Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel

Happy Halloween, season of all things spooky and pumpkin! While I'm not actually super big on pumpkin, I couldn't resist making this cake after going apple and pumpkin picking and sampling all the baked goods at the orchards. There's nothing better than the smell of spiced cake in the kitchen as the weather cools down.



I have to admit, it took me several tries to get this recipe right. Way too much pumpkin puree the first time and the cake was just a dense, gloppy mess. The next couple tries were pretty good, just not quite what I wanted. Finally, the fourth cake was everything I was looking for, not too dense, lightly sweet and spiced with a nice crunch from the pecans. The perfect fall afternoon snack with coffee! Or perfect breakfast, warmed up in the toaster oven. Really, this is an anytime of day kind of cake.





As for the other cakes, not to worry, I ate them all anyway. Except for the first one, it was just nasty, so I only ate half. I think might need more pumpkin desserts in my life.



Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel
Makes one 6 inch cake
Prep time: 10
Cook time: 30-32 min

Ingredients

For Pecan Streusel
3 tbsp (18g) cake flour
3 tbsp (35g) dark brown sugar, packed
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup (40g) toasted, chopped pecans

For Cake
4 tbsp (57g) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp  (79g) dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup (118 g) pure pumpkin puree
1 tsp (3g) vanilla extract
1/4 cup (60g) whole milk
1 cup (100g) cake flour
3/4 tsp (1g) cinnamon
1/4 tsp  nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp (2g) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1g) baking soda
1/4 tsp (1g) salt

For Icing
1/3 cup (32g) powdered sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 tsp (6g) whole milk

Directions

In a bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon together and mix well. Stir in the cake flour until thick and clumpy. Stir in the pecans and set mixture aside.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 6 inch cake pan. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on med-high speed until creamy and lighter in color. Scrape down the bowl, add in the pumpkin and mix well. Add the milk and vanilla extract and mix. Scrape down the bowl, add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be pretty thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Sprinkle the streusel mixture over the top and lightly press into the batter. Bake for 30-32 minutes, until a wooden skewer poked in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack to fully cool.

Mix all the icing ingredients together until smooth, then drizzle over the cooled cake.