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
The recipe wasa great success. The only changes I made were substituting honey for the maple syrup and adding a tablespoon of fresh ginger on addition to the powdered seasoning.
Can you make this recipe with 100% whole wheat flour?
Hi AB, we don’t recommend it. The cake will taste quite heavy and even a bit dry. You could try swapping half of the flour with whole wheat flour, but again, the results will be different.
Hi! I’ve made this delicious cake several times and usually use half whole wheat flour and half all purpose. It comes out great every time and my family and friends don’t even know. The one time I used all whole wheat and probs reduced the sugar also, it came it out dry and bland. Tried to be too healthy, and It cramped my style, lol
I have made this recipe for both my family and my fellow teacher coworkers. I have had raving reviews! This will definitely become a family tradition, favorite!
I would like to make this pumpkin coffee cake with the whole can of pumpkin. How would I go about it?
Hi V, That would be quite tricky. Here’s our guide to using leftover pumpkin puree – lots of great ideas there.
Recipe was amazing! Came out so moist and delicious! I’ll definitely be making this again 🙂
I made this for Thanksgiving yesterday. It turned out amazingly! I saw several people ask about doubling the recipe for a 9×13 pan; I wanted to share that I used 1.5x the recipe for a 9×13 pan and it was the perfect amount. Thanks Sally and team!
Hi! Any ideas (not necessarily proven) about using an entire can of pumpkin (15 oz) and how that would affect the cake? I like the idea of using more pumpkin (and not having the leftover amount). Thanks very much.
Hi Joan! That would be quite tricky. Here’s our guide to using leftover pumpkin puree – lots of great ideas there.
Thanks, Trina!
I love anything with pumpkin. Can this recipe be doubled for a 9×13 pan without recipe changes?
Hi TerryMP, other readers have reported successfully doubling this recipe for a 9×13 cake. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Hope you enjoy it!
I want to make this for thanksgiving but I need to make it non dairy. What can I substitute for milk? Would oat milk work?
Hi Robin, you can use any milk, dairy or nondairy, in the cake batter.
Just baked this yesterday for the first time. Loved the result! The thick batter makes a nice, dense cake and the crumb topping really pushes it to the next level. Pretty easy to make. My poor old gas oven is getting a bit tired, and it took about 40-45 mins @350F to get the center done, but the outcome was great. Very tasty. I wasn’t going to make any desserts leading up the Thanksgiving to give the ‘ole waist line a break, but once I saw this recipe, it piqued my need for cake. At least it’s small….
🙂
Hi, could i use gluten free flour in place of all purpose?
Hi Jaz, We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours, but some readers have reported success using 1:1 flour substitutes (like Cup4Cup). If you try it, let us know how it goes!
the BEST fall cake recipe!!! everyone I make it for always RAVES about how good it is. I am making it for two upcoming Friendsgivings and I know it will be a hit like always. thank you sally!
Baked today in my toaster oven and came out perfectly. I made 1- 1/2 times the amount of topping b/c I love that part but otherwise kept to the recipe using an 11 x 7 in. pan and it required approx. 40 min in my toaster oven at 350°. The cake part is so tender and soft. Oh, I did use whole wheat pastry flour rather AP flour. Sally, I was seeking a cookie recipe using tahini but saw you have none yet. Would you please create one perhaps coupled with coffee or chocolate? I trust your recipes far beyond all others. Thank you.
This is a very good cake, the crumb topping is delicious, it does not need the icing. I also added an egg, basically because I wanted the richness. It was really nice!
Can I use a bundt cake pan for this?
Hi Ann, a smaller Bundt pan would be fine, but we would just make this pumpkin Bundt cake instead. There isn’t enough of this batter for a larger Bundt.
Does this recipie not have any eggs?
Hi Kelley, Pumpkin takes the place of egg and helps bind everything together, so this is an entirely egg free recipe.
I made this coffee cake last week and we devoured it! Excellent recipe! I didn’t change one thing. My husband is asking me to make it again Thank you so much Sally!
Hi Sally and team!
I just made this in a 9” circular springform. The flavour is wonderful, but it was not cooked right. I took it out after 30 mins, toothpick had no batter/crumbs. Let it sit then tried it, beyond 2” from the edge it was not cooked through/was wet. I’ve put it back in the oven but doesn’t seem to fix it. It seems particularly undercooked at the top of the cake (and towards center obviously), and I’m wondering if the crumb on top was preventing it from cooking? I also accidentally mixed the brown sugar with dry ingredients instead of wet. Otherwise followed recipe to a T.
I’m sure this is user error, so any help would be much appreciated!!
Hi Rose, this is certainly a moist cake, but it sounds like the cake simply needs a bit more time to bake through all the way. If you find the edges/top are browning too quickly, you can tent the pan with aluminum foil part way through bake time to prevent the edges from burning while allowing the middle to continue baking through. Hope this helps for next time!
This recipe is out of this world!!! My 2 year old is obsessed with coffee cake. He loved this and so did the rest of our family. I had to substitute the maple syrup for apple sauce as I didn’t realize we were out ahead of time! It was amazing and I’m making it again this morning. Thank you!!!
I absolutely love your other coffee cake recipes but this one didn’t get nice and fluffy and tall like your dark chocolate/raspberry one. Could it be the weight of the heavy crumb topping? I’m also wondering if buttermilk might make it fluff and puff more.
Hi Wendy, this pumpkin coffee cake is a bit heavier/denser than the raspberry coffee cake, but make sure your baking powder and baking soda are fresh for optimal rise. We find they start to lose their power after about 3 months, even if not technically expired. Be careful not to overmix the batter either, which can cause the cake to become overly dense. You can certainly use buttermilk in place of the milk. Hope this helps for next time!
I baked this today and we ate it while warm. Delicious! And very moist. I did not have pure maple syrup and substituted with 1/2 cup applesauce. It was perfect.
This coffee cake was INCREDIBLE! Following the recipe exactly, it came out perfect, with one exception. For the icing next time, I’ll start with 1 tablespoon of creamer. The icing was much too thin with 2, and I had to add a lot more confectioners’ sugar. Will definitely make again!!
A keeper for sure! Added a couple handfuls of nuts to the topping and added a 1/2 teaspoon of maple extract to the cake! It was outstanding! Thank you!
This was so incredibly moist, flavorful, and delicious!! I love that typical coffee cake crumble topping.
I bake quite often and I almost always use your recipes!! You did not disappoint me again. 🙂 Thank you!!
I’ve made this twice in the last 2 weeks. It’s fantastic!! I added 1/2 C toasted chopped pecans to the crumb topping the second time and that was totally the right move. My family all agreed that this is definitely superior to a pumpkin pie. Thanks for another great recipe!
Ok, normally I’m not a pumpkin fan but my husband loves it so I thought why not. Well I was surprised ! As suggested, I served it warm and oh my, was this delicious ! The crunch from the topping along with the glaze and even the spices, it was so good. Thank you for yet another great recipe ( I have yet to try one we haven’t loved ), I will make this again and again :).
This came out beautifully and tasted wonderful. I shared it with a friend who is not a fan of pumpkin and it was devoured very quickly with rave reviews. I am going to bake it ahead of time and freeze it for a family get together and am wondering if I can freeze it with the icing on it or should I add the icing once it is defrosted.
Hi Ilene, we’re so glad it was a hit! We recommend freezing it without the icing then adding once thawed and ready to serve.
I’m confused are there no eggs in this recipe?
Hi S Shaw, Pumpkin takes the place of egg and helps bind everything together, so this is an entirely egg free recipe.
I used 1 egg and 1/4 cup oil. It came out perfectly!
I want to try this, but I don’t have maple syrup. What can I substitute for it?
Hi Sarah, you can use an equal amount of honey or agave in place of the maple syrup.
This was delicious. I used fresh pumpkin puree rather than canned. It was wonderfully light and fluffy. If I double the recipe, would it turn out well in a 9×13 pan?
Hi Cara! Other readers have reported successfully doubling this recipe for a 9×13 cake.