Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Now, I’m not one to share “pillow talk” but I can’t help myself. Here’s a recent conversation my hubby and I recently had before bed…
Husband: You know what you should make?
JJ: What?
Husband: One of your amazing coffee cakes…coffee cake sounds really good right now.
JJ: Ok I’ll make you some for Friday.
Husband: (disappointed) Oh.
JJ: What?
Husband: Well it’s just that I have a hankering for coffee cake right now.
JJ: It’s 11 o’clock at night!
Husband: I know, but I have the munchies.
JJ: (irritated) Kitchen’s closed…go to bed.
My husband is known for getting the munchies but not SWEET munchies…so naturally I wanted to make him something to satisfy his craving. Lucky for him I stumbled across this delicious recipe from Williams Sonoma…Pumpkin Coffee Cake with a Janie Jean twist…Ginger Snap streusel!
Kitchen’s ready and open for business…
We begin by making the delectable streusel. Brown sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon combine with butter pecans and ginger snap cookies. Honestly, do we really need cake? I am totally swooning over this sugary, spicy crumble.
As difficult as this may be it’s time to step away from the streusel and focus on the pumpkin cake batter. Sift together your dry ingredients in a medium bowl including some familiar spicy friends…hello there cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, so nice of you to drop by!
Combine the wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer beginning with the brown sugar and butter! YUM! Then stir in the eggs one at a time, pumpkin puree and sour cream. Mix in the dry ingredients and watch your batter thicken to a beautiful velvety texture. Don’t freak out if your batter looks really thick…it’s supposed to be that way. Just look at it…tempting little pumpkin cake batter begging for a finger swipe…
…well ok! Now let’s build this cake! Begin by spreading half of your cake batter along the bottom of your prepped springform pan.
Sprinkle half of your streusel over the cake batter. Please try to restrain yourself from licking your fingers…the flavor is overwhelmingly intoxicating!
And now you guessed it…repeat with the remaining ingredients…dollop, spread and sprinkle!
Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes, allow to cool on the rack COMPLETELY (no shortcuts here) then drizzle with a delicious glaze consisting of powdered sugar, vanilla and whole milk.
And there you have it, a delightful coffee cake spiked with pumpkin and all its favorite spices! Then you have the streusel…the buttery, crunchy streusel paired with the spicy ginger snap cookies and toasty pecans…stick a fork in me I’m done! What an invitation!
You heard the pumpkin…let’s raise our forks together and dig in! Even my hubby’s waiting in the wings for his chance! I told him it was worth the wait.
Love you all,
Janie-Jean
- ⅓ Cup of All Purpose Flour
- ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 6 Tbs of unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
- 1 cup lightly toasted Pecans
- 1 cup ginger snap cookies, crumbled
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 8Tbs. unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ½ sour cream
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 9 inch springform pan with butter and flour.
- Begin, by making the streusel. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Toss in the crumbled ginger snap cookies as well as the butter cubes. You could either use a pastry cutter or your hands (my favorite tools) to cut in the butter to the flour mixture. Pinch the butter between your fingers until a crumbly mixture forms. Fold in the toasted pecans and set the streusel aside.
- To make the cake batter, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Using an electric mixer fitted with the flat paddle attachment cream the butter and brown sugar using the medium high speed setting. I find that room temperature butter will combine with the brown sugar much easier. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the sour cream and pumpkin puree and mix until just combined. With the mixer on low speed gradually add the flour mixture to the bowl. Be careful not to over mix the batter, mix until just combined. The batter will be quite thick too, no worries!
- Spread half of the batter along the bottom of your springform pan. Sprinkle half of the Ginger Snap streusel evenly over the cake batter. Dollop the other half of the cake batter over the streusel then using the back of a spoon or offset spatula spread the batter evenly over the streusel layer. Sprinkle the remainder of the streusel over your top cake batter layer. Make sure it’s evenly covered to maximize the flavor! Bake in your preheated oven for about 50 minutes. You will know your cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean your cake is baked! Allow to cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan and GENTLY transfer the cake to the wire rack so it can cool completely.
- To make the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla till it forms a semi-thick paste. Make sure the cake is completely cooled before attempting. Scoop some of the glaze onto a fork and drizzle over the cake waving it gently back and forth just above the surface of the cake. Repeat until you have used all of the glaze. The glaze will set fairly quickly and then it’s time to dig in!
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