Make Copycat Starbucks Coffee Cake with This Easy Cake-Mix Hack

Photo byPicky Palate

This copycat Starbucks recipe is the easiest version I've found and it's much cheaper--not to mention fresher--than store-bought coffee cake. While there are quite a few Starbucks coffee-cake recipes out there, this one uses the directions on the back of a box of yellow cake mix for the base. All you need to do is bake the cake until it's partially set, add the streusel topping and return it to the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

The result is a moist yet tender cake with a crunchy streusel topping. While I like the cake part of coffee cake, it's the streusel I crave and this recipe has a lot of it--not just a light coating. Because the streusel is all on the surface, you don't need to mess with dividing the batter and topping in half.

Drizzle this coffee cake with a simple glaze and serve it for brunch. Or dust with powdered sugar and enjoy it as an afternoon snack.

Yellow Cake Mix Coffee Cake

Ingredients

1 (15.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix mix (and whatever ingredients are called for on the back of the box)

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, cold and cubed

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2. Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the back of the box.

3. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the center is barely set.

4. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, combine the cold butter, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla until crumbly.

5. Break the streusel into marble size pieces with your fingers and sprinkle over the top as soon as you remove the cake from the oven.

6. Put the cake back into the oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and topping is golden brown.

7. Let the cake cool and dust with powdered sugar (optional).

Notes

One thing I like about this recipe is that you don't need to cut the butter into the dry topping ingredients by hand. Just be sure your butter is cold so the streusel will form the right consistency.

You may need to bake this a few extra minutes to make sure cake is set.

If you have a few spare minutes you can make a glaze to drizzle onto the coffee cake. Whisk together 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 2-4 tablespoons milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Any box mix will work, but I'm a fan of Duncan Hines Butter Golden because it's very moist.

To cut down costs even further, you can substitute margarine for the butter.