This pumpkin coffee cake is moist, tender, filled with pumpkin spices and topped with crunchy cinnamon streusel. It’s an easy crumb cake recipe that’s perfect for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. The perfect fall treat!
**This post was updated September 24, 2023 with new photos and step-by-step recipe tips and photos**
Pumpkin. Cinnamon. Streusel. Cake for breakfast. It’s time to invite your friends over for brunch – because this pumpkin coffee cake needs to be on your baking list. It combines my favorite coffee cake recipe with the best pumpkin cake. It’s filled with vanilla, brown sugar, and lots of cinnamon for the perfect pumpkin spice flavor. Then it’s topped with delicious brown sugar crumbles and a drizzle of sweet vanilla glaze.
The combination of moist pumpkin cake and crunchy crumb topping makes this cake irresistible.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake Recipe
First, we’ll make the crunchy brown sugar streusel topping. This recipe uses melted butter instead of cold butter (which is often used in a streusel or crumb topping). I find using melted butter leads to a slightly more moist crumble, which makes it easier to slice the cake and pairs with the texture of the pumpkin cake perfectly.
- Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt. Make sure that you no longer have clumps of brown sugar, as if you wait until the next step to try and get rid of brown sugar clumps, you won’t be able to tell what’s a clump of sugar and what’s a streusel crumble.
- Then stir in the melted butter. When you’re done, it should look like damp sand. Your crumbles will not necessarily be uniform in size. Set aside.
Then it’s time to get on with the cake. This recipe is very simple to make and can be done entirely by hand.
- Start by whisking together the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisking together the dry ingredients first (instead of just dumping them into the wet ingredients and mixing) ensures that the spices and leavening agents are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Then in a separate, very large bowl whisk together the wet ingredients: oil, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, sour cream and pumpkin puree. I recommend whisking the eggs on their own first so that this mixture comes together more easily. When you’re done this step, you should no longer see lumps of sugar (granules are fine) or pieces of egg. The combination of oil, sour cream and pumpkin puree is what makes this cake so incredibly moist.
- Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I typically do this in 2 additions, doing a few stirs by hand with a rubber spatula first and then whisking until there are no more lumps. Pro Tip: Because the batter is very thick, be careful not to over mix it or else the cake can get tough. If there’s lumps in the batter feel free to whisk it together with a few strokes – but be careful not to get overzealous. No need to be whisk happy here. Overmixing will lead to air tunnels in your cake.
Then the batter is poured into a 9×13 inch pan (you’ll be happy that this recipe makes A LOT of cake), the streusel is crumbled on top, and it’s baked in the oven for about 38-43 minutes. If you’re unsure if the cake is done yet, you can also give the pan a little nudge and see if the cake wobbles in the centre. If there’s a wobble then it’s still gooey in the center and it’s not done yet.
Then drizzle on the glaze, and get to work enjoying a delicious slice of cake.
Baking Tips and Tricks
- Use a metal pan instead of a glass pan for more uniform baking (baking the cake in a glass pan will also take longer).
- Measure the flour carefully – too much flour will lead to a dry cake.
- Room temperature eggs & sour cream make it easier to mix everything together.
- If you don’t have sour cream, you can use Greek yogurt instead
- Make sure to use pure pumpkin instead of pumpkin pie filling. Canned pumpkin pie filling has
- Be careful not to over mix the batter – otherwise, it can get tough
For more pumpkin recipes, try these other favorites:
- Pumpkin Spice Cookies
- Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ½ cup unsalted butter (112 grams) melted
- 1 and ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (167 grams) aka plain flour
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar (79 grams) ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (67 grams)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pumpkin Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375 grams) spooned & leveled (careful not to over measure)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil (180 ml) or canola oil
- 1 and ½ cups packed brown sugar (315 grams) I used light
- 3 large eggs, whisked together room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup sour cream (120 ml) room temperature
- 2 cups canned pumpkin or just use one 15oz can plus 1 extra tablespoon sour cream
For the Glaze
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream (30-45 ml) or milk
- 1 - 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (110 - 165 grams) sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.
- Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan and lightly flour. Make sure the sides of your baking pan are at least 2 inches tall. Otherwise, the cake may overflow.
Streusel Topping
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon until you no longer have lumps of brown sugar.
- Mix in the melted butter (I do this with a fork). The mixture should form crumbles and feel like damp sand. Set aside.
Pumpkin Cake
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl whisk together the oil, brown sugar, whisked eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream and pumpkin puree until it's an even consistency and you no longer see lumps of sugar or pieces of egg.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients about ½ at a time. I typically do a few strokes using a rubber spatula first, then whisk until no lumps remain. Do not use an electric mixer.
Assembling and Baking the Cake
- Pour the cake batter into your prepared pan and smooth out the top.
- Crumble/sprinkle the streusel topping over the top until all of the cake batter is covered with an even layer of streusel.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 38-42 minutes, or until the cake no longer wobbles in the middle and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If you're unsure, I recommend baking for a few extra minutes as this cake is unlikely to dry out.
- Place the pan on a wire rack. Cool the cake in the pan.
Make the Glaze & Serve
- In a small bowl whisk together 2 tablespoons of cream (or milk) with 1 cup powdered sugar. Add a little more cream or powdered sugar as needed. The glaze should be white in color, but thin enough to drizzle.
- Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and slice into pieces. I typically reserve a little extra glaze to top on each piece for anyone who wants extra.
Notes
- Pan Sizes: Recipe can be halved and made in an 8x8 inch pan. The bake time will be about 30-35 minutes.
- Flour: Whisk the flour first, then spoon into dry measuring cups and level off the top. Or measure using a scale for the most accurate results. Do not scoop the flour directly into a measuring cup when measuring - this can lead to too much flour and the cake becoming dry.
- Spices: The cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves can be substituted with 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (1 tablespoon in total).
- Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to use pumpkin puree (labeled 100% pure pumpkin) and not canned pumpkin pie filling. One 15 ounce can is slightly less then 2 cups. Feel free to use a 15 ounce can and add 1 extra tablespoon of sour cream.
- Nutrition: Details provided are an estimate only and based on 1 slice, assuming the pan is sliced into 18 equal pieces and all of the streusel and glaze is used.
- Storage: Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Cake is always best fresh.
Nutrition
Rosie
This looks so delicious. Love the combination of a really moist cake with a crisp crumb topping!
Fiona
Thanks so much Rosie – I definitely agree with you on the combo of moist cake and crisp crumb topping! Ps – your jam & cream doughnuts look to die for 🙂
Jesse
I love a crumble and I love anything pumpkin so this was a winning combination! This recipe was really easy and made a good amount (enough to take to work AND have some to keep at home). I will probably go back to this recipe over and over because it was so perfect.
Julie
I can’t get the recipe to print.
Fiona
Hi Julie,
Sorry about that – I’m not having the issue on my side, but I’m going to have a developer take a look. You might be able to try in a different internet browser instead (chrome, firefox, etc)
Rena pfeiffer
Can I use pumpkin pie spice instead of all individual spices
Fiona
Definitely. I’d use 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Rose
Trying tomorrow, do you think you can make it into two loaf pans?
Fiona
I haven’t tried it – so I can’t be 100% sure of the results. I think it would take about 50-60 minutes to bake in loaf pans, and you likely wouldn’t need all the struesel topping. I’ve halved the recipe before and made it in an 9×9 inch square pan no problem – the bake time is about 30-35 minutes.
Leah
Do you think this will double well? Need to make a large pan (11×15)
Fiona
I haven’t tried, so I’m not certain of the results. If you doubled the recipe, I think it would be too much batter for an 11×15 inch pan though – the are of a 9×13 inch pan is 117 square inches and the area of an 11×15 inch pan is 116 square inches.
Natalie M
That was sooooooo delicious! I used dark brown sugar in the cake mix and it came out tasting more like a gingerbread cake. It was very moist. I did need much more heavy cream for the icing. I put the icing in a plastic bag to drizzle on top but didn’t wait but 30 minutes so it melted but didn’t matter to us. I will definitely make again!!
Stephanie K.
My goodness, the wonderful aroma this puts out… The entire house woke up. Lol. Wonderful! Thank you.
Kay malloy
Nice moist cake but i found the flavor to be pretty blah. I followed the recipe – maybe butter or coconut oil would be better than oil? Not sure, but I wasn’t impressed.
Fiona
Hi Kay, I’m glad you found the cake moist but I’m sorry you didn’t find it all that flavorful. I can honestly say that’s the first time I’ve heard that about this recipe. I wouldn’t use coconut oil or butter next time, as they both will behave differently than oil and the cake won’t be as moist. Plus – you wouldn’t really be able to taste them since the pumpkin would cover the butter/coconut oil flavor. You could try increasing the amounts of spices next time. Because this is a coffee cake recipe, it isn’t as sweet as a cake that’s meant for dessert. If you’re looking for a sweeter pumpkin cake recipe, you could try either of these ones instead: Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting or Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Diane Ziesmer in Mesa, Arizona
This will be my 3rd Year I will be taking this to the family Thanksgiving Dinner! This is Definitely a Family Demand and now ritual! I first seen your recipe 3 years ago and knew I had to make this. I made and took for Turkey Day. It was So Delicious!!! Everybody Loved It!!!!! The whole cake was Gone!!!!! Nobody ate pumpkin pie! The next year come Turkey Day…I was told I had better bring my Fabulous Pumkin Struesel Coffee Cake or else! This year…same thing…They expect this cake!!!!! Now my yearly Thanksgiving Ritual!!!!!
Thank You so much for sharing such a Fabulous Recipe!!!!!
This Cake is to Die For!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Emily Kathryn Pollard
So yummy! Very moist and flavorful! Definitely a good one to make for fall.