Pumpkin Coffee Cake
I feel like this pumpkin coffee cake recipe needs a disclaimer.
Warning: What you are about to see is disturbing in the best way possible. This 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.
LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS RECIPE RIGHT NOW.
It is, in a word, phenomenal.
I took my very favorite 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 – Baked Explorations. It’s not a traditional streusel with oats or softened butter that requires a pastry cutter and a bunch of elbow grease. It’s melted butter, lots of sugar, cinnamon, and flour that gets stirred together. Much easier than cutting things in, in my opinion. It needs to set for a few minutes, so I always make the streusel first, then the cake, then it’s perfect for crumbling big huge crumbs over your batter.
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.
Give this one a try and let me know what you think! And don’t be scared off by the long ingredient list or directions – this is really straight forward and uses ingredients you likely have on hand.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Streusel
The BEST pumpkin cake recipe I've ever had. That thick streusel on top just makes it even better.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 cup butter melted
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 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 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 2 15 ounce cans pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- To prepare the streusel, 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 the 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.
- Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk to make the glaze. Drizzle over the top before serving.
Nutrition Disclaimer: All information presented on this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information shared on bunsinmyoven.com should only be used as a general guideline.
This recipe looks and sounds terrific ! Can it be frozen to serve at a later date ?
I don’t freeze baked goods, but I imagine it would work fine.
If you like coffee cake and pumpkin, this cake is divine. Perfect combinations of sugars and spices. Delicious! Thanks for an amazing seasonal favorite!
When it came out of the oven, certain areas of my crumble seemed a little buttery. Is that ok?
So I’m looking over this recipe and then I’m watching the video and it looks like when its get to the part of mixing the dry ingredients there is only 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of baking soda and also before this part only one egg? I made this cake last night and it did not come out as I expected it to and I will be trying again today so I just want to make 100% sure
Please follow the directions in the written recipe. This is a longer recipe with a lot of ingredients, so showing each individual step in a timely manner on the video is tough. It’ll be easier and more accurate to follow the written recipe.
Okay thank you! And I’m just trying to figure out were I went wrong with the first cake I didn’t have room temp butter so I melted the butter do you think that would effect the tast of the cake? And I also added a pinch of cloves because I just love them but I could really taste the cloves or pumpkin
Did you follow the written recipe the first time? Curious what turned out about it that you weren’t a fan of – just not a strong pumpkin flavor? If that’s the case, I would probably double the cinnamon in the cake mixture or swap in pumpkin pie spice if you have that on hand. Cloves, ginger, nutmeg all scream pumpkin to me, so add a bit of those if you like and taste the batter. Add more as needed until it’s where you want it. 🙂
As for the melted butter, that likely wouldn’t affect the taste so much as the texture of the cake.
Hope that helps!
In the video it looks like she puts one cup of flour and one cup of baking soda – when I saw that I kinda gasped cause that’s not a thing… that’s A LOT of baking soda let alone equal to the amount of flour. I went back and read the recipe – it’s just the way the video is edited. Follow the recipe and disregard the video. I made this recipe over the weekend and brought it to work and everyone devoured it … I’ve never heard my office so quiet before. In fact, I made it again yesterday to share with my family. My recommendations: do not bake it for longer that 50 minutes (I did 55 minutes the first time cause I didn’t want the center to be undercooked and the second one came out much better without the extra time) and I personally love cinnamon so I doubled it *in the batter* the second time; I will most likely triple it next time. Anyway, follow the recipe, it’s fool proof!! YUM!
Karly: I plan to stalk your recipe’s online now… I’m officially your number one fan (did you get all that Kathy Bates Mysery reference?)
Hi Eli!
Yes, I was a bit off on the times when editing the video and typing in the ingredients. Whoops!! 🙂
Thanks for being a fan! Just so long as I stay off of back roads in the icy winter, I’ll assume I’m safe. 😉 Haha!
HI ANY SUGGESTIONS FRO A SUB FOR PUMPKIN OR…NO PUMPKIN AT ALL IF POSSIBLE. DONT LIKE IT TY SHARI
Butternut squash or even sweet potato cooked and purees
Did you really mean you used 1 cup of baking soda ? It called for 1 1/2 teaspoon . That could be a huge problem
Can you make these as muffins?
How long does it take for the streusel to “set?”
If you make the streusel topping before the cake, it will be ready to go by the time you have the cake mixed together, so about 5-10 minutes.
Update: I made this into muffins and it came out great! I baked them for 28 minutes. Also I only had one can of pumpkin so I substituted a banana for the other can. It was good but I definitely taste the banana. Next time I’ll make sure I have all the ingredients…lol. Thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks for the update! 🙂
I made this last night and let the cake cool over night. The crumbs got golden brown and now they are hardened. Serving it at lunch today for work, how do I save the crumbs from being too hard?
PLEASE HELP!
The streusel topping will harden up some after it cools, but that’s normal. If they’re very hard, I’m guessing that the cake was overbaked or your oven was too hot.
Do you know how I can soften them ?
No, sorry, I don’t.
I would guess you could put a piece of bread in the pan and put plastic wrap over top. I think between the pumpkin mix on the bottom S the bread it would probably soften it up a bit.
I made this according to the recipe for a pot luck weeks ago, and was asked to make it aagain — it was THAT good!
TIP: I bake it under the time recommended and aad time as needed until my test stick comes out clean to avoid overbaking. 🙂
I made this yesterday, followed the recipe as written and it came out delicious! I couldn’t find my 9 x 13 pan, so I baked in (2) 8 x 8 pans and gave one to a friend. Thank God because I could have devoured the entire cake. I like pumpkin spice, so next time I will add a little to give the cake a little kick. Thank you for sharing…This recipe is super easy and a keeper!
Hi! Making this right now – is it really supposed to be 1.5 tbs cinnamon for the topping? That seems like a lot? Should it be tsp? Thanks!
Yep, that’s correct. It’s a lot of topping. 😉
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.
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.
wonder if a maple glaze would be good?
For sure!
thanks to both
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.
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.
Yes, you can use whatever sugar substitutes you normally use for baking. I prefer Swerve, but Splenda should work fine.
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!
I haven’t tried it myself, but it should work fine as long as the fresh pumpkin isn’t too watery.
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!
Made exactly as written. Streusel was delicious. Cake was terrible. Too dense and not spicy enough. I had to throw the entire thing out!
Sorry this wasn’t a hit for you. As mentioned above, the cake is supposed to be very dense, similar to a pumpkin pie.
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!
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.
I will try another batch and not mix as much. That could have been the issue!
Can I add Pecans to the streusal?
I haven’t done it myself, but I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work!
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!
Would this work well in a Bondt pan?
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.
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?
This will hold up fine, but I’d store it in the fridge. You can let it come to room temperature before serving.
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
Fresh pumpkin is fine,, so long as it’s drained well.
How long should I bake if I use (2) 8×8 pan?
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.
Karly I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog! Every single recipe looks absolutely amazing.
Thank you so much, Katerina!
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.
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. 🙂
I would love to know king this was baked by reducing the pumpkin to one can.
I’m sorry, I think you have a typo there. I don’t understand your question. 🙂
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!
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!
Karly, I just read what you described and yes it’s exactly that. I never read it just clicked for the recipe and you are right it’s more of a custard. Also I forgot to mention I added another 1/2 cup of brown sugar to the crumbs and decided to forgo the drizzle and sprinkle with powdered sugar like your typical coffee cake.
If you have a crowd that do we want like pumpkin…could you substitute something that may be more of a crowd pleaser? Why could you recommend?
You could likely substitute a couple of bananas, but it will not be the same texture and I can’t guarantee it will work.
How do you store the leftovers? How long will it keep?
I store in the fridge for a few days.
Is this just plain pumpkin not the pumpkin pie mix?
The two cans in the recipe…
Just plain pumpkin!
Going to make this today to share with family and friends tomorrow (Thanksgiving). Gonna only use 1 egg and hope it turns out alright. Have a son with egg allergy so need to be aware of foods and recipes with too much egg. Anyone else reduce recipes that contain 2 or more eggs?
Sally,
You can use a substitute like flax seed meal or even applesauce.
Hi! I made The coffee cake and everything and was wondering if I should wait to make it tomorrow right before I serve it or if I should just make it today and let it sit over night
Cakes that have leavening agents, such as baking powder or baking soda, need to be baked immediately upon mixing or they won’t rise. After baking, store in the fridge and it’ll keep for a few days. 🙂
So mine is in the oven right now. I dont think i made the strusel right. It came out really tacky and sticky. I put it on the cake anyways. Did i do something wrong? Should it be more crumbly?
It’s definitely a different type of streusel. It should stick together in large clumps. I think it will turn out fine, provided you followed the recipe. 🙂
Do you think this would still turn out okay if I only used one can of pumpkin?
Yep, it will come out more like a cake than a custard. You may need to adjust bake time as well.
I made this today for thanksgiving. I came across it after it was shared a bunch of times on facebook. It was disappointing :(. The cake part lacked flavor/ sugar and was far too dense to be a mix between a cake and a pie. It almost tasted like a dense sponge with a hint of pumpkin flavor. The strusel was great but the cake could have really used more flavor.
I’m sorry this one didn’t work out for you.
I’ve made this a couple of times and it’s outstanding!! Thanks for a great recipe!
Glad to hear that, Valerie!
Baked this and my daughter and I LOVED it! Had to stop myself from picking all that yummy streusel off the top. ? I didn’t do the glaze, just stuck with the streusel, and it was delish.
Yes, it’s hard not to sneak bits of streusel every time you walk through the kitchen! 😉
Making this for the third time. It’s that good.
I have seven large bananas ready for muffins or……yup. I am going to tinker. As long as I have about 30 ounces, i’m guessing I can switch in bananas gut canned pumpkin. I will also forego pumpkin pie spice for cinnamon, maybe a bit of nutmeg.
NOT TOYING WITH THAT STREUSEL, THO.
I will come back with results.
Ooh, let me know how it turns out! I just grabbed a bunch of bananas at the store – I may have to play too! 🙂
But I agree. Leave the streusel alone!! Haha!
Honestly, it wasn’t as dense or moist as the pumpkin, but it was years ahead of what I consider “banana bread.” The ripe bananas I used came to about 4 cups, a little under (aiming for the 30 ounces of two cans of pumpkin.) I used cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg. If I try it again, I think a bit of applesauce would help. This is one of those recipe’s that get handed down, I think. Thank you!
Oh, good to know! Thanks for the update!
I’m thinking of trying to make this…but maybe without so much better? Any suggestions for substitutions, just in the cake mixture? I understand the need for it in the topping but if I could eliminate the need for it in the cake, that would be fantastic. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
You could try coconut oil, though I haven’t tried it myself and am not sure it will work.
This recipe was divine… I only used one stick of butter in the cake, and it worked great …. very moist and yummy.
Everyone at work loved it! I brought it to them after my husband and I had a few pieces. 9×13 was a lot for the two of us – but my coworkers reaped the benefits! Thanks!
Glad it was a hit!
For anyone wondering how to make this vegan, sub vegetable oil for butter and banana for egg! Still turns out perfect! Thank you for this recipe!!
Wow, this cake is HEAVY! As in weight, not heavy in eating. 🙂 I made this yesterday and took it to Bible class today. First let me say that my cat LOVES the topping (bad cat!!) Cake truly is a cross between pumpkin pie and cake! Turned out just like you said it would. My husband doesn’t like pumpkin and even he liked it. 🙂 I thought the maple glaze idea was great but you really couldn’t taste it. I used maple extract to get the stronger flavor, not sure if I would do that again or not. I did add double the spices in the cake, and used Pumpkin Pie Spice (we really like our spices) – it wasn’t too strong at all. Great cake!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this yesterday for my mom’s Birthday. The only thing I changed was the amount of spices. In addition to the 1TBSP of cinnamon in the cake part of the recipe, I added 3.5 TBSP of pumpkin pie spice. Our family likes our pumpkin baked goods seasoned on the heavy side and I knew based on experience that 1 TBSP of cinnamon for 2 cans of pumpkin would not suit our tastes. The flavor with pumpkin pie spice was very good and I probably could have added more or maybe some ginger, allspice, nutmeg or cloves to even further enhance the flavor. The streusel topping for this recipe is the star. Make it exactly as written and don’t skimp. It seems like it makes a lot but the amount is perfect on the cake. The cake itself isn’t very sweet especially compared to the streusel, so the 2 together work well. The texture of the cake is dense and moist, but not heavy. Personally I would have preferred the texture to be a little more like a pie. My mom would have liked it drier and more cake like, but my husband really liked it as is. I think if I had split that recipe into 2, 8×8 pans for baking it would have turned out more dry and traditionally cake like. If I had cooked it slightly less it probably would have been a little more pie like.
My husband and daughter liked the glaze, personally I thought it was superfluous given the sweetness of the topping. All in all it’s a solid recipe, sure to please many, and I recommend giving it a try.
I made this for Thanksgiving 2016 and am making it again tomorrow for this year. OMG this is the best streusel topping (next to my mom’s) that I have ever tasted. For years I tried to duplicate my Mom’s but I couldn’t; Unfortunately I didn’t have a written copy when she passed many years ago. The cake was so moist and flavorful. Thank you so much and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
So glad that you enjoyed this one! I know what’s it like searching for those lost recipes and I’m glad this at least comes close a bit. 🙂 Happy holidays!
This recipes is poorly written. How can you tell what’s for the cake and what’s for the streusel? Ingredients are all just listed together in one list. It’s also not explained in the step by step directions. Please make it more clear.
Sorry about that! I just converted the recipes over to a new recipe card and some of the formatting was lost in translation. It’s better now. 🙂
I just made this following directions exactly & it came out not cooked through in the middle so I extended the time longer (10 minutes) I had to cover the top with foil to prevent the streusel from getting to brown. Then I read from your comments that the coffee cake would be a bit like custard. I’m letting it cool & hoping it’s gonna be ok! The ends cooked perfectly though just middle was undercooked it seemed.
It definitely comes out moist. Hope you enjoyed it! 🙂