Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake

Oh what a glorious Monday today.  It was a perfect 66 degrees with amazing cerulean skies and it really felt like fall for the first time.  I could do this weather every day.  What's not to love about it?  We worked outside all day and it was absolutely perfect.  Pure bliss.
 
This weather definitely puts me in the mood to bake and cook.  I had the urge for something sweet, perhaps made with pumpkin (it is fall after all) and I  used this recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com.   This is an amazing coffee cake with a lovely streusel on the bottom and a brown sugar glaze on the top.  It has the taste of a pumpkin spice cake which is one of my all time favorite cakes and it is easy to bake.  Yes, the perfect recipe.

This cake can be baked in a tube pan or a bundt pan, whichever you may have.  I love bundt cakes, so I went that route.  Easy peasy.  Here is what you need.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP butter, melted
1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray the bundt pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar on medium with a mixer until well blended.  Add the pumpkin and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  Add to the pumpkin mixture.  Mix on medium until combined.  Pour into prepared pan.

Make the streusel topping by combining all the ingredients.  Sprinkle over the cake batter.  Bake at 30 degrees for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool about 15 minutes.  Make the brown butter glaze while the cake cools.  Invert cake on a plate.

Brown Butter Icing
1 1/2 TBSP butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP milk

Put the butter in a saucepan and melt on medium heat, letting it cook until it bubbles and browns, continuously stirring.  Don't let it scorch.  As soon as it browns, remove from the stove and pour into the powdered sugar.  Stir.  Add milk 1 TBSP at a time.  I only needed 1 TBSP.  Pour over cooled cake.  Serve.

This cake is soooooo delicious and it was very hard to eat only one piece.  It's perfect with a cup of coffee.  It would also be lovely with hot tea or hot apple cider and it just screams fall.  Mm mmm mmmm.

We ate this cake for dessert, not just for breakfast or with coffee.  Deeeeeelicious!  Our grandsons LOVED it.  It is worth making.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

I'm pretty sure the secret to world peace is hidden somewhere in the smell of coffee and baked sweets.  Unknown

(What a great quote!)

It's An EARTHQUAKE Cake - No Insurance Necessary

It's a beautiful Monday.  Spring is finally showing all it's flair.  Trees are leafing, flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, birds are warbling, it is warm and breezy, and all is right with the world.  Hope you enjoyed a sunshiney kind of weekend too!  We went to opening day of tee-ball and little league for our two oldest grandsons  and we spent some time out of doors blowing giant bubbles among other things.  I think I enjoyed it as much or more than they did.

You can find directions for the blower and the bubbles on my blog.  We made these for all the grandsons for Christmas.  I posted the "how to" the week before Easter.

We are so eager for warm weather, we even went to Bobby's Dairy Dip and enjoyed a cone.  If you ever come to Nashville, you must go to Bobby's Dairy Dip.  We grilled out AND we ate this fabulous cake that I made.  And, I do mean fabulous!  It has everything you could ever want in a cake.

Why is it called an earthquake cake?  Have you ever experienced an earthquake?  They are not the most pleasant experience, let me tell you as the ground rumbles and shakes and everything around you is in danger of falling or collapsing.  I think this cake is called an earthquake cake because it looks like undulating ground that happens during an earthquake.  The cream cheese filling sinks, the chocolate, nuts, and coconut rise, and it all tastes outstanding in the end.  The good thing is, nobody gets hurt and there is no need for earthquake insurance.  Just eat and enjoy!!

Here is what you need to make this amazing cake.  Did is say it was good?  Yeah, it's better than good. I can't think of the proper term to describe it other than delectable.

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food), made according to directions on the box
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan.   Sprinkle chopped nuts and coconut on the bottom of the pan.

Make the cake according to directions on the box.  Pour over nuts and coconut.

Beat softened cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla on medium low until well blended.  (Looks like cheese cake batter).  Add the powdered sugar a little at a time so you don't have a powdered sugar explosion.  Mix thoroughly.  Drop by spoonfuls over the chocolate cake batter.  Leave a 1" margin around the edge of the cake so it doesn't run over while baking.

Weave a butter knife through the cream cheese filling in an "S" pattern to create a swirl in the cake batter.  Do not go too deep, stay very shallow - you don't want to disturb the coconut and nuts on the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake for 50 minutes.  Remove from oven, let cool slightly and serve.

This may be the ultimate cake.  It has all the good stuff.  Chocolate, coconut, nuts, cream cheese, chocolate chips.  I mean, what's not to love?  Seriously?  This cake is beyond good.  It is magical.  It's other worldly.   It's worth making.  Make sure you have people to share it with or you will eat the whole thing yourself.  I'm just sayin'.

I found this recipe on Cheryl's Recipe Archives at ideascomefrombrownies.blogspot.com.  She has some fabulous recipes and this is Earthquake Cake recipe #2.  Check out her blog if you like good things to eat.  And, make this cake.  You may feel the earth move under your feet.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“The Earth is God's pinball machine and each quake, tidal wave, flash flood and volcanic eruption is the result of a TILT that occurs when God, cheating, tries to win free games.” 
― Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues