Pumpkin spice Coffee Cake With Streusel Topping
This fall recipe: Pumpkin Spice Coffee cake with a Streusel Crumble Topping and a Pumpkin Glaze. It’s moist and filled with warm spices but the pumpkin is the star of this cake!
When I think of fall I think of pumpkins! I love to decorate with all kinds and varieties of pumpkins and make delicious recipes with them tool How about you?
Today I’m featuring a delicious fall-inspired coffee cake that will fill your home with pumpkin spice aromas! This cake is moist and delicious and perfect for a snack or dessert. I’m eating it for breakfast in a bowl of milk! YUM!
This pumpkin coffee cake has a secret ingredient that takes the pumpkin flavor over the top!
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUMPKIN COFFEE CAKE, PUMPKIN BREAD AND PUMPKIN CAKE?
I’m not a chef so I don’t have the definitive answer for the difference between pumpkin coffee cake, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cake.
Pumpkin Bread vs Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake
From my humble experience, I don’t see much difference between pumpkin coffee cake and pumpkin bread. They are both moist and have a denser crumb.
Maybe it comes down to what we bake them in. Coffee cake is most often baked in a square pan and quick bread is baked in a loaf pan.
Traditional pumpkin bread is not topped with anything but in recent years they are often topped with streusels and glaze much like coffee cakes.
Pumpkin Cake vs Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake
There is a difference between coffee cakes and cakes.
They are usually baked in different pans. I recently made a pumpkin cake, and it was baked in a bundt pan.
Coffee cake has a much denser crumb than the cakes, and pumpkin cakes are much lighter. And of course, coffee cakes are most often topped with streusel or nuts and sometimes a glaze where cakes are generally iced.
If you know the difference between the three types of pumpkin bakes, let us know in the comments. Thanks!
I recently made a Pumpkin Spice Cake, and it was scrumptious! I used a yellow cake mix and doctored the box. My family loved it!
You might like Pumpkin Spice Cake With Maple Glaze
A reader who made it said, “Yvonne, I made your maple glazed pumpkin Bundt cake, and it was a big hit! Everyone loved it, and it was easy to make. Thank you very much! I will make your orange cranberry cake next time!”
HOW TO MAKE THIS PUMPKIN SPICE COFFEE CAKE EVEN MORE SUCCESSFUL
There are a couple of things that make this Pumpkin Spice Coffee cake not your ordinary pumpkin spice coffee cake.
THE SECRET TO DELICIOUS PUMPKIN SPICE COFFEE CAKE
First, this recipe is a bit “spice forward”. I tried a few recipes and tweaked them until I found a lovely balance of pumpkin and spice. Adding extra cloves makes this cake smell and taste like fall!
The second thing that makes this fall coffee cake taste so scrumptious is pumpkin spice coffee creamer. I used the creamer instead of milk in the recipe. And I use it in the glaze too! What a difference.
You can use homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer that has all-natural ingredients and is made with pumpkin or you can use the store bought kind.
For this recipe, I used Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer, and what a difference. I LOVE the flavor the creamer imparts to the coffee cake! And it gives it some extra sweetness which the coffee cake needed.
EASY PEASY RECIPE
One thing I do when I bake is gather all my ingredients and any other small things I need like measuring spoons, can opener, etc on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then I have everything just where I need it. It’s my version of mis en place.
This recipe is so simple! No mixer! Just mix everything up with a whisk and a spoon!
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the wet ingredients into a separate bowl. Then mix the wet into the dry ingredients. Super easy and straightforward.
The batter is very stiff. So mix it well and make sure you incorporate all the dry ingredients at the bottom of the bowl.
To make sure the batter is even when it is spooned into the pan, dampen your fingers with water and pat the batter ever so gently to flatten it down and even it out.
There is a big difference between pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin puree. Please use pumpkin puree in this recipe and not pumpkin pie filling. Pumpkin puree is 100 percent pumpkin and the pie filling has added ingredients.
WHAT IS PUMPKIN SPICE?
Pumpkin spice is a combination of warm spices that remind us of fall!
Ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice are the most common spices that make up the pumpkin pie spice we can buy in those little jars at our local grocery store!
It’s really easy to make your own pumpkin pie spice if you don’t have it on hand but have the spices that make it up!
Add all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well…
- 3 TBS cinnamon
- 2 tsp ginger
- 2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground cloves
Put into a small jar with a tight fitting lid
PREPARING THE PAN AND COOKING TIMES
I used a ceramic baker. A metal pan bakes more quickly but when I bake I usually go for my ceramic bakers!
I use the one below for so many things, savory and sweet!
To make getting the coffee cake out of the pan easier, make sure to grease it well. I also like to line my baking dishes with parchment so they come out so much easier. I learned this trick from the British Baking Show! I’m a super fan! I wish I would have remembered to line my bakers when I made this coffee cake!
When I was practicing this recipe one of my first Pumpkin Spice Coffee cakes fell in the middle. The cake tasted perfect, but it was underdone. The lesson to take away from a fallen cake is to NOT pay too much attention to the baking times on a recipe.
Baking, at least for me, is a finicky thing! I use the suggested baking times as a ballpark suggestion. Test your cake to make sure the middle is done.
This coffee cake may take about 30 minutes in a 9 x 9-inch baking pan. But it will take 30-40 minutes in an 8 x 8 baking pan.
ABOUT THE STREUSEL CRUMBLE TOPPING
The streusel on this delicious fall coffee cake is sweet, crisp, and crunchy! And this recipe is very streusel generous. The moistness of the cake is perfectly complemented by this topping!
The streusel was made with my grandmother’s pastry cutter. There is something so wonderful about working the cold dough into the brown sugar and flour.
I prefer to use a pastry cutter to combine the streusel ingredients into a topping. If you use a pastry cutter make sure you put the ingredients into a deep bowl. If the pastry cutter slips as you press it down, some of the ingredients might fly out of the bowl if it is too shallow. I speak from experience.
Using a deep bowl keeps the ingredients in the bowl.
Just think my grandmother’s well-worn, lovely hands use this pastry cutter too! She used it so much that only a whisper of red paint still remains on the handle.
I loved my grandmother’s hands. They were always rough and scratchy. And I loved how they felt. God really blessed me when He gave me my Nani!
Okay, enough reminising!
This streusel can be made by hand using a pastry cutter or two dinner knives or it can be made in the food processor. If you choose to use the food processor put all the ingredients in the bowl and pulse. You want the streusel to resemble coarse wet sand.
My sister makes streusel, like the recipe here, and bakes it at 350 degrees until is just barely brown. Then she cools it and puts it in zip-type bags and freezes the streusel to put on top of ice cream or other desserts. Smart, right?
You can also add about 1/2 cup of chopped nuts to the streusel. YUM! My picks would be pecans or walnuts.
ABOUT THE PUMPKIN SPICE GLAZE
The glaze for the Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake is also infused with pumpkin spice coffee flavor. The secret is to use a pumpkin spice coffee creamer. This makes it so delicious!
If you don’t have the creamer on hand, use milk and add 1/2 tsp vanilla.
CAN I FREEZE THE COFFEE CAKE
Yes! In fact, I froze two Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cakes to take to a family birthday party this coming weekend!
I wrapped them UNGLAZED in heavy duty foil and slipped them into a zip-type bag and froze them.
When I want to serve them I’ll take them out of the freezer, and let them thaw on the kitchen counter.
When they come to room temperature I’ll unwrap them and slather them with the beautiful, yummy glaze!
GET THE RECIPE
PUMPKIN SPICE COFFEE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING AND PUMPKIN SPICE GLAZE
Ingredients
PUMPKIN SPICE COFFEE CAKE
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 TBS pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup pumpkin spice coffee creamer or milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
STREUSEL TOPPING
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small chunks
PUMPKIN SPICE GLAZE
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 TBS Pumpkin Spice Creamer or milk
Instructions
PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 9 x 9 baking dish.
- Mix all the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and, ground cloves in a large mixing bowl. Wisk to combine
- Add the other ingredients, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, white sugar, canola oil, Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer, and vanilla in another bowl and mix to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
- Spoon the batter into the baking dish and level the batter with a spoon or your fingertips
- Add the streusel topping evenly over the batter.
- Bake for about 30 minutes. Check the coffee cake at 25 minutes. The cake is done when tested with a toothpick and it comes our clean,
- Remove the baking dish to a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes then remove the cake from the baking dish, return it to the wire rack and cool completely.
- Drizzle glaze on a cool coffee cake.
- Cut into 9 pieces and enjoy!
STREUSEL TOPPING
- Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl using a pastry cutter or two dinner knives.
- The topping should look like course, wet sand.
PUMPKIN SPICE GLAZE
- Sift the confectioner's sugar through a strainer and mix it and the pumpkin spice coffee creamer together in a bowl until smooth.
THINGS YOU MIGHT NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE…
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I hope you will make this delicious fall coffee cake! Enjoy!
IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE…
BANANA BREAD SCONES WITH MAPLE GLAZE
CRANBERRY ORANGE BUNDT CAKE WITH SUGARED CRANBERRIES
PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKE WITH MAPLE GLAZE
DELICIOUS SOUR CREAM SCONES WITH VANILLA GLAZE
OMG… I can’t wait to make this! My niece just had a baby; I will make it tomorrow to take for my visit with them.
Thanks!
I think she will be very pleased! Congrats to your neice.
I made it and took it to my niece’s. Then I made it again and took it to a Halloween party. It is the bomb-diggety!
Yummy, this is amazing and perfect for our table. Thanks for sharing
Thanks, Ivory!
Are there any eggs in this recipe?
I really want to make this recipe because I have a whole bottle of plant based pumpkin spice coffee creamer I want to use before it goes bad but I’m not sure if it will turn out good since I don’t see any eggs in the recipe. Is that correct? No eggs? Any binder? Thank you in advance for any clarification!
NO EGGS! Give it a try!