Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Pumpkin is not my favorite fall flavor; give me spice or ginger or apple any day! Many people like pumpkin so much that the web in inundated with pumpkin recipes this time of the year. I guess I am highly suggestive as I mark those and think, “Wow, I can’t wait to make this pumpkin thing.” I find that to be a bit strange, but I have to say that I’m learning to enjoy pumpkin a lot more than I used to. I love the spices used with pumpkin so it’s not all bad.

I had pumpkin left over from the pumpkin bread pudding that I made because I had bought the only can I could find at the store, and it was pretty big. I see canned pumpkin everywhere I go now so I must have been looking too early! I found this coffee cake and the picture looked divine and planned to make it ASAP. The original recipe was to be baked in a tube pan (which I can’t find mine! Did I give it away in a moment of clutter-cleaning haste?) but I liked the look of the round cake. I didn’t want two cakes so I baked it in a 10” springform pan. I figured it would work ok.

Well, not so much! This cake is quite soft, probably because it contains so much pumpkin, and it needs the structure of a tube pan or a smaller round pan for it to bake properly. My cake looked beautiful coming out of the oven, tested done, but when I took it out of the pan it sank terribly. It’s lovely around the edges and the streusel is delicious. Luckily, the cake is big enough that you can get salvageable pieces cut from around the edge. So not all experiments work out and look great, but this tastes really good and I’m sure it would be successful if made in the correct pan.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
15 ounce can pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2/3 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the inside of a tube pan with nonstick spray; set aside. Or grease two 8” round pans.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add the pumpkin and eggs and mix thoroughly. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Mix on medium speed until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Prepare the streusel topping: In a small bowl combine the flour, sugars, cinnamon, melted butter and pecans. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake batter. Bake the tube pan for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Bake the 8” pans for about 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Slide a knife around the pan so the cake doesn't stick when removing it. Invert the cake onto a plate. Then invert the cake onto another plate, so that the streusel is on the top. Cool completely.

Recipe from Not So Humble Pie