This incredibly moist high altitude pumpkin coffee cake is spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, and topped with buttery brown sugar crumb topping. If you love an excuse to eat cake for breakfast, this pumpkin crumb cake is for you!
Looking for more pumpkin recipes for your fall baking? You’ll love these pumpkin sugar cookies with maple icing, pumpkin streusel bread, pumpkin bourbon ice cream, and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
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Why You’ll Love This Crumb Cake
Easy to Make. This is a really easy recipe to make, with just a few minutes needed to make the crumble topping and whisk up the cake batter.
Perfect for Fall. Your kitchen will be filled with the delicious aroma of pumpkin, butter, sugar and spices. What could be cozier on a chilly fall morning with a cup of hot coffee or tea?
Stays Moist for Days. To save time in the morning, you can bake this cake at night and serve it for breakfast the next day. It stays moist for days and days!
Easy to Scale Up or Down. Baked in a 9-inch pan, you’ll get 9 generously-sized squares of pumpkin coffee cake (or 12 more modestly-sized portions). To feed a larger crowd, multiply the recipe by 1 1/2 – 2x and bake it in a 9×13 pan. Or, if you just want a few pieces, you can scale it down and bake a smaller cake in a 6-inch pan.
Delicious Warm or Cold. I love to enjoy coffee cake when it’s warm from the oven. But this cake is still so delicious just eaten at room temperature.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- Flour. All-purpose flour gives the crumb topping structure, since it absorbs the melted butter and forms big, delicious crumbles.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar and brown sugar adds sweetness and a hint of molasses, as well as makes the topping crisp.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Nutmeg. A little freshly grated nutmeg makes your fall baking so much better!
- Butter. Unsalted butter adds moisture and binds the crumbs together.
Cake
- Pumpkin. Canned pumpkin adds pumpkin flavor and moisture. Don’t confuse this with canned pumpkin pie filling, which contains other ingredients.
- Butter. Melted butter adds moisture, flavor and richness.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar and brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the cake.
- Whole Milk. Moisture.
- Eggs. Gives the cake structure.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Flour. All-purpose flour gives the cake strength and structure.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the cake crumb and keeps it soft.
- Baking Soda. Leavening agent, so the cake rises as it bakes.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Spices. My favorite blend of fall spices is cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, which are perfectly complementary in this pumpkin coffee cake.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Spray a 9-inch baking dish with non-stick baking spray. (An 8-inch pan is too small for the amount of batter in this recipe, but you can multiply the recipe by 1 1/2 – 2x and bake it in a 9×13 pan.)
- In a bowl, combine all of the crumb topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly. Set aside.
- To make the cake batter, whisk all of the liquid ingredients (pumpkin, melted butter, sugars, milk, eggs and vanilla) in a large bowl. Separately, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt and spices).
- Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and whisk just until moistened, but a few streaks of flour remain.
- Spread the batter evenly into the greased baking dish, and sprinkle the batter with the crumb topping.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool the cake for about 30-45 minutes, then slice and serve warm.
For a sweet variation, try drizzling the baked coffee cake with maple icing. Maple and pumpkin are so good together! You can get the maple icing recipe in this gingerbread coffee cake recipe.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use an 8-inch baking dish instead of 9-inch?
No, the batter will overflow if you use an 8-inch dish, so you need to bake this cake in a 9-inch dish.
How should I adjust this recipe to bake it in a 9×13 pan?
When I’ve tested this recipe in a 9×13 pan, I scaled the recipe up 1 1/2x, and baked it for about 35-37 minutes. You can probably also just double the recipe for a 9×13 pan, and bake it for a few minutes longer until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
Do I need to make any adjustments if I don’t live at high altitude?
You might need to make a few minor adjustments, such as decreasing the flour by a couple tablespoons and perhaps increasing the baking soda by about 1/4 teaspoon. This article has excellent guidelines on making specific adjustments for various altitudes.
How much pumpkin pie spice should I use instead of the spices in the cake batter?
You can use 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice to replace the spices listed in the recipe.
Can I substitute the melted butter with vegetable oil?
Yes, you can use oil instead of butter in the cake, but not in the crumb topping.
Is there a substitute for the eggs?
While I haven’t tested it in this recipe, unsweetened applesauce is a good replacement for eggs in many baked goods. Use 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce to replace each large egg.
Will this recipe work with gluten free flour blends?
It might! I’d suggest trying it with a measure-for-measure gluten free flour blend. The cake might be a bit more coarse, crumbly or dry, and it’s possible you’d need to add a little more milk to compensate.
Isn’t there supposed to be coffee in coffee cake?
Coffee cake refers to a type of cake, usually with a crumb topping, that’s served for breakfast with coffee. Most coffee cake recipes don’t actually contain any coffee.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Cake
- 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Spray a 9-inch baking dish with non-stick baking spray.(An 8-inch pan is too small for the amount of batter in this recipe, but you can multiply the recipe by 1 1/2 – 2x and bake it in a 9×13 pan.)
- In a bowl, combine all of the crumb topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly. Set aside.
- To make the cake batter, whisk all of the liquid ingredients (pumpkin, melted butter, sugars, milk, eggs and vanilla) in a large bowl. Separately, sift together the dry ingredients (flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt and spices). Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and whisk just until moistened, but a few streaks of flour remain.
- Spread the batter evenly into the greased baking dish, and sprinkle the batter with the crumb topping.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool the cake for about 30-45 minutes, then slice and serve warm.
Cake part was delicious! But I found the topping to be so powdery and also it was a lot. So it seemed the cake was doubly high because of so much topping. Wondering if I made it wrong?
It sounds like maybe you measured too much flour? The topping isn’t powdery when I make it, and it’s only as high as shown in my photos.
Made this for a brunch and it cooked up beautifully and was a big hit. Will definitely be making this again!
Do I need to adjust anything if I’m not baking at a high altitude? Thank you😊
Sheila, you might need to make a few minor adjustments. Please see my FAQs for details: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
Hi! Wanted to bake this but wondered if I could substitute whole milk for almond milk? Thank you!
I’m sure that would work just fine.
What can I use for this recipe instead of corn starch? Any suggested substitutes?
Thank you
Devita, you can just omit it with no other changes needed. It can help to tenderize baked goods, but your cake will still be soft and fluffy without it. If you want to try a substitute, just replace half the all purpose flour with cake flour for a softer texture.