Pumpkin Caramel Coffee Cake

December 20, 2009 in cake, holiday, pumpkin

So far in the 25 Days of Holiday Goodies I have avoided using pumpkin for various reasons but mainly because my husband’s threatened divorce if he sees one more can of the orange stuff come into our house. Well, the good news is that the pumpkin in this coffee cake is hardly noticeable. That’s also the bad news. :(

The cake itself is beyond amazing. Like I mentioned, it’s a pumpkin cake but in the center it has a cinnamon streusel and then on top is a delicious caramel with pecans sprinkled throughout.

It’s a pretty simple cake. There are quite a few steps but nothing’s difficult. You don’t even have to make real caramel, it’s just brown sugar and cream. The batter was super thick and gave me a little trouble when I tried to spread it and tried to take the pecans and the cinnamon streusel with it, but other than that it was easy. And it looks pretty impressive if you ask me! And it’s delicious, of course!

You remember what happened to my cranberry upside down cake? How the whole upside down part kind of soaked into the cake instead of staying on top? Well, that happened here too which was great as far as the taste of the cake but I was really hoping the caramel would stay on top. I ended up just making a quick batch of caramel and drizzling it over the top. If anyone has any advice on that, please help me out. I’ve never had this happen before and now it’s happened twice within a month or so.

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Pumpkin Caramel Coffee Cake
 

Ingredients
For the Caramel:
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
For the Streusel:
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, sliced
  • 1½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Cake:
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoon sour cream
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup sugar

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch pan with nonstick spray.
  2. Stir together the brown sugar, cream and salt for the caramel. Pour into a prepared pan and spread to coat the bottom. Sprinkle pecans over the caramel.
  3. In a food processor, process brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon and the salt for the streusel. Pulse until small clumps form; set aside.
  4. Whisk buttermilk, sour cream, pumpkin puree and eggs together and place into a large measuring cup with a pour spout. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer just until combined.
  5. Alternately add dry and wet ingredients, starting and ending with the dry. Blend each additions just until incorporated. Spread half the batter over the caramel, then sprinkle with half the streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over that and top with remaining streusel.
  6. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake for 5 minutes, then run a pairing knife around the sides to loosen. Invert onto a serving platter while hot, then let cool slightly before slicing.


adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

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