Vegan Coffee Cake Muffins

This easy vegan coffee cake muffins recipe creates moist, flavorful muffins that are a great start to your day. Cinnamon streusel muffins are light and fluffy and can be enjoyed any day of the week. Whether serving vegan crumb cake or these tasty muffins, your breakfast will be delicious!

A coffee cake muffin sits next to a cup of hot tea, with other muffins around it.

I love making coffee cake. It’s a great way to start out a special day! It’s perfect to serve for brunch, but the key is to know what to serve with coffee cake.

Some days I just want to keep things simple. That’s where muffins come in! Whether it be these vegan coffee cake muffins or even these vegan cinnamon muffins, they’re easy to make and portion controlled!

Muffins are one of my favorite baking experiences because the results are so delicious every time!

Why is it called Coffee Cake?

Have you ever wondered why it’s called “coffee” cake? Is it because it has coffee in it? Is it supposed to be served with coffee? It turns out both answers can be correct. Coffee cake “is intended to be eaten with, or flavored with coffee.”

Obviously, there’s a lot of room for creativity with a coffee cake recipe.

The original coffee cake was imported from Germany. Maybe that’s why the best coffee cakes are made with a streusel, crumbly topping.

Key Ingredients

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

  • Streusel Topping — To make the streusel topping, I like using coconut sugar, but you can substitute brown sugar. You’ll also need ground cinnamon, salt, vegan butter, molasses, and rolled oats.
  • Vegan butter — We’ll use vegan butter to make these muffins buttery. You can substitute neutral-flavored vegetable oil.
  • Agave nectar — Use agave nectar or maple syrup.
  • Swerve — To reduce the overall sugar load, I added a bit of Swerve zero-calorie sweetener, or you can substitute granulated sugar.
  • Applesauce — Let’s make these muffins extra moist by adding some unsweetened applesauce.
  • Almond milk — We’ll add some unsweetened almond milk, or you can substitute any unsweetened plant-based milk.
  • Egg Replacer — These eggless muffins have the perfect texture thanks to ground flaxseed and cornstarch.
  • Vinegar — A bit of apple cider vinegar is required to soften the texture.
  • Flour — I like using whole wheat pastry flour because it bakes nice and light. However, you can substitute all-purpose flour or gluten-free baking flour.
  • Baking powder + Baking soda — Combining makes the muffins fluffy.
  • Salt — You can use sea salt, but table salt works fine.

How to Make Coffee Cake Muffins

This is an easy coffee cake muffin recipe. Just follow these steps (see the full recipe card below):

  1. Make the crumble topping by stirring together the ingredients.
  2. Stir together the wet ingredients.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients and stir.
  4. Make the batter by stirring together the wet and dry mixtures.
  5. Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins.
  6. Add some crumble topping across the muffins.
  7. Bake until the topping is golden brown.

Why is This the Best Recipe?

  • Adding molasses makes these muffins extra soft and tender
  • Applesauce is another trick for making irresistibly moist muffins
  • Using whole wheat pastry flour introduces an element of healthiness while keeping the muffin crumb light and tender.

Storage Tips

Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These muffins can be refrigerated but may not be quite as moist. Refrigerate for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 1 month.

Flavor Variations

If you love coffee cake muffins and want to mix up the flavor profiles, here are some ways to do it:

  • Vegan Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins — Gently stir a cup of frozen blueberries into the batter.
  • Vegan Apple Coffee Cake Muffins — Peel and core an apple (I prefer Grany Smith apples) and cut it into small bits. Stir chopped apples into the batter.
  • Chocolate Chips — Add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the batter to make Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Muffins.
  • Coffee — Add a teaspoon of instant coffee to the batter to make coffee-infused coffee cake muffins.
  • Peanut Butter — Never underestimate the flavor of peanut butter and cinnamon. I like to drizzle peanut butter on top of the muffin batter (in the muffin compartments) and then top with the streusel topping. It’s so good!

Make your coffee crumb cake muffins exactly the way you like them!

Several coffee cake muffins in papers in the foreground with more muffins on a cooling rack in the background.

Conclusion

If you love these vegan coffee cake muffins as much as we do!

A coffee cake muffin sits next to a cup of hot tea.

Dairy-Free Coffee Cake Muffins

I took the very best vegan coffee cake and turned it into these dairy-free coffee cake muffins with the perfect streusel topping. You'll love these tender, crumbly-topped muffins for breakfast, brunch, snack time, and even for dessert! 
5 from 11 votes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 12 muffins
Calories: 230kcal

Ingredients

Crumble Topping

  • ¼ cup coconut sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup vegan butter softened
  • 2 teaspoons molasses
  • ½ cup oats (I used instant)

Muffins

  • ½ cup vegan butter
  • ½ cup agave nectar (or maple syrup or honey)
  • ¼ cup Swerve (see notes)
  • ½ cup applesauce , unsweetened
  • 1 cup almond milk , unsweetened
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Line muffin tins with papers or spray with vegetable spray.

Crumble Topping

  • For the Crumble Topping: combine the sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, butter, and molasses in a bowl. Stir to combine. Add the oats and stir until combined. Set aside.
    Ingredients for coffee cake filling are in a bowl, including brown sugar and flour.

Muffins

  • In a large bowl, cream together the vegan butter, agave, and Swerve. Stir vigorously until light and fluffy. Add the applesauce, milk, ground flaxseed, cornstarch, and apple cider vinegar. Stir to combine.
  • In a medium-size bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine. Add the flour mixture to the milk mixture. Stir until just combined.
    A hand holds a measuring glass full of plant-based milk pouring it into a bowl with whipped vegan butter.
  • Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins. Evenly distribute the crumble topping across the muffins. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins, comes out clean. The crumble topping should be nice and golden brown as well.
    The measuring glass is being used to pour muffin batter into papers in a muffin tin.
  • When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
  • Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These muffins can be refrigerated but may not be quite as moist. Refrigerate for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 1 month.

Recommended Equipment

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Notes

Swerve is a zero-calorie sweetener. Truvia is another good option as it does a mixture between erythritol and stevia. You can substitute granulated sugar.
Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 263mg | Potassium: 187mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 360IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 1mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Could you call these coffee cake cupcakes? Sure! It’s a fine line between muffins and cupcakes. Whatever you call them, enjoy!

This post was originally published in 2018 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2023.

16 Responses to Vegan Coffee Cake Muffins

  1. Avatar thumbnail image for Marlynewbug Reply

    love muffins, especially muffins with a topping.

    • Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyMarly

      I’m with you on that! Give me a crumble topping any day!

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