This is without question the best coffee cake in the whole entire world. I know. That’s a big statement to make. But it’s true. Cake and pudding combine with brown sugar and nuts to create an explosion of crumbly, buttery, nutty and sugary goodness. The recipe makes two, one for you and one for the rest of the family.

Ingredients

1 Box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix (I use the deluxe moist one)
1 small box Instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the Icing:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a standing mixer mix the first 6 ingredients for about 5 -8 minutes. You want them to be extremely well blended!
While the batter is mixing, prepare the cake pans and the nut/sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine the 2 sugars, cinnamon and pecans. Set aside.
Grease and flour 2 round or square cake pans.

To assemble the coffee cake:

Put 1/3 sugar mixture into bottom of each pan. Divide 1/2 cake batter between each pan. Then sprinkle 1/3 sugar mixture over cake batter in each pan. Add the rest of the cake batter to each pan. Top each pan with remaining sugar mixture. Take a knife and swirl through cake and sugar mixtures to make it look like marble.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Test by inserting a toothpick into the center. They are done when the toothpick comes out clean, or with a few crumbs.
Cool the cakes thoroughly on a wire rack before icing them.

For the icing:

In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, vanilla and milk.
Drizzle icing over cooled cakes.

Notes

I promise you that once you make this coffee cake, you won’t make ANY other recipe EVER again! This recipe makes TWO coffee cakes…..DO NOT adjust the recipe if you only want to make one. Don’t worry about the exact proportions when adding the sugar mixture and batter to each cake pan. As long as half the batter winds up in each pan, and half the sugar mixture winds up in each pan the recipe will turn out perfectly!

Have you made this recipe?I’d love to know! Leave a comment or recipe rating and tag me @amenuforyou on social media!

2 Comments

Can I make this in a bundt pan and if so what would the baking time be?

Thanks! Frannie

Lisa says:

November 27, 2020 at 12:10 pm

Yes! You absolutely can make this in a bundt pan! I’d add about 10 minutes cooking time and keep checking until a toothpick comes out clean. It’s deeper than the cake pans, so it will take a bit longer. Let me know how it turns out!

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The World’s Best Coffee Cake