Each bite of pumpkin coffee cake with crumb topping is moist and flavorful thanks to power ingredients like pumpkin puree, pure maple syrup, and seasonal spices like ground nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Piled high with brown sugar cinnamon crumble topping and drizzled with easy vanilla icing, this spiced breakfast cake certainly hits the spot during the fall season.
I originally published this recipe in 2013 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips.
Perfectly acceptable for breakfast, snack, or dessert, today’s pumpkin coffee cake is a must make during the fall season. Heavy on the crumb topping, this is a fall version of my New York-style crumb cake and tastes just like my pumpkin crumb cake muffins but in cake form. We love it so much, we also created a cookie version with these pumpkin crumb cake cookies! It’s bursting with pumpkin flavor and will have you racing to the kitchen table any morning of the week! Not to mention, it’s the perfect treat to serve on Thanksgiving morning as a prelude to all the pumpkin pie in the evening (see my complete list of 30+ make-ahead Thanksgiving breakfast ideas for even more inspiration).
And if you’re looking for dessert, this pumpkin crumb cake is perfectly acceptable or you may love my regular pumpkin cake instead. For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ best pumpkin dessert recipes.
One reader, Jamie, commented: “This recipe turned out exceptionally. I baked it for about 35 minutes. The crumb topping is not as floury as coffee cakes but blends into the cake beautifully. The vanilla glaze took it over the edge. One of the best recipes I have made in some time. I used 1/2 dark and 1/2 light brown sugar and enjoyed the result. Thank you! ★★★★★“
This Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake Is:
- Simple and quick to prepare
- Ultra soft and moist
- Incredibly pumpkin-y
- A perfect fall breakfast indulgence (serve alongside another fall favorite, cranberry cake!)
- Wonderfully spiced with cozy fall flavors
- Piled high with crumb topping
- Garnished with a sweet vanilla icing
This recipe also joins 30+ others in my collection of Quick Dessert Recipes—ready in 1 hour or less!
Video Tutorial
3 Parts to My Best Pumpkin Coffee Crumb Cake
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake: There’s incredible flavor in each soft, moist bite of the pumpkin cake layer.
- Crumb Topping: Top today’s coffee cake with a thick layer of cinnamon-spiced crumbs.
- Vanilla Icing: It’s not coffee cake without a drizzle of icing. For something different, you may love this pumpkin crumb cake paired with the same brown sugar icing we use on pumpkin donuts.
Overview: How to Make Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping
This recipe is made completely from scratch with no boxed cake mix in sight. Made with pantry basics, the cake comes together in minutes without a mixer. Ingredients like oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, and pumpkin puree make this the moistest coffee cake you’ll ever taste. (Careful not to over-bake it!) Pumpkin takes the place of egg and helps bind everything together, so this is an entirely egg free recipe. (This cake is vegan-friendly as well—use dairy free milk in the cake and dairy free butter in the crumb topping.)
See more egg-free baking recipes.
Make sure you’re using real pumpkin puree (I like canned puree), not pumpkin pie filling. We’ll use a little brown sugar and maple syrup to sweeten. There’s lots of spices and you can absolutely use homemade pumpkin pie spice here, see recipe Note. The crumb topping and glaze sweeten the cake, so there’s no need for more sugar in the cake itself. You’ll love how the sweet maple flavor pairs with real pumpkin and warm spices!
Be prepared, this is a super, super thick batter. Why? We’re using lots of heavy, wet ingredients to yield a moist and satisfying cake.
Crumb Topping
We can all agree that the crumbs are the best part of coffee cake, so we’re going heavy on the crumb topping today. (For more recipes loaded with crumbs, try apple crumb cake, zucchini crumb cake, pumpkin french toast casserole, and apple cinnamon muffins.) Today’s crumb topping is cinnamon-spiced—you need flour, brown sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, and cold butter. Cut the cold butter in with a fork or pastry cutter until it begins to clump together and form crumbs. Pour that glorious crumb streusel on top of the batter and gently press it down into the cake before baking. So easy!
Vanilla Icing
While the cake bakes, make the icing. If I have it on hand during the fall season, I like to use pumpkin spice coffee creamer instead of milk. If you have any leftover pumpkin puree, you can even make and use homemade pumpkin coffee creamer in the icing. Milk works just as well, though. Mix the coffee creamer or milk with a little confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract, and then pour the glaze on top of the warm coffee cake. Instead of vanilla icing, try a drizzle of salted caramel or dollop of homemade whipped cream.
More Fall Breakfast Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Pumpkin Scones
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins or Mini Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Pancakes or Pumpkin Waffles
And if you are looking for dessert, here is a list of 30+ fall cake recipes.
Print
Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 9
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
An incredibly moist and flavorful spiced pumpkin coffee cake, piled high with a crumb topping and finished with vanilla icing.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/2 cup (63g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons; 56g) unsalted butter, cold
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
- 1 cup (226g) pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) canola or vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup (82g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk*
Vanilla Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons pumpkin spice coffee creamer, half-and-half, or milk
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9-inch square or 9-inch springform baking pan (or any 2.5 quart baking dish) with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping first: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon together. Cut in the cold butter using a pastry blender or a fork. Mix to create clumps and crumbs. Set aside.
- Make the cake: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger together in a large bowl until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, maple syrup, and milk together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until *just* combined. Avoid over-mixing the batter. Batter will be very thick. Spoon/pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Spread to make an even surface. Pour the crumb topping evenly on top and gently press them down into the batter.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes. Check the cake’s doneness at the 30 minute mark by inserting a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick comes out clean or with a couple moist crumbs, the cake is done. If the toothpick has wet batter on it, bake the cake for 5 more minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. Add an extra splash of creamer/milk to thin out if desired. Drizzle over warm or cooled cake. (We like serving this warm.)
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: This cake may be frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before enjoying.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Square Pan, 9-inch Springform Pan, or any 2.5-quart Baking Dish | Glass Mixing Bowls | Pastry Blender | Whisk | Rubber Spatula
- Spices: Instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger in the batter, you can use 2 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice. You could also just replace the nutmeg, cloves, and ginger with pumpkin pie spice and keep the cinnamon in the recipe.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy, in the cake batter. I really like using buttermilk when I have it on hand. Makes the cake very moist.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made the pumpkin muffins last week & today I made the pumpkin coffee cake….both recipes are terrific! At this time, I’m ready to bake some more…can’t wait to get a few more of Sally’s recipes under my belt!
So happy to hear this, Charlene!
This is really one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever tried! My hubby requests it often! I love the texture of the cake and the crumble topping! It’s easy and so so good!
I’ve enjoyed baking for nearly 50 years. I really enjoyed this. I always go just slightly heavy on spices in my pumpkin recipes. I had a large can of pumpkin and I tripled this. This doesn’t always work in a recipe but it came out great. I baked it all in a food service hotel pan so it wasn’t to deep. I could have split it u into smaller pans too. Thank you. It’s a keeper.
Hi Sally! Writing this recipe in my note book. Noticed there are no eggs!!
Hi Lisa, correct! Pumpkin takes the place of egg and helps bind everything together, so this is an entirely egg free recipe.
This recipe is wonderful! I’ve made this a few times now in different dishes and I found the 9×13 was the best because the crumb topping covers more cake !
Thanks for putting it together! I’ve come to like many of your recipes!(my family too!)
Love this recipe! I was excited to make it again last night for breakfast this morning and started to get everything together before I realized I was out of pumpkin. I decided to substitute applesauce for the pumpkin and put apple pie spice in instead of the ginger and cloves. I used maple syrup instead of coffee creamer in the icing as well. It was DELICIOUS! Now we enjoy it two ways at our house! Your blog never disappoints!
I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a while since I love all things pumpkin, but I was a little disappointed with the result. The cake was light, but a little bland. I did not put on the icing because I thought with the crumb topping it would be plenty sweet However, I might add it now just to give it some more flavor. Also, my cake was done at 30 mins, 27 or 28 minutes might have been even better. I cooked in a metal 9×9 Wilton bake pan. Perhaps I should have used a glass or ceramic dish.
First time making this – It was really good. I literally had one cup of pumpkin left over from something else so this was perfect!
Two questions-
The pumpkin is moist. Do you remove some of it with a paper towel or something? My purée looked a little wetter than yours did in the video so I was wondering if maybe that was the reason.
Second, I was unsure how long to allow it to cool before I put the icing on top. I guess it wasn’t long enough because I put it on after maybe 10 mins and it soaked in 🙁 so mine did not look pretty like yours. If you can please share how long I should let it cool? You said it is good warm so that is what I was thinking I was doing by waiting 10 mins. How long should I wait if I want to pour it on while it’s still warm? I want the icing to be white and not brown like puddles on top because they are trying to soak into it. Thank you!!!
Hi Cy, Blotting won’t hurt but isn’t *completely* necessary in this recipe. We do ice this cake while it’s still warm, but you can wait a little longer!
Hi I have a question ? With this recipe can I use cake flour ?
Hi Mary, cake flour would be a bit too light for a cake that includes pumpkin like this. It’s still wonderfully soft with all-purpose flour!
I must have missed something. The batter was much more like a dough and felt like possibly a scone as apposed to a bread. I double checked the amounts and the ingredients. I wound up adding more milk as well as an egg.
Hi Ewa, how did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Literally so good (although I only did half the crumb mixture and that was enough for me).
Sally you never steer us wrong, everything is so good, thank you for all you do!
Yum!!! I loved this fall treat and it was easy to make. I was craving something with cinnamon and this hit the spot. Another great recipe from Sally 🙂
This recipe is soooo good! I made it to take to a brunch and everyone loved it. I had some maple extract that I bought when I made Sally’s maple cookies (another 5-star recipe!) so I added that to the batter and the icing and it really enhanced the maple flavor in the cake. The cake is not too sweet and the icing adds just the right amount of sweetness!
This was absolutely delicious and so simple to make! I omitted the icing and it was still fantastic. Thank you!
Absolutely delicious!
I’m curious why this recipe doesn’t use egg but the pumpkin crumb cake muffins do? They seem very similar, so
I’m just curious.
Thanks for all the amazing recipes!
this recipe was AMAZING! exceeded our expectation. Made our pumpkin puree from scratch and it was super easy and well worth it.
I was thinking to add raisins to the batter. Will that effect how it bakes?
Hi Kenny, that should be fine! Use a toothpick to check for doneness. Enjoy!
Your recipes are so reliably good that I feel confident making them for company without trialing them first :). This one was an instant hit, thank you!
Greetings!
I’d like to make this recipe (halved, tiny countertop oven) for my partners family, but wondering if one could use honey or a different sweetener as maple syrup is quite difficult to find here.
Thank you!
Hi Kay! You can use an equal amount of honey or agave in place of the maple syrup.
Delicious! Only change I made was skip the icing and put some semi sweet chocolate chips under the crumble – our family loves pumpkin/chocolate. Huge hit, perfect with black coffee.
Can you halve this recipe for a loaf Pan?
Hi Fraise! We can’t see why not, you may also enjoy our pumpkin bread recipe.
This recipe is outstanding! My husband told me to throw away all of our other pumpkin coffee cake recipes! (Added a little maple syrup to the icing.)
This was very good! Cake was a bit dense but I followed the advice of another reader and doubled the crumb topping which was perfect!!! I probably did have to bake it another 15 minutes after the initial 35 so it would set. I did use a spring form pan
I plan to make this next week for an event but would like to make it in advance! Will making it the day before and reheating in the microwave compromise the taste or texture? – I am specially worried about the crumb topping-. I was thinking of adding the vanilla glaze after reheating, before serving.
Hi Beatriz, you can certainly reheat in the microwave if desired, but it’s also wonderful at room temperature. We do recommend waiting to add the vanilla icing after reheating or thawing, as you mention.
Hi can I make this in a springform pan? If so how long to bake it for?
Hi Amy! Yes, you can use a springform pan (see step 1) – baking time will be just about the same and always use the toothpick test to check for doneness 🙂
Have you tried making this with a gluten-free flour?
Hi Pat, we haven’t tested this with gluten-free flour, but if you try it, please report back on how it turns out!
I just tired this with 1:1 GF flour. Turned out great. Only thing I did different was layered the crumb topping int between the cake layers.
Hi Sally! I just made this for my family and they all loved it! I liked how it had the oil and maple syrup instead of something like butter or more sugar, because it makes this cake a little healthier! I was wondering if I could substitute the pumpkin for some chunky applesauce to make an apple coffee cake? How would I go about that?
Hi Sadie, so glad this cake was a hit. We haven’t tested that swap but let us know if you do!
My go-to! I use the pumpkin spice creamer, goat milk, Himalayan salt, and Saigon cinnamon. Always amazing!
Speculator pumpkin recipe, that is rich with fall flavors, and perfectly moist!! Easy to follow recipe with detailed instructions!! Wonderful recipe all around.
There is no egg in this recipe. Im getting ready to pop it in the oven with a wee bit of apprehension! We shall see how it turns out!
Hi Melanie! Pumpkin takes the place of egg in this recipe and helps bind everything together, so this is an entirely egg free recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
Can you use melted butter instead of veg oil or melted coconut oil? Thanks
Hi Sandy, oil really is best here for an ultra moist cake!
I was just wondering if anyone has doubled this recipe and baked in a 9 x 13 pan. I am needing to feed 22 and this sounds delicious.
Hi Debbie! You can use our pumpkin cake recipe with this crumb topping (make twice the amount of crumb topping) for a 9×13 cake. Enjoy!
Tripled the recipe for 2 9×13 pans.
Make the recipe at 1 1/2 x for a 9 x13.
I have doubles this recipe and put into a 13×9 and it works great! I absolutely love this recipe. Was a great hit at a ladies’ gathering this past fall. Really is good any time I’d the year!
I really liked this cake. The texture is so nice,but I thought something wasn’t quite right with the seasoning. Then I realized I had defrosted an unlabeled container of squash soup that I thought was my homegrown pumpkin purée.
It was still a yummy cake!
I am wondering how much butter to use for the crumble topping? In the video it doesn’t look like 1/4 cup and 4 Tablespoons of butter.
My topping looks too heavy compared to in the video
Hi Karen, you will use 4 Tablespoons of butter in the topping, which is 1/4 cup or 60g.