This hearty Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake is the perfect Autumnal accompaniment to your afternoon coffee! Full of flavour and topped with a crunchy oat mixture, it’s so moreish you won’t want to share!

Hi strangers! I know it’s been a long time since you’ve heard from me, we’ll get onto that in a moment though. Today I’m here to share this delicious, easy to make Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake. I absolutely love Autumn and pumpkin season, it’s the best time of year!

A flavourful cake topped with crunchy oats and butter cannot be beaten in my opinion. The orange hue the pumpkin gives this cake is just perfect for this time of year as well. I made sure to pack this cake with maple syrup, alllll the spices, plenty of pumpkin and the most perfect, crunchy streusel topping.

First though, let’s talk about where I’ve been. Let me start by saying I never anticipated taking this long away from my blog. I usually take the Summer holidays off, but this year we’ve been dealing with a lot.

It’s been a crazy few months with one of our kittens going back and forth to the vets numerous times for tests, before they concluded she has asthma. Teaching a cat how to use an inhaler mask is a journey, let me tell you! She’s needed a lot of care and it’s been a balancing act.

I’ve had another blood clot scare, various tests and appointments. I was positive for Antiphospholipid Syndrome twice, then negative and most recently positive again. This happens, the antibodies fluctuate and there’s nothing else I need to do other than continue taking my blood thinners. However, there is nothing like “there’s something abnormal with your blood results, you need an appt” to put the fear of God into you when you have blood issues and you nearly died because of blood clots. It’s just so stressful every time. I have to have blood tests every few months to monitor me. So, it’s good they’re staying on top of it, it’s just mentally a lot.

My husband and I both got COVID after 2 1/2 years of being super careful and avoiding it. That was terrifying. I’ve had to be careful as I’m high risk, I never stopped being careful, but I still got it. It was rough, but I recovered more quickly than I expected. I was really poorly for a bit though. I’ve had more ear infections, lots of dizziness and brain fog/processing issues.

I am awaiting a liver ultrasound, I’m having iron storage issues again. My fatigue is just silly at the moment. I have also recently started CBT and seeing a counsellor. On top of this, our (now ex, thank God) tenants trashed our old house before they moved out… I mean name one thing that hasn’t happened over the past few months.

We’re headed to tribunal with them because they don’t think they’ve done anything wrong. Even though we have photographic evidence and their breaches of the tenancy contract they signed, in black and white. Out of a £3000 bill to fix things, they think they owe £72.

They lied throughout their entire tenancy, allowed a friend to register a business at our address (against their contract). They smashed a socket, ruined the garden, ruined every door frame in the house, put woodwork gloss on emulsion walls, ruined every wall in the house… Allowed their children to wipe bodily fluids on the walls, windows and ceilings, draw all over the walls, stamp all over the walls. They didn’t mop up any shower/bath water, so ruined the bath panel and allowed water to leak downstairs so badly the wall was orange, black and had peeling paint.

They drilled in walls they shouldn’t. Broke plugs, toilet roll holders, removed and lost our curtain poles and fitted hideous blinds without permission, left furniture we had to pay to remove. The whole house was redecorated under two years ago and it needed completely redecorating again. There’s such a thing as fair wear and tear, but that’s interpreted as redecoration every 5 years. Plus, the damage to the walls and woodwork are beyond fair wear and tear. It’s just wanton damage and not giving a toss.

They’ve broken every plug in the house, snapped bits off of taps… it seems endless. I’ve been travelling back and forth for months now and it’s exhausting. My husband has a really bad shoulder which he’s receiving treatment for. This means all the driving is on me and a lot of stuff I shouldn’t really be doing because of my back/joint issues.

Unfortunately for them, they’ve left evidence of what has caused all the woodwork damage. So that’s gone on the report against them. My husband and I are also the most stubborn people you’ll meet. We are not going to give in and allow them to get away with it.

There were flies, bugs all sorts in the house and bins, left to become an infestation. But apparently we are profiteering from them in wanting them to pay for the damage they have caused. We’re not going to get more than their deposit at tribunal, so I’m actually at a loss with how much I’ve had to spend. The letting agent added even more to their bill once she saw all the damage. My husband was on the phone for over an hour going over everything.

My dad and brother have worked wonders inside the house. It’s completely done now and we also took the liberty to change the worktop and tiles in the kitchen as they were looking a bit tired. Hubby and I have been up there most weekends and I’ve been up numerous times in the week while he stays home working. I’m painting the storage shed at the front of the house, the porch etc. So between health stuff, house stuff, cat stuff, travelling to Essex and back, I’ve had zero energy or time for blogging.

My energy is finite anyway, I suffer chronic fatigue alongside my chronic conditions. I’m in a state of constant stress and anxiety. However, for the first time in years I feel hope. Hope that my counsellor can help me come to terms with things in my life and give me the tools to deal with them in a healthy way. Instead of bottling everything up. Let me tell you, bottling things up for 31 years gets kind of heavy.

So, that’s a brief overview of what’s been happening for the past few months. But, let’s get back to this Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake!

I made sure to add plenty of pumpkin to this recipe and made a maple syrup drizzle for the top to really make sure you get that maple flavour. There’s maple syrup in the cake too, along with spices. It really is the perfect cake for your afternoon coffee.

You can bake this Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake in a round tin, like I did. However, I’ve also made coffee cakes in square pans, it’s totally up to you. It does take quite a while to bake. This is because it’s a pretty thick cake. However, after the initial browning and rise, I turn the oven down to 160C/325F, so as not to dry the cake out.

If you are planning on adding the maple syrup icing, you’ll want to wait for the cake to cool before serving. You can also serve it warm from the oven without the icing.

The oat topping recipe is my absolute favourite. It’s perfectly crunchy, clumps together well, isn’t too sweet and compliments whatever it’s added to! The cake mixture itself is a simple one as well. Creaming butter and light brown sugar before adding eggs, then dry ingredients and 1 cup of pumpkin purée.

There’s nothing more Autumnal than a good pumpkin cake with a warm coffee. Add in the maple syrup and you’ve got a winner. It just adds a little something extra to this cake. This Pumpkin Maple Coffee Cake is not meant to taste strongly of maple syrup. The maple syrup compliments the other flavours, rather than overpowers them.

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