Pumpkin Pie Crumb Cake Recipe

My pumpkin pie crumb cake is part pumpkin pie custard, part cake, and also part biscuit thanks to the crunchy streusel topping.

Crumb cake, also known as streusel cake or coffee cake, 

The secret to getting the texture of the cake layer is that you actually want it to collapse a bit. In a normal sponge cake with pumpkin purée (which is quite dense and wet as ingredients go), I'd add baking powder as well as self-raising flour to give it more of a lift. But because I wanted it to be a little pudding-y in the middle, I omitted the extra baking powder. The self-raising flour is just enough to give the edges a fluffy, cakey texture, but not enough so that it rises completely giving rise to a dense but soft custard-like middle.

You can also see how I make this on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Spiced Streusel (Crumb) Topping:

50g unsalted butter, softened
130g plain flour
50g caster sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
Pinch each of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and salt

Ingredients for Pumpkin Cake:

115g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
200g pumpkin purée

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line an 8x8" square baking tin with baking parchment.

2. First, make the topping: just add all the streusel ingredients into a bowl, and rub together with your fingers, changing to a gentle kneading motion to bring everything together into a soft dough. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, make the cake: cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs. Then stir in the flour, spices and salt, and finally stir in the pumpkin purée until smooth.

4. Scoop the cake batter into your prepared tin, smoothing it with the back of a spatula and giving the whole tin a few taps on the counter to knock out any large air bubbles.

5. Break up the streusel dough roughly with your hands, and sprinkle the chunks as evenly as possible on top of the cake batter.

6. Bake the whole thing for 40–45 minutes, or until puffy and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack until cool enough to handle but still warm, slice into nine pieces and serve. This cake is best eaten warm, but is also great at room temperature the next day when the spices have a chance to infuse even more.

Enjoy, and have fun.