Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Cheesecake Swirl
The great part of a coffee cake is that it's simply an excuse to eat cake for breakfast! This pumpkin coffee cake is made with a cheesecake layer swirled right into the batter, topped with a streusel topping, with no special equipment needed. It's super delicious and perfect for the fall season!
Servings 9 servings
Calories 559kcal
Ingredients
For the pumpkin coffee cake
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 15-oz can pumpkin purée
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup neutral oil
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
For the cheesecake swirl
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
For the streusel topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 4 tbsp cold unsalted butter cubed into ½-inch pieces
Instructions
For the coffee cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, combine the light brown sugar, white granulated sugar, pumpkin purée, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Fold to combine the wet and dry ingredients until smooth. Pour the batter into a greased 8-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, press and fold the cream cheese until soft and smooth. Add the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Roughly divide the cheesecake batter into nine dollops, evenly spaced on top of the prepared coffee cake batter. Using a table knife inserted into the coffee cake, make figure-eight patterns all over the cake until the cheesecake is swirled into the coffee cake.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, light brown sugar, and cinnamon. Mix to combine and add the cubed butter. Press the pieces of butter into the dry mixture until it resembles wet sand. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the prepared coffee cake.
- Bake the cake in the preheated oven until fully baked. The cake will be puffed, with the streusel toasted brown, and a skewer inserted in the middle will come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs, 50-60 minutes. Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- For the best flavor, freshly grate your nutmeg. Since nutmeg is a spice that does not get much use, it can tend to go stale when left in the spice cabinet. Thus, if you have a nutmeg seed readily available, you ensure that the spice has the most potency and the resulting coffee cake will be full of flavor.
- Do not over-mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Mixing too thoroughly will cause the coffee cake to be tough once baked, without the desired light texture. Simply mix until there are no longer dry streaks throughout the mixture. In fact, there may be some remaining lumps, which is completely fine.
- When mixing the cheesecake mixture into the pumpkin batter, do not be scared if the mixture looks messy. Once it is topped with the streusel topping and baked, the cheesecake layer will settle and look perfect on the cake.
- To test if the cake is finished, insert a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. The cake can be considered fully baked and ready to remove if it comes out mostly clean.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 559kcal