Easy Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake
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Wake up to this delicious Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake! It’s soft, moist, and packed with warm spices. It’s topped with the most delicious buttery brown sugar streusel and finished with a light drizzle of icing. It’s a simple, but impressive fall dessert that’s just right for brunch, holidays or an afternoon coffee break!
I love making coffee cakes. They’re just so easy and insanely delicious. It’s one of my favorite desserts to make. They don’t require a ton of effort, but the result is beautiful. Once you’ve made a coffee cake, there’s no turning back. Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake is just one delicious option, but the flavor combos are endless! A few others that I really enjoy are my Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake and my Blueberry Coffee Cake. Both have a buttery streusel but offer a totally different flavor.
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake
- The texture: The pumpkin cake is tender and moist and spiced just right. Mixing pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon really enhances the pumpkin.
- Easy to make: I don’t use a mixer for this recipe. Just a bowl, whisk and spatula.
- Crowd-pleasing: It’s a great dessert for all sorts of get togethers.
- The buttery streusel topping: The streusel is really the star of the show. I made sure it had an enough butter and brown sugar to really create a nice, thick layer of streusel on top. You can never have enough streusel.
Ingredients and Substituions:
- All purpose flour: You can substitute gluten free flour if needed. I find that mixing a cup for cup gluten free flour and almond flour works really well in cakes.
- Pumpkin puree: make sure it’s not the pie filling.
- Baking powder + baking soda: The combo creates the perfect lift and fluffy texture.
- Warm spices: I like to mix pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. It really make the pumpkin flavor pop.
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar: The combo sweetens the cake while also giving it a nice caramel flavor.
- Unsalted butter: I always used unsalted butter in my recipes so I can control the salt.
- Eggs: Eggs help bind all the ingredients together.
- Vanilla extract: Can’t have coffee cake without a warm vanilla aroma.
- Sour cream of Greek yogurt: Help keep the cake moist. Sour cream or Greek yogurt will work- I suggest using high or full fat.
Pumpkin Streusel Topping: It’s simple! Just mix together butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, spices and salt.
Icing: I use a simple traditional glaze for this recipe. I didn’t want it to over power the cake. It’s just a mixture of melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and water.
Tips and Storage
- Prepare all the ingredients ahead of time. This helps prevent mistakes and makes clean up easier.
- Do not over-mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Be gentle with this process. Over-mixing can cause a dense or tough cake.
- Do not over-bake. When in doubt, test the cake by inserting a toothpick or knife directly in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean or with a few crumbs on it, it’s done.
- Store the cake in an airtight container to keep it fresh. It will last 2-3 days room temperature or up to 5 day refrigerated.
Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake is where it’s at. When in doubt, make a coffee cake! Your friends and family will love you! It’s so comforting, moist, and delicious. It can be enjoyed morning, afternoon and night. It can also be made ahead of time and travels very easily. So pour yourself a cup of coffee and dig in!
Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake
Wake up to this delicious pumpkin streusel coffee cake. It's full of warm spices, buttery streusel and finished with a sweet drizzle of icing. It's a wonderful Fall dessert for all sorts of occasions.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar (light brown sugar may be substituted)
- ½ cup vegetable oil (refined melted coconut oil may be substituted)
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream or plain full-fat Greek yogurt, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- â…“ cup granulated sugar
- â…“ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
Vanilla Icing
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon water, plus more by the teaspoon as needed
Instructions
- Prepare the pan: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat an 8×8-inch or 9×9-inch baking pan with nonstick baking spray or grease it generously with butter.
- Combine the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- Combine the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar, ½ cup vegetable oil, 1 cup pumpkin puree, ½ cup sour cream, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons whole milk until smooth and creamy.
- Make the cake batter: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, gently fold the mixtures together just until no dry streaks of flour remain. Be careful not to overmix.
- Make the crumb topping: In a separate medium bowl, combine ½ cup melted unsalted butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon. Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup granulated sugar and ⅓ cup packed brown sugar. Mix with a fork or your hands until the mixture forms large, moist crumbs.
- Assemble the cake: Spread the pumpkin cake batter evenly in the prepared pan. Scatter the crumb topping evenly over the batter, gently pressing the crumbs into the surface so they stay in place.
- Bake: Bake for 38–42 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Begin checking the cake around 38 minutes, especially if using a 9×9-inch pan. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool completely before adding the icing.
- Make the vanilla icing: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time. If it becomes too thin, whisk in a little more confectioners’ sugar.
- Finish and serve: Drizzle the vanilla icing over the completely cooled cake. Allow the icing to set slightly before slicing and serving.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 920Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 10gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 76mgSodium: 372mgCarbohydrates: 156gFiber: 4gSugar: 89gProtein: 12g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated. Use as an approximation only.
I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out dry – good but dry. As I re-looked at the recipe and instructions, I noticed that the extended instructions mention using “sour cream”, but there is no mention in the recipe or recipe instructions about using sour cream. How much are you supposed to use? If this coffee cake was moister, I’d absolutely make it again. (BTW, I can’t believe that I’m the only person that has noticed the dryness and the missing sour cream? Did you recently update the recipe and miss the sour cream when you rewrote it, did I miss it somewhere in the post?)
Hi Yolanda! thank you for reaching out! First, I apologize! You are right, I did leave it out – human error on my end. I have since updated the recipe to include 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt. I’d love to hear your feedback if you decide to try it again and consider updating your rating! Thank you for reaching out again – it’s very helpful as mistakes can happen!
Thanks for the quick response! Mistakes do happen – I wish I could say that I never make them! I talked to a friend yesterday, and she and I both thought that 1/2 c sour cream would be what we’d add to the recipe. Low and behold, that was the exact measurement. LOL
I will definitely make this again and re-review it. Like I said in the review, it had a really good flavor. With the added sour cream, the moistness will make it perfect. The streusel was very good too. I made a very slight change to the icing. I added just a “smidge” of maple flavoring to it (along with the vanilla). The maple was very subtle, but added just a little something unexpected.
Happy Fall!
Hi Yolanda! Thank you for your response! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe and looking forward to your thoughts after you add the sour cream. Love the addition of maple syrup! Have a great day!