November is spiced pumpkin month in my house! That means spiced pumpkin cakes in some form or another nearly every weekend. [I secretly prefer pumpkin cake to pumpkin pie! Shhhhh.] I have a few posts involving pumpkin:
Pumpkin-Stuffed Coffee Crumb Cake
To bring variety to this list, I have plans down the road to bake some pumpkin cookies, brownies, and of course pumpkin pie. But for now, let’s turn to this delicious pumpkin Bundt cake. It doesn’t have fancy, unexpected flavors, nor does it have next-to-impossible-to-make-unless-you-are-a-professional showstopper decorations. Instead, this is a simple, comfort-food kind of cake that you will enjoy baking and your entire family will enjoy eating.
This cake is indeed very moist! The touch of spicy streusel in the middle of the cake and the brown butter glaze give this cake some added bonuses when compared to plain old pumpkin bread. A fresh cup of coffee along with a slice of this cake is Mmmm good.
Below is the recipe. A step-by-step photo tutorial follows the recipe. See you there!
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- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice or 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened [8 ounces, or 2 sticks]
- 2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 15 ounce can pumpkin puree (unsweetened) (for lighter cake, use one cup pumpkin)
- 1 cup sour cream (8 ounces)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick or 2 ounces)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons (approx.) milk
Ingredients
Streusel Filling
Cake
Brown Butter Glaze
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- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour large, 10-inch Bundt pan (12 cup pan).
- Prepare streusel filling: In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar and spices. With your fingers, work butter into mixture until crumbly.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and spices. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium-high speed. Reduce speed and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between each addition. To prevent curdling, lightly mix in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture. Mix in pumpkin. Lightly mix in another 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and then mix in sour cream until well-combined. On low speed, gradually mix in the rest of flour mixture until fully incorporated, but do not over-mix.
- Spoon about half of batter into Bundt pan. Smooth with small, off-set spatula or butter knife. Sprinkle streusel mixture on top of batter, avoiding the sides of the pan. Spoon remaining batter over top and smooth.
- Bake cake for 55-65 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Invert onto wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare brown butter glaze: Melt butter in small skillet on medium heat, stirring occasionally until browned, about 8 minutes. While still hot, pour into small bowl containing powdered sugar. Mix well. Mix in 2-3 tablespoons milk until glaze is smooth. Glaze should be thick but pourable. Spoon glaze over cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes for glaze to set, or refrigerate overnight. Cut into slices and serve.
Streusel filling and/or brown butter glaze may be omitted. If glaze is omitted, dust with confectioner's sugar when cake has completely cooled.
STEP-BY-STEP ILLUSTRATED TUTORIAL
Preheat the oven first, then prepare the streusel topping. Rub a tablespoon of cold butter into the brown sugar and spices. Use your fingers, 2 knives, or a pastry cutter. I prefer using my fingers–less to clean up, and it’s done in a flash.
You need to work the butter in until the mixture is nice and crumbly.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.
Then it’s time to pull out the electric mixer. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1/4 cup of flour to the mix to help prevent the egg mixture from curdling. You don’t have to mix the flour in completely. Mix in the canned pumpkin, a little more flour (about another 1/4 cup) and then the sour cream.
Gradually add in the rest of the flour mixture with the mixer set on the lowest speed. Mix until the flour is just fully incorporated.
Spoon half of the batter into the pan. I distributed the batter using a small, off-set spatula.
Sprinkle the streusel over top of the batter, but try not to touch the sides. I wasn’t too successful with that, as you can see below, but it didn’t cause a tragedy. There was only a small amount of seepage, but thankfully no burnt sugar on the sides.
Spoon the rest of the batter over top of the streudel layer, but this time, spread so that the batter reaches the sides.
Smooth with a spatula.
The cake is ready to go in the oven.
The cake bakes for about an hour. When it emerges, it will have a cracked top.
Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Then turn the cake over onto a wire rack to cool completely. Below, the cake has done cooling and is getting ready to be dressed with the brown butter glaze.
To make the glaze, melt pieces of butter in a small skillet. The burner should be on medium.
Stirring occasionally, let the melted butter brown (but not burn!), which should take about 8 minutes.
Pour the browned butter into one cup of powdered sugar and mix.
It will be way too thick at this point, so mix in a couple tablespoons of milk to thin out the glaze. It should still be on the thick side, but pourable. The glaze should form wide ribbons that take a few seconds to disappear when you lift your spoon out of the bowl.
Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake and let the glaze drip down the sides.
Put the glazed cake in the refrigerator for half an hour or so until the glaze sets. You can also refrigerate overnight before serving, which improves the flavor and texture of the cake. Here’s an up-close shot of a slice. You can see hints of the streusel layer in the middle.
Someone in the family promptly ate that piece, so we had to slice another piece for this shot.
Bon appetit!
