An elegant and springtime coffee cake recipe, Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake is covered with streusel and glaze. You can’t go wrong with it!
What I Love About Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake
I love lemon. Lemon anything. But I really love Meyer Lemons. I had never understood what they were until I moved to California. My neighbor has a tree in her backyard with these gorgeous citrus fruits and it teases me. I do not know her well enough to pick the lemons off of her tree. Perhaps I will make her some of these and maybe she will offer up the fruits of her tree?
In the meantime, Trader Joe’s sells them for $1.99 for 4. It will do for now. I got this recipe from Martha and while it is delicious and I would make it time and time again, I think that I would skip the Meyer Lemon slices in the middle. Instead, I would add blueberries or raspberries. Or maybe add nothing at all.
This cake had plenty of lemon flavor without the lemon slices. Maybe add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice to the batter? The recipe is supposed to be made in a tube pan or a cheesecake pan, but I used these instead. I was making these for a gift and thought that they looked so fancy. This really was a delicious cake.
I made this in a food processor. Martha uses her fingers for the streusel and a mixer for the cake batter. I am lazy. The food processor was out and I used it to make all of it. I didn’t even wash it out after the streusel. I am that lazy.
Ingredients
For the Streusel
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter
For the Cake
- 5 Meyer Lemons, cut into paper-thin slices
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 Tablespoons finely grated Meyer Lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream
For the Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon juice
Instructions – The Steps
For the streusel
Step 1: To make the streusel, put all of the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until it comes together. It should look like peas. Cover it and put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. You can do this step up to 3 days before you are ready to bake it.
To make the cake
Step 2: To make the cake, slice the lemon and put the slices in a pan of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain and repeat. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Step 3: In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch angel food pan. Or in my case open the liners and put them on a pan. I used 8 but could have stretched it to 9.
Step 4: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. With the mixer on low add the flour in 3 additions alternating with the sour cream.
Step 5: Spoon half of the mixture into the cake pan. Arrange half of the lemon slices in a single layer over the batter. Add the renaming batter and cover with the remaining lemon slices. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter.
Step 6: Bake until the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes. (The individual pans took about 33 minutes.) Let cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and remove the outer ring. Let cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the center ring. Slide 2 wide spatulas between the bottom of the cake and the pan and lift cake off of the center ring. Cool completely.
To make the glaze
Step 7: Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over cooled cake. Let glaze set. This cake can be stored for up to 3 days. The lemon flavor will only get better.
Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Struesel:
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter
For the Cake:
- 5 Meyer Lemons cut into paper thin slices
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 Tablespoons finely grated Meyer Lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour cream
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon juice
Instructions
For the streusel
- To make the streusel, put all of the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until it comes together. It should look like peas. Cover it and put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. You can do this step up to 3 days before you are ready to bake it.
To make the cake
- To make the cake, slice the lemon and put the slices in a pan of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain and repeat. Arrange the lemon slices in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch angel food pan. Or in my case open the liners and put them on a pan. I used 8 but could have stretched it to 9..
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. With the mixer on low add the flour in 3 additions alternating with the sour cream.
- Spoon half of the mixture into the cake pan. Arrange half of the lemon slices in a single layer over the batter. Add the renaming batter and cover with the remaining lemon slices. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter.
- Bake until the cake is golden brown and a tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes. (The individual pans took about 33 minutes.) Let cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan and remove the outer ring. Let cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the center ring. Slide 2 wide spatulas between the bottom of the cake and the pan and lift cake off of the center ring. Cool completely.
To make the glaze
- Whisk together the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle over cooled cake. Let glaze set. This cake can be stored for up to 3 days. The lemon flavor will only get better.
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