The best Vegan Coffee Cake ever, and it’s SO easy to make! Moist, fluffy, and layered with a sweet cinnamon streusel, it’s perfect for holiday celebrations or weekend breakfasts.
Want more vegan cake recipes? Try my Apple Upside Down Cake, my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake, and my 1 Bowl Vegan Carrot Cake next.
Put the coffee on because we’re making Vegan Coffee Cake! This is such an easy breakfast or dessert recipe with no fuss at all. Even better, it’s moist, fluffy, and full of cinnamon streusel goodness.
This is the BEST vegan coffee cake ever because it’s made with not one but two layers of cinnamon streusel (in the middle and on top), a sweet vanilla glaze, and the fluffiest cake. To me, there’s no better dessert or breakfast to pair with a hot cup of coffee.
Along with my 1 Hour Vegan Cinnamon Rolls and my Vegan French Toast Casserole, it should be at the top of your list to make for holiday mornings!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Made it a million times – incredibly delicious, a big hit with non-vegans, and tastes like the middle part of a cinnamon roll to me!” – Daria
Why you’ll love this coffee cake recipe
- Twice the cinnamon streusel – I wanted double the cinnamon streusel goodness here, so I layered it in the middle and on top of the coffee cake. Every slice tastes just like a cinnamon roll.
- Easy breakfast or dessert – It’s so easy to make! Whisk the batter, layer it with the cinnamon streusel, and bake.
- Serve with coffee or tea – The moist and fluffy cake and warm cinnamon spices make this the best treat to pair with a mug of coffee or tea. ☕
If you love this coffee cake, you should try my Pumpkin Coffee Cake or my Blueberry Coffee Cake next!
How to make vegan coffee cake
Find the complete recipe with measurements in the recipe card below.
Make the cake batter: Stir the milk and apple cider vinegar together. Set aside.
Next, stir the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. To the same bowl, add the milk/vinegar mixture, oil, applesauce, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Make the cinnamon streusel: In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.
Sprinkle half of the streusel over the cake batter in the pan.
Pour the remaining batter over top, then top with the rest of the streusel.
To finish, drizzle melted vegan butter all over the top.
Bake the coffee cake: Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the vanilla glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, vegan cream/milk, and vanilla together until smooth.
Decorate and serve: Once the coffee cake is cool, drizzle the vanilla glaze all over the top.
Slice and serve the cake with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
Despite its name, coffee cake surprisingly contains no coffee. It’s called coffee cake because the warm spices and sweet flavors go so well with a cup of coffee (or tea).
I haven’t tried it myself, but you should be okay to replace the all-purpose flour with a quality gluten-free all-purpose flour blend.
16 servings of cake is quite a lot, so if you don’t want that much, cut the ingredients in half and assemble the cake in an 8 x 8 inch pan instead.
Sure. Assemble the cake in the pan (without the melted butter on top) and keep it covered in the fridge for up to 1 day. Drizzle the butter on top before baking.
To keep it from drying out, store the leftover coffee cake on the kitchen counter (covered) for 2 to 3 days. The streusel won’t be as crisp after sitting, but the cake will still be moist and delicious.
Yes! Wrap the baked and cooled cake in a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil to prevent freezer burn, then freeze for up to 2 months.
Vegan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup canola oil OR melted coconut or avocado oil
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon Streusel
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
For drizzling on top, before baking
- 4 tablespoons melted vegan butter
Vanilla Glaze (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan cream or soy milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
- Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir a little, then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar with a large spoon until well combined.
- To the bowl with the dry ingredients, pour in the milk/vinegar mixture, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour half of the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Make the Cinnamon Streusel: In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon streusel over the batter in the pan, then spoon on the rest of the cake batter, spreading it gently with a spoon. The batter may not reach the edges or cover all the streusel, and that is okay. Sprinkle with the rest of the streusel.
- Drizzle with the melted vegan butter, then place in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The vegan butter may still look wet in places, but it will harden as it cools and add a nice crunch to the cake.
- Make the Optional Vanilla Glaze: Meanwhile, whisk the powdered sugar, vegan cream/milk, and vanilla extract together until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the slightly cooled cake.
- Serve with a cup of coffee, if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- May substitute a different milk such as coconut, almond, cashew or oat milk.
- This recipe makes enough for a crowd, so feel free to cut the ingredients in half and make it in a 8 x 8 inch pan if you’d like.
- Oil free: I don’t think it tastes great with no oil at all, but if you must you could use all applesauce in place of the oil, and leave out the vegan butter drizzle on top.
- Gluten free: I haven’t tried it, but I think a quality gluten free all purpose flour should work quite well. Simply subbing almond or coconut flour will not work.
INCREDIBLE!!! I haven’t had coffee cake since I went vegan 6 years ago. So glad I make this.
Hi Josephine. I’m so glad you tried the recipe, and that you loved it! Thank you for sharing!
I didn’t have applesauce so used some liquidy (added a couple splashes of water) peanutbutter instead and it was so good! Next time I might try adding chopped walnuts to the middle streusel layer. I was really surprised how quickly and easily this came together. Love it!
Hi Em. I’m glad the cake worked out great for you! Thank you!
Can I substitute olive oil for the canola oil? Or should I use melted vegan butter? We have allergies to coconut and avocado, and we don’t have canola oil. And I’m dying to make this in the morning!
Olive oil would work okay, yes, though I would prefer the flavor of melted vegan butter. Hope you love it!
This was fantastic! The right texture and flavor I was looking for to actually make an apple coffee cake. I added 315g chopped apple to the batter and used yogurt instead of applesauce for the tang. Replaced the sugar with 3/4 cup maple syrup and left out about 3 TBL of milk to make up for the liquidity of maple syrup.Thanks so much for crafting this recipe.
Hi Meggie. I’m glad you enjoyed the cake! Thank you for sharing!
Do you have a recommendation to substitute for the applesauce?
Hi Nadia. In place of applesauce, non-dairy yogurt works, or 2 flax eggs would likely work as well (2 tbs ground flax + 5 tbs water). Happy baking!
Made this again with my 6 year old for the _______th time. We love it! Used apple sauce in place of oil. The house smells amazing:)
Hi Mandi. Aren’t the baking smells divine?! I’m glad you love the cake recipe. Thank you!
Made this Christmas morning. It is DELICIOUS!! I opted for the 1/2 recipe baked in 8×8 pan, so easy and declared yummm by my non-vegan husband,
Can I sub almond milk for the soy milk?
Yes you can.
Can you make this ahead of time? If so, should you just put the cake together and bake before serving or bake and serve at room temperature (or warm in oven covered?) the next day?
I think it should work to refrigerate the batter, prepared overnight in the refrigerator, but I haven’t tried it myself. Of course you could also make it ahead of time, bake it, and it will be just fine for a day before you serve it. You could warm it back up in the oven, covered, but not for too long or it will dry out. Hope that helps! It’s perfectly fine at room temperature, too.
doesnt the milk curdle with the vinegar if it stays to long?
It actually is supposed to curdle, it is your vegan buttermilk. 🙂
Can you substituted coconut sugar for brown sugar? Can you prep this the night before and refrigerate and bake the next day?
You probably could but I haven’t tried it. It will change the taste quite a lot. I’ve never tried refrigerating the batter, it might work though.
my favorite quick,easy and super yummy go to cake!
Hi there!
Could I replace the soy milk with oat milk?? so excited to make this 🙂
Yes, not a problem. Enjoy!
So delicious and easy! Thank you Nora, your recipes are simply the best!
Thank you so much!
I halved the recipe and used a loaf pan (cuz I like my slices a little taller so I can spread butter on it more easily). It worked out perfect. Should I refrigerate this? How long will it last if I keep it refrigerated? Thx!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I usually just leave it at room temperature, but you could refrigerate it. I would say it will keep about 4-5 days in the fridge. Thanks!
This coffee cake is out of this universe. I ate it all myself. No evidence left, if that attests to it. Somethings are too good to share. Thanks Nora!
You’re welcome!
I halved the recipe and used an 8×8 pan as suggested by for some reason there wasn’t enough dough to cover the entire pan? I spread it quite thin already but didn’t cover the entire bottom. Could there be a reason why?
That’s odd, I wonder if anything was off with your calculations? There should be enough to place half the batter on the bottom, then the streusal, then more batter on top.
Hi I had the same issue! I was meticulous with the maths so not sure what happened! Keen to try again as I love how simple and effective this recipe is.
I swapped out the apple sauce for some coconut yoghurt that needed using and it work like a dream!! So delicious! Awesome recipe!!
Thanks!!
This turned out SO good. I caramelized some apples and plunked ice cream on top. Thank youuu!
You’re welcome!
Just made it! Will cut into it soon but looks delicious. About how long will it keep?
It should last about two days at room temperature. A couple more days if refrigerated. Hope you love it!
Hello,
Could this be made into a bundt cake ?
I bet it could! I haven’t tried it though. It would need to bake for longer, probably around 50-60 minutes.
is the nutritional info for the entire cake?
No, it is for 1 of 16 servings. It makes a lot!
I used a glass pan and my edges got pretty crispy (still really good!). I would recommend starting at 35 minutes with a glass pan and going longer if needed. I also made a newb mistake using coconut oil and not naking sure my wet ingredients were room temp! Dont do that 😉
This is a hit among all my non-vegan friends and one even requested it for her birthday party! My favorite recipes are when you “can’t even tell it’s vegan” and this is definitely one of those.
That’s so great!
Hi Nora,
Could I use a loaf pan? if so, would the baking time change?
You could, but I think there will be enough batter for two loaf coffee cakes, I’m not sure as I haven’t tested it. But yes, the time would likely increase to maybe 35-50 minutes, somewhere in there. I would check it often; it’s done when a toothpick comes out clean in the center.
Okay great! Also, would there be something else I could use instead of apple sauce? Perhaps a vegan sour cream? I’m not sure what the exact role of the applesauce is for the recipe so I’m not sure what to look for as a substitute. I am playing around with making it sugar free. Or is it technically sugar free if i use sugar alternatives and still use unsweetened applesauce even though it has natural sugars? Thank you so much for all your recipes and help!
Sugar free seems to mean different things to different people. Unsweetened applesauce has only natural sweeteners from the apples, but if you don’t want to use it you might be able to use a vegan sour cream. I haven’t tried it though. A few flax eggs might even work. Thanks!
Can I use almond milk instead of soy milk? Same amount?
Yes, that would work.