This high altitude orange crumble coffee cake is soft and moist, topped with crumbly cinnamon streusel, and drizzled with orange icing. Made with fresh orange zest and orange juice, this orange coffee cake is full of real orange flavor that’s balanced with a hint of spice and crystallized ginger on top.
Looking for more coffee cake recipes? You’ll love this pumpkin crumb coffee cake, banana bread coffee cake, and almond cream cheese coffee cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Coffee Cake
The Cake for Breakfast Factor. I love an excuse to eat cake for breakfast, and this orange crumb cake is the perfect excuse!
Standard Pantry Ingredients. While the ingredients list may look long – since there’s the cake, the streusel and the icing – this is an uncomplicated recipe with simple ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry already.
A Perfect Combination of Flavors and Textures. The soft cake, the crumbly topping, the sweet orange and hint of spice and vanilla – it all works together perfectly in this delicious coffee cake.
Versatile Recipe. You can make this orange cake in a square baking pan and easily serve it directly from the pan, or in a springform pan to serve it on a pretty plate.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Sugar. You’ll need both granulated sugar and powdered sugar.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Spices. Ground cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract and salt. I also like to add some crystallized ginger sprinkled on top.
- Dairy. Unsalted butter, whole milk and sour cream. Eggs, too, but those are not considered dairy products.
- Leavening Agents. Baking powder and baking soda.
- Oranges. You’ll need a fresh navel orange for the zest, but you can use bottled orange juice in the cake batter. I like “Simply Orange” orange juice.
Instructions
Cake
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or prep it with a coating of butter and flour. You can also use a 9-inch round springform pan, so you can remove the sides of the pan to serve the cake on a serving plate, rather than cutting and serving it from the pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest, using your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant.
- Whisk in the melted butter, orange juice, milk, sour cream, egg and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk for about 10 seconds until combined and mostly smooth.
Crumb Topping
- In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the flour with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the butter until moist and crumbly, adding the additional 1/4 cup of flour if it seems too moist.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake batter.
Bake
- Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set on a cooling rack to cool slightly while you make the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth and drizzly.
- Drizzle the icing over the coffee cake. If you like, grate a little fresh orange zest on top. You can even sprinkle it with some chopped crystallized ginger, which is wonderful with the orange flavor.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes, and serve warm.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Both fresh and bottled juice work fine in this recipe.
You can, but the cake and streusel aren’t overly sweet, so the icing adds a nice sweet finish and more orange flavor.
If you use too much fresh orange zest, you can end up with a bitter aftertaste. Make sure you use a microplane zester to zest just the outer skin of the orange, and not the bitter white pith. A little orange zest goes a long way, so keep it in check, even though it looks beautiful.
This coffee cake stays moist and fresh tasting for days. You can even bake it the night before and serve it at room temperature the next morning, and it will be fantastic.
You can rewarm individual pieces in the microwave for about 10 seconds at 50% power.
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High Altitude Orange Crumble Coffee Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- 8 or 9 inch Square Baking Pan (or a 9-inch round springform pan)
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp freshly grated orange zest (from one navel orange)
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup orange juice
- ¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Crumb Topping
- ½ – ¾ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
Icing
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- ½ tsp freshly grated orange zest
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray, or prep it with a coating of butter and flour. You can also use a 9-inch round springform pan, so you can remove the sides of the pan to serve the cake on a serving plate, rather than cutting and serving it from the pan.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest, using your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until moist and fragrant.
- Whisk in the melted butter, orange juice, milk, sour cream, egg and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and whisk for about 10 seconds until combined and mostly smooth.
- Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Crumb Topping
- In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the flour with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in the butter until moist and crumbly, adding the additional 1/4 cup of flour if it seems too moist.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake batter.
Bake
- Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set on a cooling rack to cool slightly while you make the icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth and drizzly.
- Drizzle the icing over the coffee cake. If you like, grate a little fresh orange zest on top. You can even sprinkle it with some chopped crystallized ginger, which is wonderful with the orange flavor.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes, and serve warm.
Notes
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Snow day = need to bake something. I was looking for a coffee cake to use up extra sour cream when I found this gem. Just had a warm slice. Fantastic!! Even the hubs loved it-he usually doesn’t like it when I stray from the classic cinnamon coffee cake. Now he has a new fave!! Thanks for sharing 😊
I’m so glad to hear that! 🙂
Turned out fantastic! I was skeptical about adding orange juice with sour cream due to curdling potential but cake turns out to be okay with that. Sorry to be one of those recipe altering folks…I added an egg (usually helps gluten-free baking at altitude) and some almond flour. Absolutely delicious and I’ll be making another one… like this week. ; )
Love this coffee cake! It’s so moist and flavorful.