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Our Pumpkin Coffee Cake is made with the biggest, fattest streusel you’ll ever see. Plus, we packed in as much pumpkin as possible, giving this cake a texture that’s a cross between pie and cake – so rich and dense, perfect for fall, and totally irresistible!
I feel like this pumpkin coffee cake recipe needs a disclaimer. Let’s just get that over with right off the bat –
Warning: What you are about to see is disturbing in the best way possible. This pumpkin coffee cake is so moist and dense, much like a pumpkin pie, that you’ll wonder how life can be so magical. Your eyes will struggle to take in the gloriousness that is the humongous gobs of streusel topping. Ordinary coffee cake will never taste as good to you after eating this one.
There. Now that all the legal disclaimers are out of the way, let’s talk about this recipe.
It is, in a word, phenomenal. In fact, it’s one of my favorite recipes that I’ve developed over the years and let’s be real…I’ve created a lot of dang recipes.
I took my very favorite cinnamon swirl pumpkin coffee cake that I make year after year and I doctored it up into this glorious piece of heaven topped with magical streusel. The streusel. I can’t stop talking about it.
I used the streusel recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks – (affiliate link) Baked Explorations. The streusel comes out in thick chunks and the recipe makes a lot.
The cake itself is not like your normal cake. It’s a cross between a pumpkin pie filling and a cake, which sounds weird but is actually quite delightful. The cake, thanks to the two full cans of pumpkin, is super moist and dense, like a custard, but not quite so heavy. It’s just really, really good.
Let’s do this!
Ingredient Notes:
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Pumpkin – Be sure to use 100% pure canned pumpkin. You won’t want the can of pumpkin pie filling that has the spices and extra liquids added to it.
Cinnamon – Did you know that pumpkin itself doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor? That familiar flavor we all know and love is from the spices added. We call for plain cinnamon in this recipe, but you could also use our homemade pumpkin pie spice for even more warm, fall flavor.
Butter – We love the rich flavor of real butter in this pumpkin coffee cake and between the streusel and the cake itself, you’ll use a full pound of it. We only live once, so let’s do it right.
Streusel – The streusel ingredients are brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, flour, and cinnamon. Easy peasy.
Glaze – We’ll whisk together powdered sugar and milk to make a simple glaze that you’ll spoon over the top of the cake.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- Streusel: I can not stress enough how good this streusel is. The pieces are huge and the layer of streusel is thick. We don’t skimp here.
- Moist & Dense: This is NOT your traditional cake! We were going for a cross between a pumpkin pie and a coffee cake and that’s what we achieved. If you’re looking for a light and airy crumb, you’ll want to find another recipe.
- Fall Favorite: This is one of those recipes that you’ll make year after year. Everyone raves about it and looks forward to enjoying it every year.
- Simple: While the ingredient list does look a bit long, the recipe comes together quite easily. There is nothing fussy about this recipe, so long as you have a bit of time to put it all together.
Tips & Tricks:
Streusel – Unlike most streusel recipes, this starts with melted butter! Makes it so easy. Because we’re using melted butter though, you’ll want to make the streusel first and then let it sit to dry a bit as you work on the cake batter.
Cake Batter – You’ll want an electric mixer for this one as we’re creaming together butter and sugar to start the cake batter. We’ll stir in the pumpkin, eggs, and flour until just combined to help keep the cake from becoming tough.
Bake – This recipe is meant to be super moist and dense, which makes the toothpick test a little tricky. A toothpick should come out mostly clean, but not fully dry. If it’s fully dry with no crumbs on it, you’ve probably overbaked your cake.
Glaze – This is totally optional, but we love a simple powdered sugar glaze. Feel free to doctor it up by adding a dash of vanilla extract or maple extract. You can’t go wrong with either.
What Readers are Saying!
“I’ve made this recipe over ten times and have it bookmarked because it is SO good. Crowd pleaser for sure. Everywhere I bring it, the people RAVE. It is moist and delicious. If you don’t like this, go get yourself checked…” – Rachel
FAQ:
Coffee cake is traditionally served with a cup of coffee, as a sweet afternoon or evening treat. We consider this pumpkin coffee cake to be dessert, thanks to the copious amounts of cinnamon streusel and the sweet vanilla glaze.
No, there is no actual coffee in most coffee cakes. These cakes are named coffee cake because they’re meant to be served with a cup of coffee.
While some coffee cakes will do fine on the counter for a few days, our pumpkin coffee cake packs in so much pumpkin that you’ll really want to store it in the fridge for maximum freshness.
More Fall Favorites!
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Maple Glazed Donuts
- Crockpot Apple Butter
- Apple Cobbler
- Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Streusel
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter melted
- 2 1/2 cups flour
For the cake
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup brown cup sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 2 15 ounce cans pumpkin puree
For the icing
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
To make the streusel:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Stir together the sugars, cinnamon, salt, and melted butter in a medium mixing bowl until well combined.
- Stir in the flour. Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.
To make cake:
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the sugars and butter to a medium mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs and pumpkin until just combined.
- Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
- Spread cake batter into prepared pan.
- Take the streusel topping in your hands and press together to form large crumbs. Top the cake with the streusel. It will seem like too much, but use it all for the best streusel experience.
- Bake for 50 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
- Cool completely.
To make the glaze:
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk to make the glaze. Drizzle over the top before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Elisa Echevarria says
I love coffee cake and pumpkin so I was eager to try this recipe.
After baking and tasting it I believe it’s not exactly what I expected. Its a bit more on the side of a pumpkin pie combined with flour to give it a cake texture. I’m wondering if I cut down to 1 can of pumpkin and add pumpkin pie spice it would achieve the right texture of a coffee cake and still hit the bells and whistles of the pumpkin flavor im looking for.
I added pumpkin pie spice to the cake itself and tripled the spice amt to the crumbs and honestly it wasn’t enough. My regular coffee cake recipe I use, calls for 6 tsp of cinnamon and it’s half the amount of this recipe. So next time I would use 2 tblsp of pumpkin pie spice and 1 tblsp of cinnamon. Overall it was a good recipe but better the next day when it set and dried out a bit. Pumpkin is wet and gives it a very dense almost spongy texture, I prefer a more cake texture for coffee cake.
Karly says
Hi Elisa!
I’m sorry this wasn’t what you were expecting, though it sounds like it turned out exactly how I described it. A cross between a pie and a cake.
Reducing the pumpkin should result in a more cake like texture. 🙂
Allison says
I would love to know king this was baked by reducing the pumpkin to one can.
Karly says
I’m sorry, I think you have a typo there. I don’t understand your question. 🙂
Allison says
Yes your right! I wonder what the baking time would be if you reduce it to one can. I went ahead and stuck with your original recipe of two cans and this cake is AMAZING. I am in serious trouble considering I am the only one in this house to eat it! HELP!
Karly says
Oh! I got ya. I would probably start checking it about 10 minutes sooner than called for. Not sure though. I like it with lots of pumpkin. 🙂 Glad to hear you like it too!
Katerina Seigel says
Karly I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog! Every single recipe looks absolutely amazing.
Karly says
Thank you so much, Katerina!
Heather Valentine says
How long should I bake if I use (2) 8×8 pan?
Karly says
I haven’t made this in an 8×8 before, so I can’t say for sure. I’d just start watching the cake around the halfway point and take it out when he seems done.
Robyn says
Can I use fresh pureed pumpkin, I don’t usually use can goods. I have my own fresh pumpkin puree that I freeze to use in my baking
Karly says
Fresh pumpkin is fine,, so long as it’s drained well.
Amy says
How well does this cake hold up over night? Want to make for thanksgiving but want to make it the day before.. would I put it in the fridge?
Karly says
This will hold up fine, but I’d store it in the fridge. You can let it come to room temperature before serving.
Natalie says
Would this work well in a Bondt pan?
Karly says
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure. I’m not sure how you would add the streusel to a bundt pan though.
Perseanna J. says
Looked at the post before I made this. Made it lastnight. So good. Make according to instructions not the video and it comes out perfect. Definately a keeper. Thanks Karly!
Kristy says
Can I add Pecans to the streusal?
Karly says
I haven’t done it myself, but I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work!
C lambrosa says
Made exactly as written. Streusel was delicious. Cake was terrible. Too dense and not spicy enough. I had to throw the entire thing out!
Karly says
Sorry this wasn’t a hit for you. As mentioned above, the cake is supposed to be very dense, similar to a pumpkin pie.
Stacy Arnold says
Hello! I had the same issue that C Lambrosa had. My friend made it and used part oat flour in the cake instead of 100% all purpose flour and her cake turned out really moist. When I made it with the 3 cups of regular all purpose flour –following the instructions exactly —and the exact time–the cake was so dense I had to throw it out. It was hard to cut through and my husband said it tasted like flour. That was all he could taste.. The topping was amazing. Just wondering how I can change this so I don’t waste as much next time around. We’ve never had an issue with our oven temp before and I bake all the time. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!
Karly says
Hi Stacy! Sorry this didn’t turn out for you. The cake is meant to be quite dense and fudgy – a cross between pumpkin pie and cake. It shouldn’t be difficult to cut though. I wonder if the batter was overmixed and it got really tough? Otherwise, I’m not sure what could be the issue.
Stacy says
I will try another batch and not mix as much. That could have been the issue!
Aimee Mitchell says
I made this today, and WOW is it good. I have to find some friends to share with so I don’t eat the whole thing!! I added just a bit of maple syrup to the glaze; everything else was to recipe. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Heidi Granado says
Hi there!
Thanks so much for this recipe – it looks DELISH and I can’t wait to try it! I have one question though – is it okay to use fresh pumpkin puree instead of the canned variety? I just love to roast and make my own pumpkin puree for this time of year and just want to confirm that this will still work.
Thanks!
Karly says
I haven’t tried it myself, but it should work fine as long as the fresh pumpkin isn’t too watery.
Leah Speich says
Can the sugar and brown sugars be substituted with Splenda. I am a diabetic, but still love my desserts. Please let me know as soon as you can. Am looking forward to trying this recipe soon.
Karly says
Yes, you can use whatever sugar substitutes you normally use for baking. I prefer Swerve, but Splenda should work fine.
Nadine says
Made this for a luncheon tomorrow so I have not tried it yet. It’s very heavy!! Tons of sugar!! I think I may leave the glaze off.
Nadine Matthews says
wonder if a maple glaze would be good?
Karly says
For sure!
Nadine says
thanks to both
Nadine Matthews says
Can you use the pumpkin pie filling instead of the canned pumpkin? It’s a bit thinner but tastes better with all those good spices? Thank you.
Karly says
The pumpkin pie filling has milk and other ingredients added to it. Use the pure pumpkin and add pumpkin pie spice if you’d like.