This incredibly moist and slightly dense high altitude pumpkin coffee cake is full of warm fall spices, and topped with buttery brown sugar crumble 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
- Pumpkin. Canned pumpkin adds pumpkin flavor and moisture. Don’t confuse this with canned pumpkin pie filling, which contains other ingredients.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Granulated Sugar and Dark Brown Sugar.
- Spices. You’ll need salt and vanilla extract, as well as ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
- Butter.
- Whole Milk.
- Eggs.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the cake crumb and keeps it soft.
- Baking Soda.
Instructions
Getting Ready
- 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, or prep the pan with butter and flour.(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.)
Cake
- 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 prepared baking dish.
Topping
- In a bowl, combine all of the crumb topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly.
- Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
Bake
- 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.
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
No, the batter will overflow if you use an 8-inch dish, so you need to bake this cake in a 9-inch dish.
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.
You can use 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice to replace the spices listed in the recipe.
Store leftover coffee cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. For a just-baked texture, warm up leftover pieces in the microwave at 50% power for 20-30 seconds.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Crumble 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
Cake
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (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, fluffed, 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
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
Topping
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, 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 ground nutmeg
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Getting Ready
- 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, or prep the pan with butter and flour.(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.)
Cake
- 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 prepared baking dish.
Topping
- In a bowl, combine all of the crumb topping ingredients until moistened and crumbly.
- Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
Bake
- 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.
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
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.