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!
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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.
Amy @ The Blond Cook says
This cake looks AMAZING! I’ve stocked up on pumpkin puree and can’t wait to make it!
Karly says
Hope you enjoy!
Tracy | Pale Yellow says
Baked is my favorite bakey in NYC and I trust their cookbooks immensely! This coffee cake looks amazing! I can’t wait to give it a try!
Debbie says
Just put it in the oven!!!!! Yes!!
Karly says
Enjoy!!
Paige says
I feel like I can taste this coffee cake from looking at the pictures. Throw in a cup of coffee and I’m done for!
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!
Karly says
It will probably take less time, but I can’t say how much as I haven’t tried it. Just keep an eye on things. 🙂
Tina Barcenas says
Well I looked for the recipe but couldn’t find it. I would like to have it.
Rich says
Click the “read more” button underneath the video
Karly says
There is a gray recipe card at the bottom of the post. If you’re on a mobile device, click the “read more” button and scroll down.
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).
Karly says
It’s definitely different than a regular cake, but I love pumpkin pie too, so it’s one of my favorites!! Hope you try it!
Rachel @ Bakerita says
OH MY GOODNESS, that STREUSEL!!! It’s begging me to come eat it all 😉 this coffee cake looks so outstanding. I’m definitely wishing I had a slice in front of me 🙂
Victoria Novak says
Can you make a gluten free version
Karly says
I have not tried making this gluten free.
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.
Mandy says
I just made one gluten free. I took a gluten free cinnamon streusel muffin mix and added pumpkin to it. It was delicious!
Alyssa @ My Sequined Life says
Crumb cake crumbs are my KRYPTONITE. Combine them with pumpkin cake and it’s game over. Love this, Karly!!
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?
Heather Looten says
Looks amazing! What do you think would happen if you made this into cupcakes???
Karly says
It’d be great, but you’ll need to adjust the baking time down, I imagine.
Claire says
This cake is ridiculous in all the right ways. Can’t wait to make it!!
Allison // Always Eat Dessert says
I cannot stop staring at the pictures of this recipe! Those crumbs! This sounds heavenly, and I can’t wait to give it a try!
xx Allison
alwayseatdessert.com
Karly says
Hope you love it!
Cheryl says
Nth asks for this recipe! Â I made it yesterday and it is truly the best crumb cake I’ve ever made myself or tasted anywhere else! Â So DELICIOUSLY moist and that streusel! Â There are no words! ?
Cheryl says
That should say *thanks for the recipe! Â ?
Karly says
Yay! Glad you enjoyed it.
Barbara Falco says
I made this tonight and it is perfectly delicious! I didn’t change a thing. The only thing was that I didn’t realize how big of a cake is was going to be. We all loved it!
Carlee says
Holy cow! Look at all of that yummy streusel! Good thing you gave the warning!
Cheryl says
I made it yesterday! Â It is DELICIOUS! Â So moist and the streusel topping is to die for! Â