Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel

A light and delicious pumpkin coffee cake topped with pecan streusel and a pumpkin spice glaze drizzled on top. The coffee cake is soft and lightly sweetened. And the pecan streusel adds a nice crunch!

In the words of Janice Litman, Ohhhh. Myyy. Gawd.

I’ve only been waiting all year long to make this scrumptious pumpkin coffee cake.

Yes! I’m still here! I may have fallen off the face of the earth for a few days, but i’m here! I’m back! And i’m making it up to you with this guiltless coffee cake that’s topped with a brown sugar and pecan streusel that is totally going to make you forget that I was MIA for 5 days. Yes, shamefully, 5 whole days. But I have my reasons (read: excuses), we’ll get to them in just a sec.

But first, this coffee cake. It’s indulgent, and the perfect way to welcome my favorite season, fall. Lots of that pecan crumb topping in large quantities on top and loaded with pumpkin spice in every bite. And as if that wasn’t enough, I went and added a light pumpkin spice glaze on top. It’s go big or go home, right?

So I have some exciting (and also nerve wracking) news to share.

The hubby and I are BUYING A HOUSE! Well, trying to at least. That is if we can actually come out in front of one of these multiple offer situation thingah mabobbers. Gah!

For the last several weeks we’ve been working hard to find the perfect place, and twice we’ve come so close.  It’s out there, right? Tell me it is. That perfect house that has all the bells and whistles, is affordable, a deck that’s a mile long, has double ovens, and a beautiful white kitchen. I sound like a first time home buyer, don’t I? TBH. We’ve kept our list of must-haves pretty short.

Say a little prayer, won’t you? We need all the help we can get. 

But back to the world of sweet fall scents and pumpkin coffee cake.

To tell you the truth, I meant to bring you this recipe last year. I’m such a procrastinator! But by the time I recipe tested it, retested it, and finally was happy with the results, all of the internet was filled with pumpkin flavored everything.

But i’m getting it up here nice and early this year. It’s the perfect warm, cozy breakfast to serve on a chilly fall morning. A piping hot cup of coffee is this pumpkin coffee cakes BFFL. And that pecan topping! Gah! I could eat mountains of that stuff. Piled on top and then held together with a pumpkin spice glaze that makes this coffee cake the perfect amount of sweet.

The cake layer itself is mildly sweet, moist, and has a nice warm, pumpkin and cinnamon flavor to it. You don’t even need a mixer for this, it’s that simple. The pecan streusel is buttery and crunchy from the brown sugar and pecans, the thick, sweet pumpkin spice glaze on top goes beautifully with it.

I chose to slice this into 9 pieces because like a hungry hippo, I wanted big hunks of pumpkin coffee cake all to myself. You can serve it up in smaller pieces if you’d like. But please, share this with all your friends and family and just sit back as the compliments start rolling in. 

Please note: It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but a lot of them are repeated and i’ve kept the quantities separate so it’s easy to follow the recipe!

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Yield: 9-12 servings

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

A light and delicious pumpkin coffee cake topped with pecan streusel and a pumpkin spice glaze drizzled on top. The the coffee cake is soft and lightly sweetened. And the pecan streusel adds a nice crunch!

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Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon EACH: baking soda AND baking powder
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice powder (I used Trader Joes)
• ½ cup EACH: oil AND light brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
• ⅓ cup buttermilk (see note)
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Streusel topping:

• ¼ cup EACH: cold salted butter AND roughly chopped pecans
• ½ cup EACH: brown sugar AND all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon pumpkin spice powder

Glaze:

• ½ cup confectioners sugar
• 1-2 tablespoon milk
• ¼ teaspoon pumpkin spice powder

Instructions

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 8x8 or a 9x9 square pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2. STREUSEL TOPPING: In a small bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, and pumpkin spice and using a fork or your finger tips, break the butter down into small pea sized pieces. Add the pecans and toss until they are coated in the flour mixture. Place in the refrigerator while you make the cake layer.
3. CAKE: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spice powder, set aside. In another bowl, whisk the coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together. When the wet ingredients are thoroughly mixed, add them to the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold until the cake batter is *JUST* combined. Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan.
4. Add the streusel topping on top and bake the coffee cake for 32-42 minutes. Depending on the size of pan you use, this will vary slightly. I used a 8x8 and mine took 35 minutes exactly. Use a toothpick of a cake tester, a few crumbs on the tester is fine but more than that will need a few more minutes in the oven. Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.
5. GLAZE: Combine the confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon of milk, and pumpkin spice in a small bowl. If the glaze is thick slowly add in 1 teaspoon at a time (a total of 3) or as needed to thin the glaze. Drizzle on cake, let dry 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

• Homemade buttermilk can be used in place of store-bought buttermilk. Just add 1 teaspoon vinegar to ⅓ cup milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  

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