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This Orange Streusel Coffee Cake recipe is from a vintage cookbook from the 1950s. It’s a light, citrus cake with a crumbly streusel topping that’s delicious for a spring brunch or dessert. This easy coffee cake recipe gets its flavor from fresh orange juice and zest, balanced by the buttery topping.
Since I’m spending much more time at home lately I’ve been baking and cooking a lot. I’ve been using Joy of Cooking and so far have made the fudgy brownies, banana walnut muffins, chocolate chunk cookies and chicken pot pie. They’ve all been husband and kid-approved! I’ve turned to this book for basic recipes like how to make croutons from old bread and how to toast nuts. There’s a recipe for pretty much anything you’d want to make!
Baking is one way I’m dealing with the stress and anxiety from these weird, uncertain times. It lets me focus on something else for a while and I get a delicious dessert to enjoy later. I’m fortunate enough to work from home and able to afford groceries when I need them. I hope you and your family are home, safe and comfortable. I hope you have the option of having groceries delivered or are able to order them ahead and pick them up at the grocery store.
Thankfully, this easy coffee cake recipe uses baking ingredients you likely already have in your pantry. I think it would go great with a mug of tea while binge-watching one of the movies or series on my list of period drama on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video!
Baking from a vintage cookbook: Thoughts for Buffets
This Orange Streusel Coffee Cake recipe comes from a vintage cookbook called Thoughts for Buffets from 1958. I found it at an estate sale a while ago and its fun to look through even if I don’t make anything else from it. The whole book is filled with buffet menu ideas that cover appetizers through dessert.
One of the brunch buffets at the start of the book includes this recipe for an Orange Streusel Cake. I had a bowl full of oranges I needed to use so I thought this would be an ideal way to enjoy them.
If you’re curious, the other recipes in the 1950s brunch buffet menu included Crabmeat Blanche, Savory Eggs, Puffy French Toast, Sausage Links with Apple Rings, Hot Buttered Syrup, Frosted Mint Mold and Coffee. It wouldn’t be a 1950s cookbook without a few mold recipes!
Vintage cookbooks are a small section of my vintage book collection. I love finding notes scribbled on the pages because they offer a glimpse into the past, revealing what the book owners enjoyed most from the cookbooks.
On the very first page of my copy of Thoughts for Buffets someone had penciled in “Hot Fudge Sauce p.97” and the page was also earmarked, so I’m sure it was used often. Definitely need to try that recipe one day!
How to make Orange Streusel Coffee Cake
This Orange Streusel Coffee Cake recipe couldn’t be easier! I can definitely envision housewives and hostesses in the 1950s whipping this up in under an hour to serve at brunch. Start by creaming together butter and sugar and then adding eggs. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder, then gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mix. Mix in orange juice, milk, vanilla extract and orange zest. Sprinkle with the streusel topping then bake for 45 minutes.
As with many retro baking recipes, a few adjustments were required while making this 1950s Orange Streusel Coffee Cake. I increased the amount of orange zest to give the cake more flavor, though it’s still perfectly subtle. The recipe for the streusel listed 1/3 cup sugar in the ingredients and later listed 1 teaspoon sugar. I took that to possibly mean put 1/3 cup sugar in the streusel that’s dropped on the cake batter, and then sprinkle another teaspoon on top of the streusel. I didn’t use that extra teaspoon of sugar but feel free to!
Tools you’ll need to make an Orange Streusel Coffee Cake
Aside from measuring cups and spoons, here are the additional tools you’ll need to make this citrus coffee cake:
- 8-inch square pan — The recipe’s original instructions called for a 9-inch square pan. I only have an 8-inch square baking pan and the cake turned out great with no adjustments.
- Hand mixer — You could make this coffee cake in a stand mixer but a hand mixer works just fine!
- Silicone spatula — A sturdy spatula is essential for scraping the bowl between mixing.
- Citrus zester — Honestly, I use a basic box grater to zest citrus to avoid buying more tools, but if you want to feel like a real chef, a citrus zester is a good investment.
Orange Streusel Coffee Cake ingredients
This easy coffee cake recipe uses baking ingredients you likely already have in your pantry! Start with the basics:
- Eggs
- Flour — Use all-purpose flour.
- Milk — Use what you have on hand. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
- Unsalted butter — The butter for the cake should be softened because you’ll be mixing it with the brown sugar. The butter for the streusel should be cold because you’ll be pinching it into small pieces with flour and sugar to sprinkle on top of the cake.
- Baking powder
- Vanilla extract
- Brown sugar — I used brown sugar in the cake and white sugar for the streusel topping. White sugar will give the streusel a more delicate flavor but if you want a richer flavor, use brown sugar, or swap for your favorite kind of sugar.
- Oranges — I had a lot of oranges at home so I used the fresh juice and zest from two oranges. You could use store-bought orange juice for the cake instead, but you really need the zest to get the fresh orange flavor! You could also try this cake with other citrus fruit like grapefruit or lemon.
I hope you’re able to relax a bit and enjoy this 1950s Orange Streusel Coffee Cake recipe!
Orange Streusel Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup brown sugar tighty packed
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- Pinch salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp orange zest
- ½ cup orange juice from about 2 medium oranges
For the streusel topping
- ⅓ cup sugar white or light-brown
- ⅓ cup flour
- 1½ tsp orange zest
- 3 Tbsp butter cold, cubed
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until well-combined. Beat in the eggs.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the butter and brown sugar mixture.
- Add the orange juice, milk, vanilla and orange zest and beat until well-combined.
- Pour cake mix into prepared pan and sprinkle with streusel topping. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
For the streusel topping
- In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and orange zest.
- Add the butter to the bowl. Use your fingers to pinch the butter into the flour mixture until crumbly in texture. Alternately, you can use a fork or pastry cutter to mix the ingredients.
Notes
- Try other citrus fruits like grapefruit or lemon.
- Add chopped, toasted nuts to the streusel topping like pecans, almonds or walnuts.
- Try adding spices like cinnamon to the streusel topping.
- Use white sugar in the streusel topping for a lighter flavor or brown sugar for a deeper, more caramelized flavor.
Adapted from ‘Thoughts for Buffets‘ from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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Hungry for more retro baking recipes?
Try this Peanut Butter Bread recipe from 1927!
