Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake
Copycat Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake is a tender, twisted breakfast treat filled with cinnamon, that’s even better than the original!!
This packaged, frozen coffee cake was one of my husband’s favorite weekend indulgences. Then, after it could no longer be found at the grocery store, I attempted to make a homemade version. After his first bite of this Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe, he was so thrilled, you would think he had won the lottery!
Best Coffee Cake Recipe
Nearly every time we’re in a new supermarket, my husband detours through the frozen food department looking for the elusive Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffeecake. It’s his gold standard for the best coffee cake recipe.
It’s his go-to easy breakfast treat. I have scoured the web and finally saw a copycat recipe to try. Check out this post for step-by-step photos.
Reader Endorsement:
Liz — I did prepare everything last night to bake for Christmas morning today and it turned out perfectly, to rave reviews! (This was my attempt to replicate my wife’s traditional Christmas morning of the Sara Lee butter streusel coffeecake while opening gifts, as we can’t find the frozen original anymore here in Northern California.) My wife thought it was perfect, as did the kids, and I thought it was far superior to the original.
Tips for Making this Cinnamon Coffee Cake Recipe
- PRO-Tip: Make sure your yeast has not expired. After going through the process of making the dough, it would be awful if your yeast had lost its potency. Check the expiration date on the label.
- Don’t rush the proofing (rising time) by putting your dough in an overly hot environment. About 80-85 degrees is perfect. My new oven has a proof setting that’s set to 85 degrees.
- One reader proofed the dough overnight in the refrigerator. This technique will actually build better flavor due to the slow rise. But the cold dough may take a little extra time for the second rise.
- Note the second rise is shorter than with many yeast bread recipes, only 30 minutes.
- After mixing the streusel, I like to use my fingers to pinch some of the crumbs into bigger pieces.
When I handed the hubby the recipe I printed off, he saw cream cheese listed in the list of dough ingredients. He suggested I leave it out. What? This dude has never made anything from scratch except chocolate chip cookie bars. I discretely rolled my eyes and ignored this advice.
The challenge was on! Which was tastier? The Sara Lee box from the frozen foods section or the homemade butter streusel coffee cake?
The hubby said mine was WAY better than Sara Lee’s Butter Streusel Coffee Cake. Whew. Even with cream cheese in the dough. And as a bonus, each batch makes TWO coffeecakes. One to eat and one to freeze!
Do you have a favorite pre-made breakfast treat?? I used to love the Sara Lee Cheese Danishes my mom would stash in our freezer. I have an inkling my sisters and I didn’t even wait for them to defrost before digging in!
More Coffee Cake Recipes You’ll Love:
- Pumpkin Gingerbread Coffee Cake from Country Cleaver
- Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake from Foodie with Family
- Kahlua Coffee Cake from A Spicy Perspective
- Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake
- Streusel Coffeecake Pound Cake
- Apple Ginger Coffee Cake
- More Brunch Food Recipes
Copycat Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffeecake
My husband has an extreme fondness for a certain frozen breakfast treat that is nearly impossible to find. When I told him I could make a Copycat Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffeecake, you would think he had won the lottery!
Ingredients
Dough:
- ¾ cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 package instant yeast, I use Red Star Yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups flour (may add another ½ cup if needed)
Filling:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- Milk, for brushing on dough
Streusel:
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
Instructions
- To make the dough, combine all of the dough ingredients (start with 3 cups flour) in order in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Mix until a smooth, soft dough comes together. Knead until the dough is smooth. The dough should be soft, but slowly add up to 1/2 cup more flour if it's sticky.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour. The dough may not double in size but should appear to have been proofed.
- To make the filling, mix all of the ingredients (except the milk) together until well blended. Set aside.
- To make the streusel, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt, and cinnamon to combine. Pour in the butter and mix until combined.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 9” round pans.
- Place the dough onto a floured work surface. I use a Roulpat for easy clean-up and roll into a 12 x 14-inch rectangle. Cut the dough into four lengthwise strips (each 3 inches wide). Brush each strip with milk and spoon a 1-inch strip of the filling down the center.
- Fold the dough over the filling and pinch to seal the filling inside. Repeat with the remaining strips of dough.
- Twist one of the dough strips and place one end of the twisted strip in the center of one of the prepared pans. Wind the dough around in a spiral, leaving a bit of room between the "coils" to allow space for expansion during baking. Twist the second strip and continue the spiral to fill the pan.
- Repeat the process to fill the second pan, then crumble the streusel over the top, dividing it between the pans. Let rise for 30 minutes.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to a rack and let cool before serving.
Notes
Recipe adapted from thewellplatedlife.net.
A reader had success making this coffeecake and letting it rise in the fridge overnight, bringing it to room temperature for the second rise in the morning, then baking. He did note that it took longer than planned for the second rise.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1 sliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 755Total Fat: 34gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 92mgSodium: 647mgCarbohydrates: 103gFiber: 3gSugar: 33gProtein: 12g
38 Comments on “Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake”
Do you use salted or unsalted butter? The original recipe you based this on uses unsalted.
I always use salted butter—either would work, but I feel the added salt from the butter is not enough to make the dough taste salty. I’ll add that tip to the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
This is one of my favorite partner for my coffee!! So good and amazing!
oh my goodness… i’ve been looking for a sara lee coffee cake recipe for years! this one lQQks to be most similar to the original…can’t WAIT to try it 🙂 I do see that there are supposed to be 32 comments, however, i can only see or view 3? even when i click the previous, 1 and/or 2 option. reading comments, for me, is always SUPER helpful… did they disappear? 🙂 bountiful blessings 🙂
Let me see if I can make the comments reappear for you. I know at least one reader was thrilled with this recipe and I’d love to make sure her comment is always available!!!
OK, commments are back. Here is one I’m going to add to the post as an endorsement 🙂
Liz — I did prepare everything last night to bake for Christmas morning today and it turned out perfectly, to rave reviews! (This was my attempt to replicate my wife’s traditional Christmas morning of the Sara Lee butter streusel coffeecake while opening gifts, as we can’t find the frozen original anymore here in Northern California.) My wife thought it was perfect, as did the kids, and I thought it was far superior to the original.
My tip if preparing the night before: allow more time to allow the dough to come up to room temp and rise before baking (which I’m sure you would have figured).
Hello! Thank you for this recipe—I found your site and made this coffee cake a couple years ago to replace our traditional Christmas morning Sara Lee butter streusel. It was perfect.
I’ll be making it again this year, but would really like to make it ahead. Would you recommend baking the cakes and then freezing them after they’ve cooled, or freezing the dough after it’s been shaped and put in the pans but before baking?
Hi, Cassie, I haven’t tried either, but I think both methods would work! I’d probably bake, cool, freeze, then defrost overnight in the refrigerator. My reasoning is that you will know whether there were any glitches (which seems to happen to me when I’m cooking a lot of different things for the holidays!) and have it ready to go on Christmas morning. If I remind my hubby about this recipe, he’s going to want it, too!!! Merry Christmas!
This recipe sounds delicious! I am an eager, but visual learner. Would it be possible for you to post photos starting with your assembly process? Thank you!
Unfortunately, I made this a couple of years ago and didn’t take process shots, but my inspiration for this recipe comes from a post with some nice photos that will help. Check them out here: https://thewellplatedlife.net/writings/2017/10/14/butter-streusel-coffee-cake (https://thewellplatedlife.net/writings/2017/10/14/butter-streusel-coffee-cake) Happy Easter!
We loved this coffee cake SO much! I have already made the recipe twice and I know I will continue using it often!
This was really amazing!! Such a great dessert for my family!
I have made this recipe several times, and it turns out great every time! I wanted to share how I shape the cakes, as I do it a little differently. I roll the dough up jelly roll style, like cinnamon rolls, except I make it longer and thinner than usual. After rolling, I stretch it out some more to get quite a long snake. I cut it in half widthwise, like you’d do for a babka, and then I use one half to fill each pan. I thought the resulting layers of dough and filling were more like I remembered Sara Lee coffee cakes were in my childhood. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Excellent instructions, Angela! I’ll try it your way next time! Thank you for reporting back. Happy New Year!
The Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake had been a Christmas Morning tradition since our children were small (now 25-29) It has been increasing difficult to find this coffee cake in stores and if I did-it was expensive. This year could not find it. A Sara Lee search showed it in a small store 1 hour away. So I decided this was the year, I would substitute a different coffee cake. Then I found your recipe. The kicker was it could be frozen and warmed up. I made 6 coffee cakes (3 recipes) and they were delicious!! Tasted like the original but better! Thank you so much for keeping our Christmas tradition alive!
Hooray!!! Thanks for letting me know, Dee! Happy New Year and glad you had a delicious start to Christmas Day!
Thanks for this. I had a Sara Lee Coffee cake that I purchased on sale for $5.39 (too much) at the grocery store. There are only 2 or 3 stores I can get this from in my area but who wants to pay $5+ every time?? I don’t make a lot of yeast breads but I will try this one…OMG…this looks fabulous!!! Just like the picture on the box 🙂 I will buy the ingredients today and make this for Christmas breakfast and coffee…can’t wait.
Hope you enjoy, Shelly!!! So glad there’s another Sara Lee lover to test this out! Merry Christmas!
How do I freeze the second one? do I have to bake it first, or just finish proofing and then freeze it raw?
Thanks!
I’d bake, cool, wrap well and freeze. Hope you enjoy, Erin!
Wondering if this can be made in the afternoon/evening the day before, pulled out of the refrigerator early in the morning and loaded into the oven…any expert thoughts on this?
Hi, Darren, I know that method works for numerous yeast breads, but I haven’t tried with this recipe. I’m guessing it would work fine, but wish I could guarantee it! I hope you enjoy the recipe. Merry Christmas!
Liz — I did prepare everything last night to bake for Christmas morning today and it turned out perfectly, to rave reviews! (This was my attempt to replicate my wife’s traditional Christmas morning of the Sara Lee butter streusel coffeecake while opening gifts, as we can’t find the frozen original anymore here in Northern California.) My wife thought it was perfect, as did the kids, and I thought it was far superior to the original.
My tip if preparing the night before: allow more time to allow the dough to come up to room temp and rise before baking (which I’m sure you would have figured).
Thanks so much for reporting back, Darren. I’ve made a note of your tip in the recipe. What a wonderful way to start Christmas morning!!!
Hands down this is spot on!!! So delicious! What a fabulous recipe! Thank you!
During the Christmas holiday, I bought a cream cheese coffee cake from a big box food store and it was wretched! I know your recipe is going to be much better and the more cream cheese the better.
I think your husband did win the lottery here! This looks delicious. I’d love to have one of these in my freezer right now.
He better say yours is better lol! I actually do not know this product but your recipe looks really good.
I remember this coffee cake. I think it came in a foil pan. But what I really remember are the Sara Lee brownies and they don’t make those anymore. But this coffee cake might be tugging my heartstrings!
No wonder your husband loved this so much it looks delicious.
I’ve never had this! And it’s gotta be good — it’s Sara Lee! — right? 🙂 Actually, it’s gotta be good because it’s Skinny Chick! 😀 This looks really good — thanks.
Yeah! So glad he liked it – our husbands sound a lot alike. Looks to me like you nailed it! So delicious and anything that makes enough for two is brilliant in my book 🙂
I think we have Sara Lee cakes at our local supermarket, just that I have not ever bought them. This looks like a good cake to try since it has your hubby’s seal of approval!
I love a good coffeecake with streusel – this one is perfection!
This looks fantastic! No doubt yours is much better than store bought:@)
Lizzy, you got me on this spectacular coffee cake…a Sara Lee ‘copycat’, without preservatives, and homemade. Awesome indeed, and the streusel topping is divine! xo
I am such a sucker for a great coffee cake this looks fantastic I just want a slice right now!
wow my mouth is watering terribly now..can’t resist anything with streusel!