Pumpkin Crumb Cake
Just the thing for an afternoon snack, and just as good for breakfast the next day. Use any pumpkin spice blend, but this one below includes a bit of cardamom, which is unusual in pumpkin spice blends, but brings a hint of citrusy floral flavour.
INGREDIENTS
Yield:1 (8-inch-square or 9-inch-round) cake
FOR THE STREUSEL:
½(packed) cup/100 grams light brown sugar
½cup/64 grams all-purpose flour
1teaspoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin spice blend (see Tip)
Pinch of salt
¼cup/56 grams unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
FOR THE PUMPKIN CAKE:
Nonstick cooking spray
1(packed) cup/200 grams light brown sugar
2large eggs
1cup/230 grams canned pumpkin purée
¼cup/56 grams unsalted butter, melted
¼cup neutral oil
1tablespoon store-bought or homemade pumpkin spice blend (see Tip)
½teaspoon fine sea salt
1teaspoon baking powder
½teaspoon baking soda
1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
FOR THE GLAZE (OPTIONAL):
¾cup/75 grams confectioners’ sugar
¾teaspoon pumpkin spice blend
Pinch of salt
3 to 5 teaspoons milk (any kind will do)
Step 1
Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
Step 2
Make the streusel: In a small bowl, combine the sugar, flour, pumpkin spice and salt. Add the butter, then pinch the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture forms pebble-size crumbs and is evenly moistened.
Step 3
Make the cake: In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs until pale and foamy, about 1 minute. Add the pumpkin purée, melted butter, oil, pumpkin spice and salt; whisk until combined and smooth. Whisk in the baking powder and baking soda, then whisk in the flour.
Step 4
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth the top and tap on the counter a few times to release any large air bubbles. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.
Step 5
Bake the cake until puffed and golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Set the cake in the pan on a rack to cool. After about 15 minutes remove the cake from the pan and set it on the rack to cool almost completely.
Step 6
When the cake is just slightly warm, make the glaze, if using: Add the confectioners’ sugar, pumpkin spice, pinch of salt and 3 teaspoons of milk to a bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding a bit more milk as necessary to form a glaze that is very thick but can be drizzled.
Step 7
Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.
TIPMake your own pumpkin spice blend by combining 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, ½ teaspoon ground allspice and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves. Makes about ¼ cup.
NOTES FROM OTHERS:
– Reduced the sugar in the cake by 1/3 without moisture loss given the butter and oil. Used the suggested pie mix from the notes. Mixed all wet and all dry separately then blended with hand held beater. Produced a fine crumb. Nice.
– This cake is moist and absolutely delicious as is! In fact, it is almost better the day after you initially bake it to let the flavors set. Highly recommend following the recipe as is. (Only change I make is to add a smidge of cardamom.)
– I used a pastry cutter to mix up the streusel, out of pure laziness. Everything else exactly as written. This led to a 3/4cm thick shell of crunchy brown sugar topping— kind of awesome in its own way. As stated by others, the glaze does increase the sweetness.
– Made it as directed (without the glaze) and in a glass 8in square pan. Took about 42 minutes to bake. Great flavor, love the streusel on top! It did feel like I was putting A LOT of streusel on, but it seemed like the right proportion after it baked … Will definitely make it again
– Truly perfect! 5/5 stars. Made this with fresh pumpkin purée, like another cook noted, this may have contributed to a wetter batter, cook time was about 5-7 minutes longer. Used the recipe for pumpkin pie spice listed here as well. Halved the recipe, and still had leftover. Topped with the icing, could’ve used only 2 tsp of milk, so add slowly.
– I think this recipe has a complex flavor with a clear pumpkiny-ness for a pretty simple recipe. It’s definitely sweet, especially with the crumble. But I will say I ended up with a lot of air pockets despite tapping on the counter before going in the oven. I think in future I’ll whisk the leaveners into the flour like I usually would instead of right into the liquid ingredients. I don’t think they blended well that way.
– This was fine, but needed more flavor and texture. I would double the streusel and layer half in the middle of the batter. I threw diced crystallized ginger into the batter, but wish I had increased the spices and added maybe toasted chopped pecans to the batter. I used my own roasted pumpkin puree and an 8″ pan, so it took 25 mins longer to bake.
