The Ultimate Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake (cake mix version)

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This Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake is my favorite coffee cake recipe ever. I’ve made it dozens of times and it’s just killer. It’s a homemade-ish recipe that uses a cake mix and instant pudding for the most rich, tender, and flavorful coffee cake you will ever try. Plus? The usage of salted butter in the streusel makes it taste INCREDIBLE. Even if you’re typically a cake purist, and only ever make things from scratch, I still want to encourage you to give this a try. I’ve yet to taste a scratch coffee cake better than this little beauty. No icing required, and a true must-make!

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Coffee Cake Frequently Asked Questions

What nuts can be substituted for pecans in this Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake?

While there may be the word “pecans” in the cake’s name, you may certainly swap in another variety of nut if you so choose. Walnuts would be my pick, I think, but use what you like. Or, simply omit the nuts altogether.

How long will this coffee cake keep?

This cake is wonderful for many reasons, not the least of which is how long it will keep for you. It never lasts more than a few days in my house, because I can’t keep myself away from it. But, when wrapped in an airtight container, this cake will keep at room temperature for at least four days, maybe a little longer. Just try to avoid keeping it in the fridge, as cold air is the enemy of moist cake. Just saying.

Can you freeze coffee cake?

Yes! You can absolutely freeze this coffee cake if you would like. To do so, allow it to come down to room temperature, wrap it in foil completely, and then place inside a freezer safe bag or storage container of some sort. This will keep for a couple of months for you. Just allow it to come back up to room temperature on the countertop before slicing and enjoying.

What is the best pan to use for this coffee cake?

This cake is best made in a Bundt pan, but a simple tube pan would work as well in a pinch. My best advice is to make sure you have a light colored Bundt pan, as that will help prevent burning or overcooking on your cake’s exterior. This small tip can make a world of difference.

What you’ll need to make this Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

The ingredients list for this Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake reads very predictably. There’s nothing shocking going on here. That is, maybe with the exception of the salted butter. That’s really the linchpin of the whole thing. I’m telling you, friend, I have been making this cake since I was a kid and it was only recently that it occurred to me (at age 40) to swap in salted butter. And POW! WHAM! Just like that, things changed forever.

By simply changing that one ingredient, the entire flavor of the cake deepened – it widened all the way through. Salt is magic like that, though. We know this. This cake is very sweet, let’s be honest. So, we get so much more balance and flavor when we punch back with a salty butter. Trust me. I actually have made this 10 times in the past month (no exaggeration – I give it as a holiday gift), and when I made this simple change, it was like HOLY COW. Why didn’t I do this sooner?!

Oh well. Now we know, right?

Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake INGREDIENTS

1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1 box vanilla instant pudding mix (3.5 to 5 ounces is good)
4 eggs
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup chopped pecans (or to taste, or you can leave them out)
8 tablespoons melted SALTED butter (one stick), plus more for the pan

How to make my favorite Southern Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake

You’ll need to grab two bowls for this little cake mix coffee cake of mine. You’ll need one for the batter and then another (probably smaller) for the streusel. Incidentally, streusel is one of my top-five favorite words of all time! Ahem. Anyway. You can use a hand mixer to whip up the batter, but a whisk works just as well. I typically use a whisk because it’s faster, but however you’d like to approach the mixing of things is just fine.

The streusel is equally as important as the batter in this case, and whew is it good. We’ve got the salted butter to thank for that. Sure, this may go against what we’re taught as home bakers (i.e. to always use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt). But I find that swapping in salted for the unsalted almost always yield a more flavorful confection in the end. See my Salted Pumpkin Brown Butter Snickerdoodles for another solid bit of evidence here.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust the rack to the middle position.
Make the batter by whisking or beating together the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, and oil in a large mixing bowl.
Make the streusel by stirring together the brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, pecans (if using) and the melted salty butter. Mix this together until crumbly – it should resemble wet sand.
Butter or spray a (preferably light-colored) Bundt pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture around the bottom of the pan and top with half of the batter. Follow with the remaining stressful, and then the rest of the batter. Smooth the batter out in bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool the cake for 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling (I like to run a knife around all of the edges before turning it out, to ensure it slips out smoothly). This cake will keep, covered, at room temperature for up to four or five days.