This Cake Mix Coffee Cake is so easy and yummy! I am a big fan of quick desserts, especially treats with buttery cinnamon and sugar crumb toppings.
Cake Mix Coffee Cake
This cake mix coffee cake is light and fluffy, yet moist and delicious. It is so easy to do and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand. This is a pretty versatile dish, too — you can add things or take them away as you like. You can add chopped up apples to the crumb topping to make it an apple cinnamon coffee cake. Blueberries or shredded coconut make great additions, too! If you are a big fan of topping, double it (I have done this and doubled all but the butter and it was still great)! My favorite substitution is using coconut oil instead of vegetable or canola oil. It adds a slight coconut-y flavor which I love, plus it is better for you!
Works Well For A Crowd
This is a great dish if you are have guests over. It is relatively cheap to make and it serves up to 15 people (depending on how hungry everyone is). It is a winner for kids and adults alike! As an added FYI, I have made this cake at a lower temp (325) and baked for longer (a little over an hour) and it turns our great. It just takes longer. I haven’t noticed a huge difference in the texture. It seemed pretty much the same to me. If you have extra time to spare or WANT to drag out the baking time for whatever reason, feel free to do so. However you do it, remember baking times can vary from oven to oven and elevation to elevation. Just keep an eye on it as it is baking. Enjoy!
More Coffee Cake Recipes
If you love coffee cake you should also try our other yummy flavors! Our Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is one of my all time favorite coffee cakes! Although I think it is a pretty close tie with our Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Coffee Cake. Both are so good, you can’t go wrong! It works out fine because I can make the Pumpkin Coffee Cake during Fall and the Blueberry Coffee Cake in the spring. And you definitely want to try our Cranberry Almond Coffee Cake during the Holidays. And when I am in the mood for a coffee cake type dessert, I love our Cinnamon Swirl Cake with yummy frosting on top!
How To Make Cake Mix Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 yellow cake mix (15-18 ounce mix)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup oil (coconut oil works great)
- 3 eggs
- 3.4 ounce vanilla instant pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
For the topping:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine cake mix, water, buttermilk, oil, eggs, pudding mix. Beat with a mixer for about 2 minutes. Fold in sour cream.
- Pour batter into a greased 9x13 glass baking dish.
- In a smaller bowl, combine sugars, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and add to the sugar mixture. Mix together with a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in walnuts.
- Sprinkle half of the topping over the batter. Use a knife to swirl the mixture throughout the cake. (You can also keep ALL of the topping over the top, as shown in the picture)
- Top evenly with remaining topping.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Equipment
- 9x13 inch pan
Gwen Metzger says
So so moist and so yummy! This will be a new favorite for breakfast at our house!
Cristopher Pross says
Really enjoyed your blog. Thank you for sharing. You’ve found a new fan.
Erin says
Very delicious! It kept very well in my covered dish and didn’t dry out after a few days. My kids couldn’t get enough. The only substitution I made was pecans instead of walnuts. I will definitely make it again!
Terri Joy says
This coffee cake is delicious. I make it using a butter pecan cake mix and substitute pecans for the walnuts. Love this!
VB Lum says
Really good flavor, but I’ll leave out the pudding mix next time. I added a teaspoon of baking powder to give it a boost, which worked well.
Rachel says
This coffee cake is delicious! It’s a keeper.
Lisa says
I noticed that there is sour cream listed in the ingredients but not mentioned in the directions. Is it just mixed in with the batter? Or maybe I missed it??
Lisa says
Oops, never mind. I see it. 😊
Dori says
I followed this to a T and used Duncin Hines Super Moist mix and it came out great! Will definitely be doing this again! Thanks for the recipe!
Favorite Family Recipes says
I am so glad you loved it! Thanks for the 5-star rating!!
Barbara says
I used Duncan Hines Super Moist cake mix and also followed the recipe to a T (I did swirl some of the topping thru the cake). The cake fell during the baking. I think it was the swirling that caused this because I personally thought a stick of butter was too much. Cake was good but looked terrible.
Erica says
Oh no! I am so sorry this didn’t turn out well for you. It could have been the swirling, I’m not sure what else could have caused it to fall like that. Let us know if it works out for you next time!
Linda says
Made this cake exactly as directed, but it did not rise. Very dense and wet. I think way too much ingredients for a box cake. I make cakes weekly and this did not work. Texture was like a pudding cake.
Favorite Family Recipes says
That is so strange! It definitely should have raised. What kind of cake mix did you use? I’m trying to figure out what could have happened to make it not rise. I will have to make this soon and see if I can figure out the problem. Thanks for letting us know!
Brandy says
My husband had a heart attack last November and his cardiologist informed us that coconut oil is not in fact better for you it’s worse!!! Worse for you than butter!!! Seems impossible but check out the back of your jar next time you’re in your kitchen! I was shocked and very sad as we love to use coconut oil and everything! Can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ve been looking for one that incorporates sour cream as I plan to try yogurt!
Jen says
Yes, Dr. Furhman says all oil is bad for you actually. Eat to Live is a great book to get some interesting food health insight.
Tonya says
will it mess up this recipe if I use a already moist boxed cake mix then add buttermilk to it? what should I do different so that this turns out well ?
Echo says
It should turn out fine if you use a moist cake mix with the buttermilk. Thanks for asking!
Diane says
Can we put apples in the cake mix. If so, how much? Thanking you in advance.
Erica says
We haven’t done that before but I don’t see why not! I am sure you can add as many as you would like. It might be a good idea to use dehydrated apples that are chopped small so you don’t alter the texture of the Coffee Cake. Hope this helps!
Nancy says
This coffee cake as a big hit!Everyone loved it, the best remark came from my husband, Wow, tastes like a bakery made this!
Erica says
Nice! What a great compliment! Thank you to both you and your husband 🙂
Janice Johnson says
OMG I made it exactly as recipe says and It’s a hit!!! Gave some to my son and he took the container to work gave 3 pieces away He said one of the guys on the crew said his parents use to own a bakery yrs ago and this tops it! He asked my son to please have me make him one he will pay lol Soooooo GOOD!
Favorite Family Recipes says
Thank you so much for this amazing comment and compliment! So glad your son was able to share the love 😀 Thank you for coming back to share your experience!
Donna says
I would imagine if you get a cake mix that already has ‘pudding in the mix’ that you wouldn’t add the extra pudding mix??
Arielle says
This came out, Perfect!
Is was so moist and tasty.. thank you for sharing ♥️
Sharon Davis says
i THINK COCONUT PUDDING MIX WOULD BE GREAT IN THIS CAKE! SORRY CAPS LOCK WAS ON AND DID NOT NOTICE IT! LOL
Sharon Davis says
i THINK COCONUT PUDDING MIX WOULD BE GREAT IN THIS CAKE!
Jean Abrisz says
I have made the blueberry cream cheese coffee cake numerous times to take to different events and they are always the big hit. Everyone wants the recipe.
This is the first time I have ever tried the cake mix coffee cake but I’m sure it will be wonderful!
Echo says
Thank you! Let us know how you like the coffee cake.
Carol says
I made this and I don’t know if I didn’t bake it long enough or I had bought DuncanHines cake mix and it said on box extra moist and combined with the pudding I added it seemed too moist. The taste was excellent though and it was gone in no time.It just didn’t look like the picture. I was wondering if I just could buy the cake mix with the pudding in it already?
Erica says
You definitely could if you think it is too moist– we haven’t really had that issue before :S
Libby says
I just made this for the second time and used Betty Crocker moist yellow cake. The first time I followed the recipe exactly and my cake turned out way too moist, but it did have great flavor. The second time I made the cake, I looked at the Betty Crocker cake box and it said pudding was already in the mix. I left out adding the additional pudding and the cake was delicious!
Cindie Heavner says
This is in the oven as I sit and type! I noted where you could add apples or blueberries….I don’t have any apples (but in a couple of months I will be making loads of apple stuff!) – have blueberries but promised DH another blueberry cheesecake with them. But, I had mistakenly bought a larger can of fruit cocktail instead of peaches, so I thought “why not?”! Drained it well and added to the cake. I also doubled the topping as suggested and oh my! What a lot of topping but can you ever have enough crunchy topping??? It is starting to smell amazing – can’t wait for it to come out of the oven and cool so we can taste this masterpiece!! PS – I made this all sugar free as DH is a diabetic – I do this with all my recipes and I am expecting that there will be no difference in taste, as usual.
Echo says
Wow! I can’t wait to find out how it turned out. Kudos to you for baking sugar free. It takes extra work and some trial and error, but it’s wonderful that you do it and DH gets to eat delicious baked goods and not feel deprived because of diabetes. Thank you for sharing these ideas with us!
Laurie says
***** Turned out great just a little on the dry side, because I was being creative as I tried to use what was on hand! I used the basic Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow cake mix, added 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, substituted olive oil (for coconut)and pecans (for walnuts) omitted: buttermilk, pudding and sour cream as I had none. Next time I will try Brandy’s suggestion of yogurt for sour cream! Also I needed to Swirl my sugar mixture through the batter a little better because most of it ended up on just the top!