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Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake

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Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake square piece on a plate with a fork, and the rest of the sliced cake on a serving tray in the background.

So I’m sure you’ve heard of a sweet tooth before?  In fact, you might even have one yourself.  My sweet tooth really flares up when I am pregnant.  

With my first little guy, my sweet tooth was so bad I had a major bill to pay at the dentist when it was all said and done.

As in SEVEN cavities.  Yikes.

Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake square piece on a plate with a fork, and more sliced cake on a serving tray in the background.

My dentist kept trying to figure out why all of the sudden my teeth were rotting out of my head.

He asked if I drank a lot of soda.  No.  

How about sugary coffee?  No.  

Suck on a lot of mints?  No.  

Then I confessed, “I am mildly addicted to Jujubees.”  Mystery solved.

Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake cut in squares on a serving tray with two slices of lemon on top for garnish.

But did you know it’s also possible to have a fat tooth?  If you crave buttery, creamy, fried foods, you might have a fat tooth.  That’s where I’m at right now.  

I can tell because I want to pour half and half on my morning bowl of cereal and I have to go out of my way to avoid driving by a Dunkin Donuts.

Too dangerous.

Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake square piece on a plate.

This Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake is just what I need.  I love the light lemon flavor, the sweet, moist coffee cake, and the crunchy, crumbly topping.  

And we all know I love using Greek yogurt whenever possible to lighten it up a little bit. Just don’t tell my fat tooth!

But if you are not able to find Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese, feel free to use regular cream cheese.  You can also add more lemon juice or a small amount of lemon extract if you prefer a stronger lemon flavor.

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Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake - Sweet and moist with a light lemon flavor and a creamy, crumbly topping

Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.6 from 22 reviews
  • Author: Julie
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 16 (small servings) 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

This Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Lemon Coffee Cake is sweet and moist with a light lemon flavor and a creamy, crumbly topping.

Ingredients

Scale

Cream Cheese Layer

  • 8 ounces Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese, softened (regular cream cheese is fine too)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Coffee Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • zest of one lemon
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (add more for stronger lemon flavor)

Crumb Topping

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cold cubed butter
  • powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8 x 8 inch baking dish by lining it with parchment paper, leaving extra paper hanging over two of the sides. If you don’t have parchment paper, spray the dish with non-stick cooking spray.

For the Cream Cheese Layer

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, sugar, egg, and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

For the Coffee Cake

  1. In another medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, mix oil and sugar. Add egg and mix well.
  3. Add Greek yogurt, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix well on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
  4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until incorporated on low speed. Be careful not to over mix.
  5. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth it out to the edges.
  6. Carefully spread the cream cheese mixture over the top of the batter, spreading it almost to the edges.

For the Crumb Topping

  1. To make the crumb topping, pour the flour, sugar and cold cubed butter into a medium bowl, and using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the butter into the flour and sugar until you are have pea sized crumbs of flour coated butter. Pour the crumb mixture over the cream cheese layer.
  2. Bake the coffee cake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool, and then dust with powdered sugar. Remove from the dish using parchment paper to a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares.

Notes

Adapted from Two In The Kitchen

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Serving
  • Calories: 256
  • Sugar: 17g
  • Sodium: 136mg
  • Fat: 14g
  • Saturated Fat: 4.5g
  • Unsaturated Fat: 8.3g
  • Trans Fat: 0.2g
  • Carbohydrates: 29g
  • Fiber: 0.5g
  • Protein: 4g
  • Cholesterol: 42mg

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Comments

  2. Lisa says

    I am actually quite thin since the point I started using only natural full fat stuff. Magic! 😉 Reducing sugar was what worked for me.
    This cake looks so yummy! Only thing I would change is using raw sugar and reducing it to 1/2c for the cake layer and maybe to a Tblsp for the cream cheese. I am pretty sure I will give this one a try, thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

      • Jenny says

        From a dumb UK baker, why do you call it coffee cake when there is no coffee in the ingredients? Or is it cake to eat with your coffee?

        Reply

        • Julie says

          That is a perfectly reasonable question and you are not the first to ask! Yes, we usually serve these cakes with coffee. While we are on that thought, is there such a thing as a tea cake that is made without tea?

          Reply

          • Adrienne says

            Yes! America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book has a nice lemon tea cake, or maybe they call it a tea bread, it is also quite good and easy to make. 🙂

        • Pamela G. says

          If it makes you feel better I do have recipes for coffee cakes that ARE made with coffee. However most things which are made with enough coffee to give it a coffee flavor are called Mocha. This is one reason

          Reply

  6. Jenn says

    Hello, I tried this recipe the other day. I found when I mixed the cake batter it was EXTREMELY dry and doughy and sticky. Very difficult to spread into the pan, even. I cooked it anyways and it just turned out very dry and doughy again. Very hard and not a lot of flavour. The icing was delicious. Any tips on what I may have done wrong? I’m sure it’s delicious if it turns out right. Thanks!

    Reply

    • Julie says

      Hi Jenn, first of all, I’m so sorry this coffee cake didn’t turn out well for you. I have poured over the recipe to see if I might have left out an ingredient or a step in the directions and everything looks correct. I’m assuming that since your cake batter was so dry, you might have accidentally left out one of the wet ingredients – the oil, Greek yogurt, or egg maybe? I really loved this cake when I made it, and so I was planning on making it again this weekend, and I will double check everything as I go. Thanks so much for taking the time to give me your feedback!

      Update: I did make this coffee cake recipe again this weekend, and everything in the recipe is written correctly. I did adjust the baking time to include an additional five minute range so that the center is sure to be baked through.

      Reply

        • Julie says

          Helen, I haven’t tried doubling before but I’m guessing you may need to add 5-10 minutes. If the edges start to get brown before the center is done cover with pieces of foil. Hope you enjoy!

          Reply

      • Linda says

        Thank you for this update and also concern for how things turn out for your readers. Maybe sifting the flour will help. Have a tasty cake ready for anytime this one is so good. Thank you again.

        Reply

    • kelley says

      Mine were dry too. Although, I did double the recipe and put in a 9×13 pan so that may have hurt. Also, I would recommend using full fat yogurt to combat dryness. I used fat free because I had it on hand, but fat always adds more moisture to baked goods.

      Reply

    • Jen says

      Same here. Not sure what happened, but I followed the measurements to a T and the batter turned out like bread dough. This is why I prefer baking in grams because a “cup” of yogurt can vary greatly depending how much you pack in a cup.

      Reply

  7. Gloria says

    This coffee cake is so good. I might try adding more lemon zest or juice next time to kick up the lemon flavor a little more.

    Reply

  8. Jenna says

    Hi! I can’t wait to try this! Before I do, I just want to be sure I am reading this correctly. Does it say Greek yogurt ‘cream cheese’?

    Reply

    • Julie says

      Hi Jenna, yes you are reading it correctly. Awhile back I found a product that was a Greek yogurt cream cheese blend, and it was in the cream cheese section of my grocery store. I have heard from some that it is difficult to find. If you are unable to find it, you can just use regular cream cheese. The recipe also calls for regular Greek yogurt in the cake batter. Hope you enjoy!

      Reply

    • Megan says

      Do you have Kroger near you? I think that’s the only place (and brand) I’ve seen it. And I’ve seen it at more than one Kroger in Ohio.

      Reply

  9. ginger says

    This looks great—does anyone know what I should adjust for high altitude? (I’m not much of a baker or I would know this stuff 🙂 )

    Reply

  10. jacquelyn says

    Made this recipe this morning and it was delicious! I’m going to add more lemon zest and juice next time as i think I’d prefer a little more lemon flavor.wonderful recipe, thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  12. kelly says

    Turned out great. I have been craving something lemony for a while and decided to try these. I made them for a play date and now I am sad they are all gone.

    Reply

    • Julie says

      I know what you mean Kelly! I made some lemon blueberry muffins for my mom’s group today, and I was so sad they were gone (but happy everyone liked them) that I made another batch when I got home! Glad you liked the coffee cake! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out.

      Reply

  14. Alicia Bradley says

    You combined two of my loves – cream cheese and lemon! I made these for work last week and they were a hit! Needless to say I came home with an empty pan. 🙂 Can’t wait to make them again!

    Thank you!

    Reply

  17. Ana says

    As a comment to your cavities while pregnant commentary…Did your dentist not know that you were pregnant? I am very surprised that he was searching for a dietary cause for your numerous cavities while pregnant. Basic dental health information: the anti-microbial quality of a woman’s saliva decreases during pregnancy, this is all a result of estrogen levels. Teenage girls are also more prone to cavities as a result.

    Reply

      • Cinny says

        Calcium needs increase during pregnancy as well. In times past especially where nutrition was poor it was not uncommon for women to actually lose teeth during their pregnancies.

        Reply

    • J-lo says

      My teeth also went crazy after my second pregnancy. Tons of cavities, after I had already gotten my mouth taken care of *before* the pregnancy. Mine were especially bad in the spaces between teeth. Dentist said it was definitely because teeth are weaker and more susceptible during babby time.

      Reply

    • Sue says

      A daughter had dry mouth and eyes (not pregnant, however) and had many cavities found at a routine dental exam after having perfect teeth. She was found to have an autoimmune disease. Many things that seem normal to a physician may be the beginning of an undetected condition.

      Reply

  18. Bonnie emond says

    Hi Julie , I have you’re cake in the oven now and it smells divine. One problem, I have gone well past the baking time. ( 50 ). And the cake part still does not seem to be baked. Tested with cake tester and it is showing uncooked parts. Should I just keep increasing time or is this how it should be ?

    Reply

    • Julie says

      Hi Bonnie, this is a hard cake to test because the cream cheese layer on top will still be pretty moist even when the cake part is done. Should be good to take it out unless your oven is much different than mine. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  19. Linda says

    Thanks for this yummy recipe!!!!! Made it for my school friends…They loved it!!!! I did have to increase the cook time and extra 5 minutes and that seemed to help. Again thanks for sharing… 🙂

    Reply

  20. Patricia says

    I made this yesterday for my birthday, and it was a hit. I reduced the sugar a bit, added more lemon, and a tiny bit of ginger. My family loved it. I’m glad I found this recipe on pinterest. Thank you for sharing it.

    Reply

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