Pumpkin Coffee Cake

This Pumpkin Coffee Cake with pumpkin spice streusel topping is soft, tender and flavored with pumpkin puree and homemade pumpkin spice! Sour cream, pumpkin puree and milk make this cake incredibly moist.

The best thing about this Pumpkin Coffee Cake is that you can eat it for breakfast, for a mid-afternoon snack, or for dessert topped with vanilla bean ice cream or vanilla crème anglaise! The cake is incredibly moist and tender and it is topped with an outrageous (and perfect) amount of pumpkin spice crumb topping. The streusel, filling and cake all have pumpkin spice, so the final cake is perfectly spiced!

You could go for a healthy pumpkin breakfast like my Healthy Pumpkin Muffins or these Pumpkin Spice Energy Bars, but sometimes only crumb cake will do. It is a very particular craving much like my occasional cravings for Pumpkin Donuts, and pretty much all-things-pumpkin, further explored in our 25 Best Pumpkin Recipes for Fall!

Professional Tips for Making Coffee Cake

• Be sure to use enough filling to get that line down the middle. It seems like a lot but if you don’t use enough, it will disappear into the cake as it bakes. It will taste delicious but not have the same look.
• Whisk together wet ingredients separately. Combining the sour cream, pumpkin puree and milk in a separate bowl will allow for easier incorporation of the wet and dry ingredients. The faster they mix in, the less gluten is developed, the more tender the cake.
• The perfect bake is critical. Since this is a very moist cake, there should be clinging crumbs when you test for doneness, but no streaks of batter! I prefer to use a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake at an angle but you could also use a toothpick or bamboo skewer.

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Ingredients Needed

• Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. Every brand is different and it makes adjusting the recipe a challenge.
• Sugar: I use granulated sugar for my coffee cakes. It is here for the more obvious flavor reasons, but also aids in leavening, moisture, texture and stability.
• Light Brown Sugar: Using light brown sugar adds sweetness along with a little moisture. This will keep the cake softer while adding a nice, rich molasses flavor. You can substitute this for coconut sugar or dark brown sugar if you like.
• Eggs: Whole eggs allow you to emulsify all that oil into the batter, resulting in moist, not greasy, cake.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla Extract adds a beautiful flavor itself but it also boosts the flavor of other ingredients around it like pumpkin and spices!
• Sour Cream: Sour cream is essential for the moist texture of coffee cake. It has just enough moisture to hydrate the flour and fat to inhibit the gluten formation. It also adds a beautiful flavor.
• Whole Milk: I generally use whole milk in my coffee cakes for the added flavor. It has a lower water content and the extra fat helps keep the cake tender and moist.
• Pumpkin Puree: I use Libby’s pumpkin puree because it is consistent and that is what I use to develop all my recipes. Use whichever brand you prefer. Just be sure to grab pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix or pumpkin pie filling! I would not suggest substituting homemade pumpkin puree due to the varying moisture content. Canned pumpkin puree is tightly controlled within a certain percentage.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix: My Pumpkin Spice Mix recipe is fine-tuned to work in pumpkin pie as well as it does in muffins, rolls, coffee cake, or cookies!
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is less salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It heightens the flavor here and will keep your coffee cake from tasting dull or flat.
• Baking Powder: Double acting baking powder reacts instantly when it mixes with an acid and then again when it interacts with heat. Because it is double acting, it has a slower, more stable rise than baking soda alone.
• All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to hold all the sugar, oil and puree without making a chewy, tough cake texture.

Possible Substitutions

• Full fat sour cream & milk. I almost always bake with full-fat dairy because the fat adds to the texture and intensity of flavor, but low fat versions or even Greek yogurt can be substituted in most cases. Lower fat sour cream also breaks easier than the full-fat varieties when heated or an acid is added. This is generally not catastrophic but it will impact the final texture in a subtle way.
• Made with canned pumpkin puree. I would not suggest substituting homemade pumpkin puree due to the varying moisture content. Too much moisture will make the cake gummy.
• Pumpkin spice in every layer. This recipe calls for a generous sprinkle of my homemade pumpkin spice recipe. I make this in large batches and keep it in the cabinet for seasoning all manner of things during the Fall. If you would rather not, I have included measurements for the individual spices in the Notes section of the recipe.

How to Make Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Use these instructions to make moist pumpkin coffee cake every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Make the crumb topping & spice filling:

Step 1: Mix the brown sugar crumb topping. Combine melted butter, light brown sugar, pumpkin spice, flour and kosher salt in a bowl and mix to combine.

Step 2: Make the spice filling. Whisk together the light brown sugar, flour, and spice mix in a small bowl and set aside.

Mix the coffee cake batter:

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 325°F convection or 350°F  conventional. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish or metal cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Step 4: Whisk together pumpkin spice mix, kosher salt, baking powder and all-purpose flour called for in the recipe under the “Batter” ingredients subheading in a large bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, pumpkin puree, and vanilla.

Step 5: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar together. Beat until light and fluffy. Brown sugar makes it more difficult to tell when they are properly creamed but the mixture will lighten slightly and the sugar granules will appear to separate rather than look like paste.

Step 6: Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time until emulsified. Scraping after each addition.

Step 7: Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately add the dry and the wet ingredients, starting and ending with flour. 

Step 8: Pour about half the batter into the prepared pan. Cover with the filling mixture. It will seem like a lot, but it is just the right amount!

Step 9: Spread remaining batter over the top and crumble the topping over the entire top.

Step 10: Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, until a cake tester or skewer comes out with just a few clinging crumbs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go!

Check out our other delicious, chef-developed Breakfast Recipes!