Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Moist and tender with a crunchy cinnamon shell, this vegan sour cream coffee cake is the perfect comforting treat!

This sour cream coffee cake was a regular fixture in my house growing up, and for good reason - it's easy to make and reliably delicious. The original version utilizes yellow cake mix and vanilla instant pudding, along with dairy sour cream and eggs. Even when made from scratch - using vegan sour cream and aquafaba (more on that in the Tips section below) - this recipe comes together quickly. This vegan sour cream coffee cake is perfect for when you need to feed a crowd, or just want to savor a comforting slice while curled up with some coffee or tea and a good book.

For something to do with your chickpeas after collecting the aquafaba, try my recipe for Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas.

How to Make the Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Gather your ingredients.

Make the cake batter. Preheat the oven and grease a bundt pan generously. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Set aside. Place the aquafaba in a small bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat until foamy throughout.

Add the beaten aquafaba, sour cream, oil, water, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar to the dry ingredients. Use the hand mixer to combine. Do not over mix.

Make the topping. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine. Coat the greased bundt pan with about 2-3 tablespoons of topping. Make sure you turn the pan so that the mixture covers the whole inside surface (this will be your crunchy shell!). Next, pour about one-third of the sour cream coffee cake batter into the bundt pan, then sprinkle one-third of the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the batter. Repeat this process two more times.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour, then insert a toothpick to check for doneness. The toothpick should come out clean or with a couple of crumbs. Allow the bundt to cool completely before inverting it over a plate and gently letting the cake come out of the pan. Enjoy!

Collecting the Aquafaba

To obtain the aquafaba, you can either drain the liquid (this part is the aquafaba!) from a can of chickpeas or use the liquid from cooking dried chickpeas (try the method outlined by TastingTable here). One 15-ounce can of chickpeas will yield roughly the amount of aquafaba needed for this recipe (½ cup). Set the chickpeas aside and use them for another purpose, such as my Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas.

Storing the Sour Cream Coffee Cake

The cake will stay fresh in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days...if it lasts that long!