Yesterday I woke up to darkness and rain. I was absolutely giddy with excitement. It was reminiscent of an early autumn morning. The kind of mornings I have yearned for the last couple of weeks. When early August strikes, I begin to have the overwhelming desire for cool, crisp days that require jeans, light sweaters, and closed toe shoes. But most of all, fall baking. Baking with apples and pumpkin. The beautiful warm fall spices, and the intoxicating aroma that it creates in your home.
So, yesterday, instead of hoping on the treadmill, on a cool and rainy morning, I decided to get a start on fall baking. I absolutely love the process of baking, almost more than tasting the outcome. It’s extremely comforting to me. And in the early morning, the sun barely up, and rain pattering on the windows, I was truly comforted. I was slow and methodical baking this cake, as it marked the beginning of my favourite season. Fall.
I wish you could have smelled my home, it smelled absolutely amazing as the warmth of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger filled the house. It made me yearn for the cool breeze, and the whisper of fallen leaves swirling on the ground.
Not only did it smell good, it tasted amazing. So much so, that the cake was gone in one afternoon. The cake is moist from the addition of pumpkin and yogurt, has a beautiful crunchy top from the streusel, and a perfect sweetness from a swirl of vanilla glaze on top. The original recipe called for toasted pecans, and since I’m not much of a nut person, nor did I have any, I opted to keep them out. However, I think that next time I will add them because I think they would add a nice crunchy texture and wonderful flavour. That being said, it was amazing without them. You decide. But let me tell you, I will be making this again. That is for sure.
Pumpkin Coffeecake with Brown-Sugar Streusel
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Yield: one 9-inch cake
Ingredients
- For the Streusel:
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (125ml) firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
- 1 cup chopped, lightly toasted pecans (optional)
- For the Cake:
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or slightly less table salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup homemade or canned pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
- For the Glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and position rack to the middle position. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan. Alternatively, you can use a 9-inch cake pan with 3-inch sides.
- For the streusel:
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add in the pieces of butter, and using a pastry cutter, or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs have formed. Mix in the toasted pecans if using.
- For the cake:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until it is well combined. On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add in the pumpkin puree and sour cream and mix on low speed just until combined. Fold in the flour mixture by hand. Batter will be thick.
- Evenly spread half of the cake batter in the cake pan, and then top with 1/3 of the streusel. Evenly spread the remaining cake batter, then top with the remaining streusel topping.
- Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool.
- For the glaze:
- In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cake.
Jessica’s Notes:
- To toast the pecans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chopped pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes.
- If you are not using pecans, I would suggest to not add the streusel in the middle of the cake. I found it got a bit lost. However, if you use pecans I don’t think that would happen.
Enjoy!!
Jessica
Adapted from Home Baked Comfort (Williams-Sonoma)
Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
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