch.
Did you still separate the mixture into layers or just cook all cake with crunch on top?
The cake is layered with cake, topping, cake, topping. Take a look at the video for the visual on how to layer. Enjoy!
Hi Janice, how long did you bake it in The Bundt pan?
Have you ever added cinnamon to this recipe?
I haven’t, but I’m sure it would be amazing!
Hi do you prepare the rest of cake mix according to the cake box or just add the sour cream and eggs?
For this recipe, you’ll ignore the coffee cake instructions on the box and just add the sour cream and eggs as noted in the recipe.
I added cinnamon (probably 2 T) to the strudel type layer and 1T vanilla and 2 T butter to the sour cream mixture–I only had 1 cup of sour cream on hand. It was wonderful and easy.
How much sour cream is needed? 1 container is 8onz?
This recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of sour cream. 1 cup is 8 ounces, so you’ll need two 8 ounce containers or one 16 ounce. Enjoy!
I only used 12oz of sour cream or 1 1/2 cups as stated in the recipe. If you wouldn’t mind clarifying, is it 2cup ( 16oz) or 1 1/2 cups (12oz) ?
Hi Jennifer! Thank you for your question. It is indeed 1 1/2 cups of sour cream, or the equivalent of 12oz. I hope you enjoy!
No coffee in the recipe – ?
Sorry, this is a classic coffee cake, usually made to go WITH your coffee, but does not contain any coffee in the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Easy recipe and so good. I added a Pinchot pie spice to topping. Very good
Easy recipe and so good. I added pie spice to strudel topping. Very good
I used plain yogurt in place of sour cream. No overflowing using 9×9 pan. However, cake did fall in the middle. Still delicious.
Cake fell in the middle .. otherwise delicious,
Literally eating this as I type, and it is so good! I read the comments prior to baking and decided to go with a 9×13. I only had a enough brown sugar for one brown sugar layer (in the middle) and made a cinnamon sugar mix drizzled with melted butter for the topping.
This is husband and children approved!
So glad you all loved it!
For filling, I used one cup crushed graham crackers instead of nuts and one teaspoon cinnamon, used 9×13 pan, and a glaze. Very good.
I used 1tsp vanilla, 1/2 tbs cinnamon and 1/2 c oil in the cake mix portion, 1/4 tbs cinnamon in the 2/3 cake mix portion, skipped the nuts, baked in 9×9 pan @ 350 for 50 min. No overflowing. It was awesome. Thank you for the recipe.
If you are worried about overflowing 9 x 9 pan then turn oven temperature down 25 degrees
Thank you for this tip! Love it!
Any recommendations to substitute the sour cream if I don’t have any on hand? Also would this work with a gluten free yellow cake mix? Thanks
Hi Holly! Thank you for your question. You can use plain yogurt to substitute the sour cream. And it should work fine with a GF yellow cake mix, although I haven’t tried it yet. I’m planning on trying soon and I’ll update the recipe once I know!
This was so delicious and very easy to make! I was a little skeptical about the 2/3 cake mix as the crumble, I just couldn’t see how 1/3 of the batter would be enough to make this but it is and holy yummyness!!! I went with a deep dish 2 quart casserole dish and it was perfect. It was nice and puffy but then fell a bit while cooling, I think maybe my base layer wasn’t thick enough?! Wish I could post pics that how good this was lolololol Perfect way to start the new year
Is that 2/3 cup or 2/3 cake mix that you mix with the butter and sugar and nuts
2/3 Cup of the cake mix. It doesn’t sound like much, but it all works out in the end. I hope you enjoy it!
I’m baking this as I write this. Very easy to follow and I didn’t change a thing except I’m making muffins! I have guests coming to my cottage so I thought I would try something easy and new. I let you know if its a hit or miss.
C.L.
I just made this and oh my gosh….. it is so SO GOOD. My family loved it. I messed up the measurements tho. I mixed up 2/3 of entire cake mix (not 2/3 cup) with brown sugar and I used 1/2 cup of melted butter and 1 cup chopped pecans. For the batter i had about a cup of cake mix left so I mixed that with about 1 1/2 cups of sour cream and 3 eggs. Mixed that up and poured half into 9×13 pan and covered it with half of the brown sugar & nut streusel type mixture. Then spread out the rest of the batter on top of that then sprinkled the rest of the nut brown sugar mixture as last layer. So I ended up with not a lot of batter and lots of nuts & brown sugar streusel mixture. I didn’t notice I read recipe wrong until I decided to write out a recipe card and came back to jot down all the ingredients and realized my mistake. But it actually turned out awesome this way.!!! I’ll make again with your measurements. Either way it’s a really great recipe & a really great coffee cake. Thank you!!
I added half a crisp apple and crushed walnuts teaspoon cinnamon.
Turned out amazing in 9×9 pan
I have this cooling at the moment, but made it for breakfast tomorrow. My house smells so good. Can’t wait! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your comment! I hope you enjoy it!
I substituted 1C plain yogurt and 2-3 T of milk for the sour cream. It was super light and fluffy!! My family loved it.! Also added a T of vanilla! Yum!! Thanks!!
So glad you liked it! And I love your edits, sounds great and would make it lower in fat too!
Can you use 2% milk and fat free sour cream?
Hi Kelly! I haven’t tried it this way. Let me know how it turns out!
Recipe looks good and easy to make, however how and where does the coffee come from?
Hi Deanna! I know the recipe name is misleading, but this recipe is made to be eaten with coffee, but does not contain any coffee. I hope you love it!
Added 1 cup diced apples(sprinkled in flour) and a tablespoon of espresso powder came out so yummy!!! Great recipe and super easy!
Sounds yummy! I’m glad you liked it!
An I use salted butter
Salted butter is ok to use, it adds about 1/4 tsp of salt, which won’t change the flavor too much.
Best cake mix makeover ever. 1/2 tsp vanilla added.
Thank you so much for the recipe.
So glad you liked it!
I made this on 2 different occasions and it is delicious. I baked in a 9 X 9″ glass baking pan. It did not overflow but the center fell both times. Not sure what caused this. Still tastes delicious. Do you have any idea why it fell in the center?
Thank you for your comment! Yes, we’ve had the same thing happen in a 9×9 baking dish. When baked in a 9×13, it doesn’t fall. Our theory is that the weight of the cake and the topping become a little too heavy in a 9×9. We just baked this recipe today and are making some slight changes to the instructions to address this exact issue! So stay tuned!
This was an incredibly easy and delicious recipe. Took me less than 10 minutes to put together and cooked flawlessly. I did see the comments about the overflowing after I started filling my pan. It’s a more shallow pan so I put a sheet pan underneath just in case and we didn’t have any issues at all. The buttery layers of pecan and brown sugar had this sweet, sticky flavor that reminded me of pecan pie. Just delightful. Saving this recipe!
Thank you for your comment! I’m so glad you loved it and it all baked ok!
Thanks for this! Could use instructions for cupcake/muffins! ❤️
Great idea! I’ll work on it!
Made this today. DELICIOUS!! No nuts since hubby can’t have. Thank you
I made this last night for this morning. LOVE IT! I did not read the comments first and used a 9 x 13 pan ONLY because i’s new and pretty! hahaha I will mak ethis againa and again I am sure of it! I amy add thiungs here and there for varity but it is YUMMY as is!
Hi
I made this recipe as stated, accept I did use a 9×13 pan. And I added a can of lucky leaf pie apples.
I added 1/2 half of the batter to pan, layered the apples slices in 3 rows, sprinkled half of the brown sugar nut mixture on top of the apples.
Then followed the other half of the batter, then sprinkled the other half of the brown sugar nut mixture on top.
The with the spatula spread it all evenly
Baked for 55 mins @ 350
It’s was PERFECT and so so good
Oooooh, that sounds AMAZING! So glad you used this recipe!
I made this for Mother’s Day. DELICIOUS! Making it again today and adding crushed pineapple since it reminded me of pineapple upside down. I’ll let you know. Thank you for this awesome recipe.
YUM! So glad this recipe is a good jumping off point for so many delicious flavors!
I have made this recipe 3 times and from the start i have used a 9×13 pan and this cake keeps getting better and better!! I LOVE THIS RECIPE!! Most all my husband loves it this time i put some light fruit in it couple strawberries and a couple bananas its cooling on the stove.perfect ladies
Thank you for the comment! I’m so glad you love it!
Sounds amazing. I’m thinking of making it with a box of butter pecan cake mix. Could you make this in a Bundt pan?
Ooh, that sounds delicious! I believe some of our readers have made it in a bundt pan, but I have not. I’ll give it a try when I have a chance and let you know how it goes!
Added vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and an apple. I used a bundt pan and baked it for 45 min. It came out perfect!