Pumpkin Crumb Cake

We enjoyed the first official weekend of fall and took advantage of a lovely, lazy Sunday. It had been a bit of a tough week for both of us with some family stresses so it was great to have a day of leisure just to ourselves. We slept in, lazed around all morning and then headed out with the pup to enjoy the nice cool weather. We shopped for some pumpkins, picked up a bottle of pumpkin spice liqueur and headed home for an afternoon cocktail. Dinner was a great butternut squash pasta bake but we definitely left room for the dessert.

On Friday afternoon I did my first pumpkin baking of the season and I started with an amazing pumpkin crumb cake. It was wonderfully moist with the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor and spice and our whole house smelled like autumn. After a long, hot summer, the air conditioners are finally off and a fresh breeze is coming in through the open windows. There's a big bowl of apples on our table and the smell of cinnamon and pumpkin in the air. I love fall. Enjoy!








Ingredients

Crumb Layer:
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Stick unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
Dash of salt

Cake Layer:
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Stick unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup unsweetened pureed pumpkin (canned is fine)

Topping:
1/4 Cup Confectioner's sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon

To make the crumb topping, combine the sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter and then the flour. Mix well and set aside.

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar together using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Add the eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and sour cream and continue mixing until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Stir into the batter and mix until combined.

To assemble the cake, pour the cake layer batter into a greased 9" round spring-form pan (you can also bake this in a 9" square baking dish). Crumble the crumb topping evenly over the batter and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for approximately 45 - 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the spring-form pan. Dust the top with the sugar/cinnamon mixture before serving. Makes approximately 10 servings.