This pumpkin bread is with topped with a streusel and a beautiful cinnamon swirl in every bite. It’s loaded with cinnamon and warm spices that will fill your home and make it feel like fall!
This pumpkin bread is so dangerously good! While testing this recipe my family must of ate half the loaf just by trying to “sample it.” I had to tell my kids no more or they probably could’ve eaten the whole thing. This pumpkin bread is moist with a crisp streusel topping and cinnamon swirl throughout the bread. It’s the perfect breakfast with a cup of hot coffee and would really go well with a pumpkin spice latte.
I didn’t grow up with traditional grandma recipes being passed down to me, especially pumpkin bread. I’ve just fallen in love with every baked good over the years, specifically pumpkin! I love everything pumpkin. This is seriously one of the best pumpkin breads I’ve ever had, it’s so moist. I promise you there is not a dry crumb in this pumpkin bread. So, make it for your friends, gatherings, future thanksgivings or just because you simply want to.
Pumpkin Bread Ingredients:
Flour: I use unbleached all-purpose flour. I have not tested this pumpkin bread recipe with any other substitutions.
Cinnamon/Pumpkin Spice: I experimented with this recipe 3x to make sure I was happy with the spice level. I don’t like overly spiced with nutmeg, all spice and cloves so I found what I choose to be the perfect in between.
Pumpkin puree: I use and prefer Libby’s pumpkin puree. Never use pumpkin pie filling.
Sour cream: You can substitute this with yogurt if you have it on hand. Sour cream is a great ingredient for balancing tang and giving moisture.
Brown Sugar/Sugar: Brown sugar is granulated sugar with the addition of molasses. Brown sugar helps add color, moisture, texture and flavor. I tested the recipe with light brown sugar and dark brown sugar, use whatever you have on hand, but the dark brown sugar does achieve a much darker pumpkin bread.
Oil: I found that oil still provides a much moister result with oil than butter in this pumpkin bread recipe.
How make perfect cinnamon swirls:
I can tell you the honest truth it took me 3 times to learn the trick and I still don’t feel 100% satisfied. So, don’t worry about it too much if yours isn’t picture worthy.
But let me share some tips I’ve learned:
- Use an Ice cream Scooper: I used an ice scooper and scooped some of the batter and spread it over the bottom of the pan. It made it so much easier and cleaner to control how much spacing I wanted from the bread to the swirls.
- Layer, Layer, Layer: Keep layering and sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar mixture. If you want a simple one swirl look then just keep it simple and just divide the batter in half and then pour the cinnamon mixture on. But if you want the swirls to look more natural then just keep layering and sprinkling.
- Sprinkle generously: If you think you’ve put enough on the layer think again, sprinkle on some more so you can really see the cinnamon swirl throughout the pumpkin bread.
Tips to making the best Pumpkin bread with cinnamon swirl:
Don’t overmix: Just remember to mix until everything is just fully combined and continue to scrape the sides of the bowl. This wonderful pumpkin bread recipe certainly can be mixed by hand.
Overbaking: This pumpkin bread will seem like the longest thing you’ve ever baked. But after 1 hour check and see what the results are and adjust time as needed. You’ll know when it’s starting to be finished once you see the dome of the pumpkin bread. Stick a toothpick in and take it out when it’s almost completely finished. You don’t want the toothpick to completely be clean.
Take it out when there are still some moist crumbs on the pick. The pumpkin bread will still internally cook on the insides even though it’s no longer in the oven.
Place a baking pan under your loaf pan: Learn from my mistake. The streusel may or may not fall off during the baking process. But if it does it will fall into the bottom of your oven and burn and might cause a burning smell that may or may not affect the smell.
Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Swirl
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bread
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup oil neutral
- 1 15oz can pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar light brown or dark, packed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
Cinnamon Swirl
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
Streusel Topping
- 1/4 cup butter soft
- 3/4 cup flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 325℉. Butter and line the insides of a bread loaf pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sides.
- In a large bowl put in all the wet ingredients including sugars. Combine until everything has been mixed, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom.
- Add in all the dry ingredients last and then mix and scrape. Let the batter sit to the side.
- For the cinnamon swirl just mix the sugars and cinnamon together.
- To make the streusel get a medium sized bowl and combine all the ingredients. You should be
Assembly
- Pour or scoop 1/3 of the batter into the loaf pan, spread and add in 1/3 of the cinnamon swirl mixture. Repeat process until the batter is done.
- With a chopstick or butter knife just gently swirl the batter so it just spreads and swirls. Top with the streusel pushing it into the batter lightly to let it stick.
- Bake the pumpkin bread in the middle rack of the oven for 1 hr. After 1 hour check with a toothpick and adjust time as needed until fully cooked through. (Please see notes)
- Once done allow it to fully cool and then slice and enjoy.
- When the bread is fresh out of the oven the streusel is crisp. If consuming the next day, you can still toast the bread to achieve a similar texture. Wrap the bread or place in storage container for up to 3 to 4 days.
Notes
If you make this recipe please comment below or tag me on facebook or instagram.
