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Home / Breakfast
1 hour 10 minutes
Sweet Treat

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

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PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE with the biggest, thickest streusel you’ve ever seen!
pumpkin coffee cake on white plateI 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.

This pumpkin coffee cake is super moist and dense, kind of like a pumpkin pie. The huge streusel topping is so good, too!

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.

This pumpkin coffee cake is super moist and dense, kind of like a pumpkin pie. The huge streusel topping is so good, too!

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.

This pumpkin coffee cake is super moist and dense, kind of like a pumpkin pie. The huge streusel topping is so good, too!

This pumpkin coffee cake is super moist and dense, kind of like a pumpkin pie. The huge streusel topping is so good, too!
Recipe

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Streusel

The BEST pumpkin cake recipe I've ever had. That thick streusel on top just makes it even better.
4.47 from 13 votes
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Prep20 minutes
Cook50 minutes
Total1 hour 10 minutes
Serves 12 pieces

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:

This recipe produces a very dense cake, much like a cross between cake and a pumpkin pie. If you'd prefer a traditional cake crumb, reduce the pumpkin to 1 can.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1piece| Calories: 714kcal (36%)| Carbohydrates: 101g (34%)| Protein: 8g (16%)| Fat: 32g (49%)| Saturated Fat: 20g (125%)| Cholesterol: 108mg (36%)| Sodium: 420mg (18%)| Fiber: 4g (17%)| Sugar: 53g (59%)
Author: Karly Campbell
Course:Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine:American
Keyword:brunch recipes, cake, easy pumpkin recipes
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  5. Sally Parker says

    I switched from my phone to my laptop and somewhere I lost the recipe for the pumpkin bars with the nuts on top.

    Where did it go?

    Reply

    • Julie Holbert says

      I was wondering the same thing. In my experience homemade, gluten free baked goods seem dry but with all that moist pumpkin in the recipe I bet it would work! I will try a packaged gluten free flour mix. I’ll just have to check and see if it has baking soda/baking powder in it and if so, I won’t add it in the recipe.

      Reply

  9. Meg says

    Love the video! This cake looks so dense in the best way. You totally sold me in the comparison to pumpkin pie. So excited to try this (and not have to share it with my husband since he’s a pumpkin hating weirdo).

    Reply

  11. Laurie grant says

    How would you adjust the cooking time if you were making this in small loaf pans? I’m going to make some for my family too!

    Reply

  18. Debbie says

    Made this, it was so delicious! Gave it away to family, coworkers, neighbors… everyone loves it. Rich, moist, cinnamon pumpkin yumminess!!!!

    Reply

  23. Tara says

    Absolutely delicious & highly recommend if u love pumpkin & crumbs 🙂 however my question is do I need to refrigerate this or can I leave it on the counter?

    Reply

    • Danelle says

      I made it tonight, but mine took a little longer to cook, at about an hour the middle was still not quite done. I pulled it out at about 65 minutes just because the top was browning and I didn’t want it to over cook

      Reply

      • Karly says

        There is so much pumpkin in this one that the cake part stays very custard-y and moist. 🙂 Hope it turned out well for you!

        Reply

  32. Susan says

    Could I use this cake recipe and then use a boxed yellow cake mix with butter and pecans in place of the streusel?  My son doesn’t like streusel.  

    Reply

  33. Laurine Jennings says

    I want to make this, but in the recipe you say pumpkin puree and in the video is shows 100% pumpkin, not puree. Does it matter? Thank you, I will make it as soon as I know! Can’t wait!

    Reply

  35. Laura says

    I love pumpkin but am not a huge pumpkin pie fan bc of the texture. Would this be a little more “cakey” if you only used 1 can of pumpkin instead?

    Reply

  36. Julie says

    This looks wonderful and I plan to make this very soon. I was thinking about substituting this streusel recipe for the topping on an apple crisp that I am making tomorrow. Do you think this will work?

    Reply

      • Julie says

        Made the apple crisp last week with this streusel topping and it was unbelievable. Absolutely the easiest and most delicious streusel I’ve ever had! I want to add it to everything. I followed the baking time from the apple crisp recipe but it probably could have used less time as the apples cooked down quite a bit. Using a smaller pan might have resulted in a deeper layer of apples as it was mostly streusel….not necessarily a bad thing. Just putting another one in the oven now. How well do you think the streusel mixture would freeze? I was thinking of keeping some on hand when my kids want pumpkin muffins before school.

        Reply

  39. Ashley Boyd says

    Made this for a “pumpkin potluck” party! TO. DIE. FOR. !!!I have a search fam. Recipe that is soooo good..and honestlyl, I am so not a pumpkin fan, but ooohhhh man! This totally changed my life. So so moist from the extraaaa pumpkin puree and also very simple to put together! Need to make sure and emember and take the butter out ahead of time, but micro. For 30 seconds, and the 2 half sticks came out perfectly “room temp.” The strudel is a game changer as far as toppings go! Don’t skimp and make any less than what the recipe calls for to the T!(: so so worth it. 10000% will make this over and over ! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe (:

    Reply

  40. Ashley Boyd says

    Made this for a “pumpkin potluck” party! TO. DIE. FOR. !!!I have a scratch fam. Recipe that is soooo good..and honestly, I am so not a pumpkin fan, but ooohhhh man! This totally changed my life. So so moist from the extraaaa pumpkin puree and also very simple to put together! Need to make sure and emember and take the butter out ahead of time, but micro. For 30 seconds, and the 2 half sticks came out perfectly “room temp.” The strudel is a game changer as far as toppings go! Don’t skimp and make any less than what the recipe calls for to the T!(: so so worth it. 10000% will make this over and over ! Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe (:

    Reply

  41. Chris says

    I want to make this for a holiday event with roughly 40 people, so I have a few questions…
    1) how many do you recommend I make for 40 servings?
    2) how would you adjust the recipe so it can be made in disposable foil continers?
    3) does the baking time change when two are baked simultaneously?
    4) what steps could be done together for all the cakes to economize time/fridge space?

    The event is in about 3 weeks, so I hope you respond in time.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Karly says

      This cake bakes in a 9×13 pan, so you can cut it into as large or as small of pieces as you prefer. You shouldn’t need any adjustments for baking in foil pans. I haven’t baked two simultaneously, so I can’t answer that, but I would just recommend keeping an eye on them and adjusting as needed.

      Reply

  42. Lisa says

    I made this over the weekend, it was absolutely delicious. I did just realize that I forgot to make the icing but I don’t think anyone noticed. I am glad I read in the comments that the cake was kind of a pie/cake hybrid since the cake itself seemed kind of “undone”. Once you bit in you knew. It was soooo good. Will definitely be making this again.

    Reply

  43. Karen beaver says

    This looks soon yummy, can’t wait to try it.  A few questions first can you do it without pumpkin?  Or is there a substitute for pumpkin to keep so moist?  What about cream cheese? Nor do you have similar every moist crumb cake recipe that is moist as this looks???   Thanks.  I love crumb cake and would love an awesomely moist recipe for regular cc.  Will definitely keep the seasonal pumpkin version too!!! Thanks for sharing.  

    Reply

    • Karly says

      You could swap in a couple of bananas or mashed sweet potatoes, but I do not think leaving those out entirely would work. Applesauce MIGHT be an option, but I haven’t tried it myself.

      Here’s another excellent coffee cake recipe, though it’s not as moist as this one. http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2011/01/10/new-york-style-coffee-cake/ The pumpkin coffee cake takes on the texture of a pie a bit, so it will be hard to achieve that without pumpkin. 🙂

      Reply

  45. Courtney says

    I usually make my pumpkin pies from scratch. Could I use real pumpkin instead of canned? I’m assuming I would prepare my pumpkin just like I do for pie right? 

    Reply

  47. Myrle Blady Grossman says

    I made the Pumpkin Coffee Cake the other day and took it to a party. It was a hit! Being vegan I altered the recipe and used ground flax seed instead of eggs and Earth Balance instead of butter. I got so many compliments. Thank You!

    Reply

  48. Bambi Borkowski says

    Oh my!! This is one of the best coffee cake recipes ever!! The mix itself was a perfect blend of cinnamon, sugars, flour and pumpkin.
    You do need to adhere to the recipe and how to blend the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. The streusel mixture is fantastic, again, make sure you use it all,  you won’t regret the results! 
    Thank you for this superb dessert recipe!!

    Reply

    • Karly says

      The recipe will be very moist, but the muffins would hold their shape fine. You’ll just need to adjust down the baking time as needed.

      Reply

  50. Helen Coppens says

    Does the cake need to be refrigerated after cooling? I am making it on Tuesday for a Wednesday night get together. Thank you.

    Reply
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