Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

It’s about time for a Thanksgiving breakfast tradition, isn’t it?

I have been making this coffee cake since I was a child.  I remember finding the recipe in a magazine in an advertisement, and asking my mom if we could cut it out and make it.  We did and never looked back.  It became somewhat of a Thanksgiving breakfast tradition but was also happily served other times during the pumpkin months.  I can’t remember if the advertisement was for pumpkin or sour cream, so can’t give proper sourcing, but I can say I have made so many at this point in my life it feels like mine.

You can make this coffee cake in a 9×13 pan or in two round cake pans.  You could probably 1.5 it and do it in two 8×8 squares, but I think a single recipe in that size would be too thin and sad.  You do you though, as long as you make it!

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Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

This is an old-fashioned sour cream coffee cake with the addition of a streusel and pumpkin goo layer.  There are a few little prep steps--the streusel and the filling--that I prefer to generally get done before I make the batter.  The batter comes together very simply in the cream, add vanilla and eggs, then alternate dry ingredients with wet fashion that is common for cake.  It really is then all about assembly and patience.  

Ingredients

Batter

  • 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups sour cream
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 heaping teaspoon baking soda

Filling

  • 1 16/15oz can of pureed pumpkin (not filling!)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or equivalent in spices you prefer for pumpkin
  • 1 large egg, slightly beaten

Streusel

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter melted or very soft
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup pecans chopped totally optional, I skip lots of times

Instructions

Prepare Filling

  1. Combine all ingredients for the filling together in a small bowl and stir until well mixed.

Prepare Streusel

  1. Combine all ingredients for the streusel together in a small bowl and stir well until crumbly.  

Prepare Batter

  1. Stir the dry ingredients together, flour, soda, and baking powder in a small bowl.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add in the eggs one at at time and the vanilla.

  2. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter and egg sugar mixture on low speed, and then add about 1/2 of the sour cream.  Then add another 1/3 of the flour, then the rest of the sour cream, and then finally the final 1/3 of the flour, until the batter is well mixed and thick.

Assemble the Coffeecake

  1. Preheat your oven to 325. Prepare your baking pans (baking spray or butter/flour).  

  2. Spread half of the batter (or quarter if doing the cakes in two pans) in the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle 1/2 of the streusel (or a 1/4 if using two pans) over the batter, then top with the filling over the top.  The pumpkin is generally much looser, so it spreads evenly over the streusel and the batter.  Next, top with the remaining batter.  The batter is very thick, so it is often helpful to carefully spoon small dollops of it and spread lightly with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula--it feels like it will never spread, but then sort of does. Don't worry about perfection here, just try to spread as evenly as possible and try to mix as little of the pumpkin into the batter as possible.  Then, top with the remaining streusel.  Bake for 50-60 minutes until your house smells heavenly and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.   Let cool slightly or to room temperature and dig in!

Recipe Notes

If you opt out of the nuts in your streusel, it will be quite wet, which is fine, you just will need to drop small spoonfuls around on the batter.