Thai Tea Coffee Cake
This Thai tea coffee cake is a unique Asian twist on a classic coffee cake recipe. A moist, Thai tea flavored cake is layered between a smokey Thai tea filling and a warm, crunchy streusel topping. It’s the easiest sweet breakfast you can have on the go.
I love a good sweet breakfast recipe, and when I need something that’s quick, I always grab a coffee cake. So today, I wanted to share with you a unique Asian twist on a classic coffee cake recipe. This is my smoky and sweet Thai tea coffee cake. It is made with a Thai tea flavored cake sandwiched between a Thai tea filling and a crunchy, cinnamon-y streusel topping.
How I developed this recipe
I adapted my persimmon streusel coffee cake for this recipe and tested this 3 times. One of my main struggles was trying to balance out all the flavors of the coffee cake from the cinnamon streusel topping to the Thai tea flavor. (Like in all my Thai tea recipes such as my Thai tea mochi donuts, I use this Thai tea mix for the color and flavor.) In my first test, I added too much cinnamon, so the Thai tea flavor didn’t stand out. Some people who tried that first batch said that it tasted like pumpkin! I tested it 2 more times and eventually landed on a good balance of Thai tea and cinnamon flavors.
Making my Thai tea coffee cake (step-by-step pictures)
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Get the Recipe:
Thai Tea Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Thai Tea Filling
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp Thai tea mix, powdered, ~¾ tbsp in powder form
Streusel Topping
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
Coffee Cake Batter
- 2 tbsp Thai tea mix, powdered, ~1.5 tbsp in powder form
- 1 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
- Prep an 8×8 cake pan but greasing and covering it with parchment paper. Set aside.
- First make the persimmon filling. Combine ⅓ cup of light brown sugar, 1 tbsp of all purpose flour, ¼ tsp of salt, and 1 tbsp Thai tea mix (~¾ tsp in powder form). Mix and set aside. Make sure to break down Thai tea mix into powder.
- Next, make the streusel topping. Combine ⅔ cup of all purpose flour, ½ cup of light brown sugar, 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, and 4 tbsp of unsalted butter. Break the butter apart with forks and mix together with the other ingredients. Once combined, set aside.
- Lastly, make the cake batter. In a large bowl, mix together 2 tbsp of Thai tea mix (~1.5 tbsp in powder form), 1 ⅔ cup of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, ½ tsp of baking soda, and ¼ tsp of salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together 6 tbsp of unsalted butter, ⅓ cup of granulated sugar, and ¼ cup of light brown sugar. You can also use a bowl and a hand mixer.
- Add the egg and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Whisk until combined. Make sure to scrape down the bowl if using a stand mixer.
- Lastly, add ¾ cup of buttermilk to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. The consistency will look curdled, but that's okay.
- Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Now it's time to assemble! Spread half the cake batter into the bottom of the pan. Spoon the Thai tea filling over the top. Follow with the second half of the cake batter. Finally, top the cake with the streusel topping.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool completely before serving (10-20 minutes).
Notes
