Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Pumpkin Crumb Cake - made November 23, 2014 from Ldylvbgr

Interspersing this with the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts (don't worry, tomorrow's post will be the Day 3 cookie) since I made this earlier and want to get it posted.

If, in the rush of the holidays, you don’t have time to get fancy and want to do an easy but delicious cake, here you go. Making the streusel is the “hardest” part and even that isn’t difficult. Make it first so once you have the cake batter made and spread evenly in the pan, you can just drop the streusel over it. Try squeezing the streusel into big clumps with your hands then breaking the clumps into chunks before dropping it on top of the cake batter. I’ve always preferred chunky streusel to streusel dust.

The original directions say to bake this for 55 minutes so I thought I would be safe if I popped it into the oven and went to do a 30-minute workout. I swear I was only gone for 35 minutes, 40 max (hey, I had to cool down and wipe the sweat off), but when I did the toothpick test on the cake, the toothpick came out clean which was panic time as I thought I had overbaked it. 55 minutes, my left eye. Fortunately, it turns out I had baked it just right because once the cake had cooled and I tried a piece, the texture was soft and fluffy like a good little cake and was still moist. Score. I also liked the streusel crumb topping although next time I think I would add a bit more butter and brown sugar just to make more topping. Because you can’t have too much streusel.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. To make the topping, combine 2/3 cup oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in processor. Add butter and cut in until crumbly. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons oats. Set aside. 
3. Sift the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. 
4. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar and 1 egg at a time. Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the wet batter mix. 
5. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the batter. Slowly add the milk and stir in the walnuts, if using. 
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread with the topping. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes (check at 40 minutes and every 5 minutes after that). 
7. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a rack and cool completely.