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Recipe: Pumpkin Crumb Cakes

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Pumpkin crumb cakes - they're one of our favorite pumpkin recipes. This is a flexible recipe; you can make it in one big pan, or as individual babycakes like we did here. There's tender yellow cake on the bottom, spiced pumpkin filling sandwiched in the center, and crunchy crumbly streusel on top. We love the dark, rich pumpkin in the center!

The list of ingredients here looks long, but it's really quite simple. We make up one dry mix of flour and sugar that gets used for the cake base and the streusel topping, and then mix that with butter and spices for each. If you have your pumpkin all ready this should come together quickly.

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Pumpkin Crumb Cakes
makes one 13x9 cake or 18 individual cakes

Dry Mix
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder

Cake Batter
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 dry mix

Pumpkin Filling
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon water
1/2 dry mixture (see above)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Heat the oven to 350F. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder for the dry mix.

Beat the butter until whipped and creamy and then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Beat in about half of the dry mix of flour and sugar. Set aside.

Whip together the eggs, pumpkin puree, milk, brown sugar and spices for the pumpkin filling. Set aside.

Mix the rest of the dry mix with a stick of butter, an extra half cup of flour, and the spices. Add a tablespoon of water and mix with fingers until loose and crumbly.

To make a full pan of crumb cake, grease a 9x13 baking pan and pat the dough into the bottom. Pour the pumpkin filling over top and sprinkle the crumb topping over it. To make individual cakes instead, repeat using 4-ounce paper souffle cups. After they are baked, let the individual cups cool for an hour then cut the paper cups away with scissors for individual cakes.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the filling is set inside. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing.

Comments (11)

I wish I'd seen this last weekend. I had some extra pumpkin left over from making scones, and these look much tastier!

posted by Murple on 2007-10-11 14:43:56
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can i do these in a muffin pan?

posted by ForbiddenFruit on 2007-10-11 14:50:43
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You could do them in a muffin pan, but I'd still suggest liners too, since these tend to be a little delicate.

posted by faith on 2007-10-11 15:32:38
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Do you have to use fresh pumpkin puree? I'd like to make these but there is NO WAY I'm going to cut up a pumpkin for any cooking reason.

posted by Monkeyme on 2007-10-12 11:32:31
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Monkeyme - Oh yes, canned is fine. Just make sure it's not pre-sweetened.

posted by faith on 2007-10-12 12:57:05
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i just finished making this! it looks devine. being a southern boy, i added finely chopped pecans to the crumble mixture. then i drizzled a light glaze of coffee icing made by combining butter, sugar, coffee and vanilla.

posted by ForbiddenFruit on 2007-10-13 16:54:16
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Made it this weekend and just blogged assembly photos... Very tasty!

posted by katef on 2007-10-15 11:46:23
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This was one of the tastiest coffee cakes ever! It was just moist enough. Next time I'll try it with cheesecake for the first layer.

posted by snoopy on 2007-10-15 21:38:36
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Beautiful - a hint of savory and the perfect amount of sweet. The pumpkin puree gives the perfect amount of moisture to the rest of the cake. I'll definitely make this one again. Forbidden Fruit's coffee icing would be a wonderful addition; I'll try that next time.

posted by kygirl on 2007-10-17 22:53:04
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i made this for thanksgiving and it came out even more amazing than i could have hoped--so good that even non-pumpkin fans loved it! so moist and simply delish!

posted by nyalli718 on 2007-12-11 10:25:17
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Same her nyalli718, even with the apple pie, flan, cheesecake, trifle, etc. on the table everyone raved about this crumb cake. I'm totally spoiled now, i bought a crumb cake from the super market for company last weekend, took one bite and though "eh, mine was way better." The cake batter is really delicious.

posted by vertigo on 2008-02-01 12:41:54
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