Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake
This pumpkin coffee cake is soft and moist from the pumpkin and applesauce, with a buttery cinnamon crumb topping that gets piled over the whole thing before it goes into the oven.
Then there’s the maple glaze. You could technically leave it off, but I wouldn’t. The maple with the pumpkin spice is SO good, and it only takes a minute to mix together.
What is pumpkin coffee cake?
Despite the name, there’s actually no coffee in this pumpkin coffee cake. It’s the kind of cake you eat with coffee, which honestly makes a lot more sense.
This one starts with a simple pumpkin spice cake and then gets covered with a thick layer of brown sugar cinnamon crumbs. Once it cools, the maple glaze goes right over everything.
Ingredients for Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake
The ingredient list looks a little longer because we’re making the cake, crumb topping, and glaze, but everything is pretty basic baking stuff. If you already do a lot of fall baking, you probably have most of it sitting in your kitchen right now.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Pumpkin puree
- White sugar
- Almond milk, or milk of choice
- Neutral oil
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Pumpkin pie spice
Crumb Topping
- All-purpose flour
- Light brown sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Salted dairy-free butter
Maple Glaze
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Maple syrup
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
How to Correctly Measure Your Flour
One thing I definitely don’t recommend doing is scooping your measuring cup straight into the flour bag. It packs way more flour into the cup than you actually need and can leave you with a dry cake.
Instead, fluff up the flour, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level off the top. If you have a kitchen scale, even better. The 1½ cups of flour for the cake should be around 180 grams, and the 1 cup for the crumb topping should be around 120 grams.
How to Store Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Keep any leftover coffee cake covered at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you want it to last longer, pop it in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
You can freeze it too. I like freezing individual slices so you can just pull one out whenever you want one. Let it thaw at room temperature before eating.
Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze
Equipment
Ingredients
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup almond milk or milk of choice
- ½ cup neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Crumb Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup salted dairy-free butter room temperature
Maple Glaze
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add the applesauce, pumpkin puree, white sugar, almond milk, oil, and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until everything is smooth and well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix just until the batter comes together and no dry flour remains. Don’t overmix.
- Make the crumb topping by adding the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a separate bowl. Add the softened dairy-free butter and work it into the dry ingredients with a fork or your hands until you have a crumbly mixture with some larger pieces.
- Spread the pumpkin batter evenly into the prepared pan. Crumble the topping evenly over the entire surface of the batter.
- Bake at 350°F for 40–45 minutes, or until the center is set and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the coffee cake cool before making the glaze.
- Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, milk, vanilla extract, and pinch of salt until smooth. If the glaze is thicker than you want, add a very small splash of milk.
- Drizzle the maple glaze over the cooled coffee cake. Slice and serve.
