Pumpkin Spiced Coffee Cake
It’s that time of year again! Time for pumpkin everything!! I know it can be overkill but I happen to love every second of it. I’m a huge sucker for anything that has to do with fall. I am also completely crazy about breakfast and I would say that coffee cake is one of my favorites. This idea came to me because of my homemade pumpkin pie spice that I have been using in everything. This is another excuse to use it AND to start using pumpkin. They finally have pumpkins at the grocery store which I was overly excited about!
This is a spin on the traditional coffee cake. The pumpkin adds that wonderful rich flavor that really shines when it’s paired with the pumpkin pie spice. You can use store bought pumpkin pie spice, but it’s fall and you will be using these fall spices for the holidays anyways so now would be a perfect time to get some new fresh spices and make homemade pumpkin pie spice. I used creme fraiche instead of sour cream, but you can use sour cream as a replacement. I like creme fraiche for it’s creaminess and tang which makes the coffee cake moist not dry. It’s a little more rich to me than sour cream, but both will work great. Then my favorite part is the spiced pumpkin seed crumble on the top! It adds more of that spice that I love and crunch from both the crumble and the pumpkin seeds. Best.Thing.Ever!
Pumpkin Spiced Coffee Cake
makes 1 9×9 coffee cake
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter; room temperature
1 cup sugar; I like baker’s sugar if you can find it
2 eggs; room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup creme fraiche (or sour cream); room temperature
Spiced Sugar Center
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (homemade pumpkin pie spice)
Spiced Pumpkin Seed Crumble
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (homemade pumpkin pie spice)
1/4 teaspoon salt (only add this if your pumpkin seeds don’t have salt on them)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds; I like raw but you can use roasted unsalted; if you can only find salted just make sure to not add any extra salt to the crumble mixture)
4 tablespoons melted butter
Directions
*Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
*Butter and flour a 9×9 baking dish
*In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
*In another bowl combine the creme fraiche and the pumpkin
*Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand held mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
*Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until well incorporated
*Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture
*Add in half of the pumpkin mixture
*Add in another 1/3 of the flour
*Then add in the last half of the pumpkin mixture
*Finally add in the last 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until just combined
*Note: basically you can see that you are alternating the dry and wet ingredients starting and ending with the dry being careful not to over mix*
*Scoop half of the batter into the prepared baking pan
*Use an offset spatula (or a knife) to spread the batter evenly around the pan
*In a bowl combine the sugar and pumpkin pie spice for the sugar center
*Pour the mixture evenly over the first layer of batter
*Then place large scoops of the remaining batter over the sugar center (see picture below)
*Use an offset spatula (or knife) to spread the stop layer of batter
*Placing the large scoops of batter around will help this process otherwise it can be difficult to spread over the sugar center (see pictures below)
*In a bowl use a fork to combine the brown sugar, sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin seeds
*Add in the melted butter and stir together using a fork; mixture will be crumbly
*Spread the spiced pumpkin seed crumble over the entire top layer of batter; I find this easiest to do with my hands
*Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
*Set aside to cool for at least 10-15 minutes
