Make Pumpkin Butterscotch Coffee Cake for Your Friends
I brought Pumpkin Butterscotch coffee cake to work in celebration of Kari’s birthday. On Monday, Mary sent me an email with the subject line “to die for”. She wrote: “The pumpkin brown sugar cake/coffee cake/whatever it is called was extremely delicious. I told Paige that my plan to just eat half and save the rest for the next day worked for about 12 seconds. I checked your blog but didn’t see the recipe there. Please share!”
So this one’s for you, Mary! And for those of you who have thrown out all your muffin recipes except the butterscotch muffins I made for the cops, this is very similar so your recipe box is getting even lighter.
The aroma of pumpkin and butterscotch melding and baking in the oven is intoxicating. It is THE cake you want to bake if you have guests coming, your house is on the market and you’re holding an open house, or you can’t get the reeking smell of your kid’s hockey bag out of the back entry.
My favorite brand of Bundt pans (any baking pans really) is Nordic Ware—not only for the superb quality, but they are made in Minnesota!
You might also like:
Pumpkin Cake with Maple Buttercream
Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream
Pumpkin Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Have you tried the pumpkin and butterscotch flavor combination? What about pumpkin maple?
Sweet fall wishes,
Pumpkin Butterscotch Coffee Cake
Equipment
- Bundt pan minimum 9-cup
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Streusel
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- powdered sugar to sprinkle the top
Instructions
Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a Bundt pan (at least a 9-cup pan).
- Melt 1 cup of butterscotch chips over low heat on the stove or in the microwave, stirring until smooth. Be careful not to get the chips too hot or they will seize up and harden. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, vanilla and melted (and cooled to room temperature) butterscotch chips.
- Gradually stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture, stirring until well combined.
Streusel
- In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, chopped pecans, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Pour half of the cake batter into the Bundt pan. Toss the streusel mixture evenly over the cake batter. Pour the rest of the cake batter over the streusel.
- Bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes for a metal pan (or 60-65* minutes for a stoneware pan), or until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven, turn the Bundt pan upside down onto a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes before lifting the pan off the cake. When cake is completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
I can’t seem to get the butterscotch chips to melt enough! They won’t get smooth and actually start to get crumbly. Should I use some the oil to make the melted chips smoother?
Hi Kim. Butterscotch chips are fairly delicate and will turn hard quickly if they get too hot. I melt them low and slow, stirring almost constantly so that as soon as they begin to get smooth, I remove from heat (I melt on the stove top) and stir until smooth – returning to heat if they aren’t quite melted. You could add a drop or two of oil at the beginning if you’d like. Once they get crumbly, there isn’t a way to salvage them. I hope this helps. Sweet wishes, Staci
Wondering if anyone has ever made this in a 9×13″ pan? I’m wanting to serve this for a party of 60 for a brunch. It would give me better portion control. Thoughts anyone?
Hi Michelle. I’m so sorry I didn’t see your question until now – months later. I wonder if you made it in a 9×13 pan? My thought is that it would work out fabulously in a pan that size and you are right, it sure would control portions better.
What size tin of pumpkin?
Hi Debby. The recipe calls for 1 cup of pumpkin so I usually buy a 15-ounce can. Or, you can buy the bigger can and put the leftover pumpkin in the refrigerator to bake something else in the next few days. I’m glad you asked – this makes me want to bake this cake tomorrow.
Sweet wishes,
Staci
Hi Staci, Wanted to thank you so much for this recipe! I made it a couple of days ago with my own adjustments as my birthday cake 🙂 The recipe was delicious and everyone was raving about it. I just did a blogpost on the recipe and left a link back to your page as well. Hope that’s okay… and once again thank you for such a wonderful cake!!
http://kismetcooking.blogspot.com/
Hello and happy birthday Gaby! It’s an easy cake to make and to love. I’m glad you all liked it. Thank you for linking to my blog. Sweet baking – Staci
Can I used canned pumpkin (Libby’s)?
Yes! That’s exactly what I use. (Not canned pumpkin pie mix though) Come back and let me know how everyone likes it. 🙂
Tasmania…….Third time – excellent and the house smells divine!
Wow – that is really neat!
I’ve made this twice now…..it’s my new favourite cake to bake! Delicious. I had to make a few adaptions to account for Americanisms, but it turned out just fine! making it again RIGHT NOW!
Hi Susie!! I’m so happy that you like it. Where are you from? Staci
Thanks Staci – I found some caramel chips – figured they were closer to butterscotch than white choc-chips, so I’m trying this tonight to take to my brother’s place tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Oh good, I’m excited to hear how it turns out.
I’d like to try this – I can translate most of the “Americanisms” OK – just what are butterscotch chips? Are they like choc chips, only butterscotch flavoured. (If so, I can’t say I’ve ever seen them here [Australia]……but I’m good at improvising!)
Hi Susie. Yes, they are like chocolate chips, only they’re butterscotch. In the U.S. we can buy them from Hershey’s, Nestlé, and some store brands. I don’t know what you can substitute and still get the butterscotch flavor. But you could certainly change it up and use white or semi-sweet chocolate chips. Let me know what you end up using and how the cake turns out. 🙂 Staci
jandasutherland You can always substitute oatmeal for the nuts. It has a nutty taste and texture. You can toast them first in a skillet with a tiny bit of butter and they taste even “nuttier.”
Mary Lou – thanks for the great tip! Staci
I am allergic to nuts. What would you suggest instead of pecans?
Mary Lou is right (see comment below), you could use toasted oatmeal instead of using nuts. I was thinking you could use roasted pepita (pumpkin) seeds but it looks like they often contain peanut oil.
I would really like to swap out some brown sugar for the white …
Amy – I think you’d be OK to use 1 cup of white sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar in the cake batter. In the topping, you could split the brown sugar into equal parts white and brown sugar.
Butterscotch and pumpkin compliment each other so well! Lovely recipe!
Any cake that gets *the hockey bag* smell out of the hallway is definitely a keeper. LOL This looks delicious.
I knew YOU would understand, Paula. 🙂