If you love bright citrus desserts and cozy bakery-style cakes - this Lemon Coffee Cake with a lemon crumble topping and fresh lemon glaze, is the perfect recipe to bake. It's soft, buttery, and packed with layers of fresh lemon flavor in every bite. Topped with a sweet crumbly streusel and finished with a tangy lemon glaze. This homemade lemon coffee cake is ideal for breakfast, brunch, dessert, or an afternoon treat.
Course Breakfast, Cake, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword homemade lemon coffee cake with streusel topping, lemon coffee cake, lemon coffee cake with lemon glaze, recipe for homemade coffee cake
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Lightly spray a 8x8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray, and then line it with parchment paper, making sure to leave a slightly overhang for easy removal.
Lemon Crumble Topping
In a medium bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, fresh lemon zest, and salt until combined.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, ¼ teaspoon salt
Add in the melted butter and mix with a fork until sandy crumbs form, with some larger clumps. Allow the crumbs to sit at room temperature while you prepare the cake.
3 tablespoons butter
Lemon Crumb Cake
In a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar at medium-high speed for 2 minutes, until creamy and just lightly fluffy.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar
Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on low speed after each one just until combined.
2 large eggs
Add in the lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract and blend until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda until evenly combined.
1½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Add the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients in two additions, alternating with half of the sour cream between each dry ingredient addition, mixing on low speed just until blended until no dry streaks remain. Avoid overmixing the batter to keep the cake tender.
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
Spread the lemon cake batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top. Sprinkle the reserved crumble over the batter, making sure to distribute it evenly across the cake, to avoid the cake collapsing in one area.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the center springs back lightly when touched and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean with only a few crumbs (no wet batter!)
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 20 minutes at room temperature. Then lift the cake out using the parchment paper overhang and place it on a cooling rack. Allow the cake to cool completely.
Lemon Glaze
In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, and vanilla extract until combined. You want the glaze to be smooth, semi-pourable, and pipeable or spoonable. *Add a little more lemon juice if it is too thick, or a small amount of powdered sugar if it's too thin.
3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pipe or drizzle the lemon glaze over the cake. Let the glaze set for a few minutes before slicing into 9 squares. Serve & enjoy!
Notes
Once you add the flour mixture (in the two parts alternating with the sour cream) be careful that you are not aggressively or overmixing or else the cake can become dense instead of a light and tender cake. Mix on low speed only, and only mix until no flour pockets or streaks remain in the batter.
Allowing the cake to cool completely before glazing prevents the glaze from completely melting into the surface, keeping the drizzle pretty and visible. Use a fork or spoon to drizzle the glaze over top, or put the glaze into a sandwich size Ziploc bag with the corner snipped, and pipe it over top the cake in even lines.
I highly recommend full-fat sour cream for the best texture, creaminess, and tender crumb. Plain Greek yogurt can be substituted if preferred, however, I much prefer the taste of the sour cream as it has way less tangy flavor than yogurt.
Do not substitute the fresh lemon juice for bottled lemon juice - you need lemon zest anyways, so zest the lemons first and then squeeze the juice out of them.