This gluten free coffee cake is moist, tender, perfectly spiced and topped with an easy cinnamon streusel. It’s dairy free and perfect as a simple dessert or alongside your morning coffee.

gluten free coffee cake with glaze pouring on top

While coffee cake is traditionally served with breakfast (hence the coffee part of the name!), I love it for dessert! It reminds me of a cinnamon roll, or cinnamon sugar pretzels, but with a fraction of the work involved.

This gluten free coffee cake has a rich buttery flavor, lots and lots of cinnamon and is finished off with a simple four ingredient streusel crumb topping.

I’ve been told it tastes 100x better than the Starbucks version and I promise you cannot tell it’s both gluten and dairy free.

This recipe is perfect to prep in advance since it freezes well! You’ll just want to wrap in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months and let thaw in the fridge before reheating.

If you love this recipe, try my cinnamon sugar donuts or coffee cookies next!

Key ingredients

FLOUR. We’re sticking with just one gluten free flour for this coffee cake to keep it simple. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour which I recommend.

SUGAR. You need both white and brown sugar for this recipe. I do not recommend any sugar substitutes here.

EGGS. Two eggs will help bind all ingredients together and give this cake a deliciously fluffy texture.

YOGURT & MILK. Greek yogurt adds so much moisture to this gluten free coffee cake. You can use dairy or non-dairy greek yogurt and milk.

CINNAMON SUGAR. We’ll add a layer of cinnamon sugar between the regular batter to give that classic coffee cake swirl.

STREUSEL. The cinnamon streusel on top is made with just flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter.

two images showing how to make the batter

How to make gluten free coffee cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8×8 aluminum baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the filling and set aside.

Melt the butter for the streusel and use a fork to carefully mash in the remaining ingredients until it looks crumbly. If it looks too wet, add in more flour, if it looks too dry/crumbly, add in a splash of maple syrup or milk until it holds together a bit better.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the wet ingredients for the cake with an electric mixer. Whisk in the dry ingredients until you get a smooth batter.

Add half of the batter to the prepared pan, sprinkle on top the cinnamon sugar, then add in the remaining batter and spread evenly on top. Use your fingers to crumble on the streusel.

Bake for 37-43 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 40 is generally best in my oven, but all ovens are different so keep an eye on it.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely. I use the maple glaze from my healthy pumpkin bread to finish it off, but this is totally optional!

coffee cake in a baking pan before going in the oven

Make coffee cake muffins instead!

If you want to make gluten free coffee cake muffins, follow all of the instructions as usual, but add half of the batter into the muffin tins, filling halfway, add the cinnamon sugar, then the batter.

Finish off with the streusel and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. This time is a guess as I have not baked these into muffins. If you try it out, let me know!

How to store and freeze

Once prepared, this recipe will keep at room temperature for about 3 days.

I suggest storing it in a container to keep it fresh and moist. You can also store it in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat in the microwave or oven as desired.

This gluten free coffee cake also freezes well! I suggest letting it cool, then slicing and either wrapping tightly in plastic wrap or in a ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 2 months, then reheat in the oven at 300 until warm through the center.

coffee cake sliced into squares to show cinnamon swirl

Substitutions & additions

FLOUR. This recipe was made with gluten free all purpose flour and unfortunately another type of flour won’t work here.

I do not recommend any almond flour or oat flour. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour, which I recommend. If you use a different blend, just make sure it has xanthan gum!

SUGAR. I recommend sticking with the mix of white sugar and light brown sugar for best results. You can try subbing for coconut sugar for a refined sugar free option, but the final color and texture will be a bit different.

DAIRY. You can make this dairy filled or dairy free! Dairy free butter and non-dairy milk will work just as well as the regular counterparts.

BLUEBERRIES. Yes, you can definitely make this a blueberry coffee cake! However, blueberries will add more moisture to the batter which may increase the bake time.

I would suggest adding in about 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the batter and adding about 5 extra minutes of bake time.

WALNUTS. I love gluten free walnut coffee cake. The walnuts add such a good crunch and flavor. Add in about 1/2-3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts to the batter and bake as usual.

one bite of gluten free coffee cake on a fork to show cinnamon swirl

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