PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE with the biggest, thickest streusel you’ve ever seen!
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
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 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
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 eggs
- 2 15 ounce cans pumpkin puree
For the icing
- 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.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Candace says
Hello. Can you please clarify….
For the cake….
1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature
Are calling for 1C butter (which is 2 sticks)
OR….
1C and 2 sticks of butter. Which is essentially 2C of butter?
Karly says
That should be 1 cup total butter which is 2 sticks…sorry for the confusion. My recipe card used to separate that out nicely and when I changed to a new one things got a little wonky on some of the recipes.
Theresa says
I just took this out of the oven. . Smells and looks amazing. Now I’m reading this butter comment. I used 1 cup-2sticks for streusel and 1 cup- 2 sticks for batter as stated in recipe. Is that correct? I sure hope so!
Karly says
Yes, that’s correct. Hope you enjoyed the cake!
C Ann Cleven says
Too dense and flavor is lacking. This is not like the coffee cakes we are used too.
Karly says
Hi there! The blog post states right at the beginning that this is not a traditional coffee cake and that it’s meant to be very moist and dense like a cross between cake and pie. Sorry you missed that.
Steven Wm.son says
This is simply just the single best pumpkin dessert you can make and eat. Its dense, and the topping, well. I can’t say enough good things. You want dry, crumble cake-like coffee cake? This is the opposite. Its really dessert. I made seven of these last year. SEVEN. No, it’s not healthy. Sorry. No, not sorry. This is the best if you want a memorable splurge. (I used cinnamon a few times, but pumpkin pie spice is teriffic in the cake part.)
Karly says
Oh wow, so happy to read this! 🙂 Glad you’re such a fan of the recipe!
Suzanne says
Absolutely the best!Â
Karly says
Yay! Thanks for trying and sharing!
Marianne says
Delicious and I don’t even like pumpkin! It was so good I couldn’t wait for it to cool.
Barb Chiappa says
I love this dessert as does my family.  I’m wondering if you have eve made them as muffins.  If so, how long would you bake them.
ThanksÂ
Karly says
Hi Barb! I haven’t made these as muffins before, but I think I’d start watching them around the 15 minute mark. Not sure how long they’ll end up taking.
Karen says
Do you think it will work with gluten free all purpose flour in the same measure?
Karly says
Hi Karen! If you have a gluten-free flour that measures like all-purpose flour, it should work, but I really have no experience with gluten-free flours so I can’t say for sure.
Emily S. says
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Karly says
I always use salted butter. 🙂
Jennie says
Can I make this the night before event? Just store on the counter overnight or refrigerate? Looks amazing. Thanks!!
Karly says
Hi Jennie! You can definitely make this one in advance. I’d store in the fridge and let it come to room temp before serving.
Margot says
Hi, does this use dark brown sugar or light?
Can’t wait to try it!
Karly says
Hi Margot! Either will work fine. I like the flavor of dark better, but you can use whatever you have on hand or prefer.
Karen says
This has been a bit every single time I have made it (4 times, will be 5 tomorrow) People rave about it. It is delicious! The only thing I do differently is dust powdered sugar on top instead of the glaze.
Kris says
Hi Karly –
I made this for my Thanksgiving day dessert tomorrow. My house smells like the best bakery….I want to get to bed by 9:30 so I can get up really early. My husband will get home from work around 10:30. I KNOW I will be presenting this on my table tomorrow with a big piece missing, even though I did my best to hide it in the fridge. He will smell that heavenly smell and find it! Thank you and have a wonderful holiday with your fam.
Karly says
Haha! Husbands…they just can’t wait for the treats, can they? Hope you love the dessert tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving!
Kris says
Karly- Yep! He found it. Ha-ha!
I put this on the table and didn’t say what it was. For your readers who don’t know what to expect, I didn’t glaze this, I didn’t want to risk that streusel topping getting soggy overnight. I did add one TBS of pumpkin pie spice to the cake part as some readers suggested. Everyone at my table thought this was a slab pie. When they asked where I got the recipe, they now call it Karly’s pumpkin slab pie and they all asked me to make it again next year.
This was the hands down favorite and I had all ages at my table. They put stars of whipped cream on top of the squares I had cut it into. I’m saving this recipe forever.
Karly says
Aw!! Love it. Thanks for sharing, Kris! So glad the recipe was a hit.
Kailee Haddock says
It was very good, although the crumbly part was way dryer then the video shows… I’m going to try it about eventually with less flour
Jackie Krueger says
This recipe is so delish. Shared with neighbor while still warm…it was a big hit. Works well as a great dessert with a side of vanilla ice cream or whip cream. Topping is.,.wow!
Karly says
Thanks, Jackie!
Kelly Dagenhart says
Wow I can’t wait to try the pumpkin coffee cake looks so yummy
Karly says
I hope you love it, Kelly! 🙂
Pip says
It was definitely the consistency of almost pumpkin pie. Didn’t seem done. Won’t make it agai
Karly says
Sorry you didn’t like the consistency – that dense, creamy pie-like texture was what we were going for though. 🙂
Erica Rendell says
Have you ever halved the recipe? If so, what size pan and how long did you bake? TY!
Karly says
I haven’t, but I would try in a 9×9. Not sure on bake time – you’ll just have to keep an eye on it.
Andrea says
very good but like the blog said it’s definitely not a traditional coffee cake. once i got the idea of it being more like pumpkin pie + cake, i liked it a lot more. i also found that it tasted even better the next two days which is a win.
Amanda says
Can I skip the baking powder? I actually thought it was the same thing ?
Karly says
No, you need the baking powder.
Claire says
Hands down the best thing I’ve ever baked. It’s moist & rich without being overly sweet, and has just the right amount of pumpkin flavor. Shared it with my roommates and we all raved about it for weeks. Definitely making again!
Karly says
Love to hear that! Thanks, Claire!
Jayne says
I just made it!!! It was soooo goood!!! Is the streusel suppose to be crunch or soft?? Mine came out crunchy but my friend also made it and it came out soft!! Both were delicious tho!!
Karly says
Hi Jayne! It usually comes out with a bit of crunch, but not super hard, if that makes sense. If it was too crunchy, I’d lower your oven rack a bit as the top may have overcooked. 🙂
Kasey H. says
My entire office keeps begging me to make this on a regular basis! Sinfully delicious. Do you think making this in mini loaf pans to give as gifts would bake well? If so, how would you go about adjusting the recipe for that? Thank you!
Karly says
Hi Kasey! I’m so glad the recipe is a hit! I haven’t tried baking this in a mini loaf pan. I’d be a bit worried that the loaf pan is deeper than the 9×13 and that would make it harder to cook the cake through without burning the edges and streusel. It’s already such a moist cake. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes! It would definitely make a great gift! Another option might be as muffins? But I haven’t tried that either. 🙂
Lisa Pownall says
Do you store it in the refrigerator?
Karly says
Because it’s so moist, I’d store this one in the fridge.
Hannah says
When listing the ingredients it should also have ICING. Because I just went through the ingredients to make this and added the icing ingredients to the cake because I thought it would be it’s own list like the Streusel. My mistake, but I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Karly says
Oh, shoot, you’re right. I’m sorry about that. I’ve updated the recipe. Hope it still turned out for you!
Rosario Rodriguez says
I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong!!! I added the pumpkin puree to the butter and sugar mixture and it didn’t come our smooth, but looked almost liked scrambled eggs. The butter was cold, not hot or melted from the microwave and I used an electric mixer! Please help!!
Karly says
Hello! It sounds like the cold butter probably just separated a bit when you added the pumpkin. It shouldn’t hurt anything. I’d still go ahead and bake it as directed. 🙂