Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Streusel

I've been trying to use the gadgets that I have, and to that end, I ordered America's Test Kitchen's Food Processor Perfection. I've had fun looking through it and trying out some recipes. The food processor is a real workhorse, but I don't make as much use of it as I could.

Inspired by one their recipes, I tried making a pumpkin cake. It was an interesting experiment. One of our favorite cakes (often requested for birthdays) is a food processor cake but it only has a few ingredients. This one was a little more complex.

One of the things they point out is that the food processor makes it easier to incorporate items that need to be chopped or shredded first. Why not keep using it to make the whole cake?

The process isn't that different from making a cake using a mixer. You start with all the dry items (flour, spices, etc.) and then add the wet items. It made a lovely thick batter for the pumpkin cake.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Streusel
inspired by a recipe from Food Processor Perfection

Streusel

1 cup pecans

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon water

Cake

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick), melted + extra for pan

1/2 15-ounce can of pumpkin (roughly 7.5 ounces)

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. While it's heating, toast the pecans on a baking sheet. Grease and flour a springform pan. Place cooled pecans in food processor with sugar and process until ground. Add cinnamon, salt, butter and water and pulse until it makes clumps. Only about 8 pulses. Set aside.

Wipe out the food processor with a paper towel.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to food processor and pulse to combine well. Add butter, pumpkin, egg, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Process about 10 seconds. Scrape the sides. Pulse 5 times. Pour into prepared pan.

Dot the top with small amounts of the streusel and smooth together so they cover the top. Bake 40 minutes or until the middle is set and the cake begins to pull away from the sides.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Almost here!

Welcome Linda Wiken!

You may have noticed a new face in our header. Linda Wiken, who also writes as Erika Chase, will be joining us on Thursdays. Not to worry, Roberta Isleib, aka Lucy Burdette, will still be here too. They're going to share Thursdays!

Linda has been our guest before, so you may be familiar with the Ashton Corners Book Club series which she writes as Erika Chase. But TOASTING UP TROUBLE, the first book in her brand new Dinner Club Mysteries by Linda Wiken will be here in just a few months! I'll let her tell you more about that. Watch for her first post later this month!
  
Can you believe that I'm still finding things in the freezer that I bought last December? If you have never made frozen drinks with mangoes, you're missing out on something really delicious. I'm sure that's what I had in mind when I bought the bags of frozen mango chunks.

Now that we've come off the chocolate and sugar high of Easter, we wanted something sweet but not quite as fancy so I used one of the bags of frozen mango in a simple streusel coffee cake.

There are a lot of pictures but don't let them fool you into thinking this is complicated because it isn't. You could easily substitute blueberries if you prefer, although I think mangoes are a nice switch.

The crumb in this cake is lovely and loose. Almost too loose. It doesn't cut beautifully. But it tastes wonderful. The cake itself isn't overly sweet but the streusel makes up for it.

When you make this, note that the butter for the cake and the milk need to be at room temperature. So set them out first while you do something else. (Note: I also let the egg come to room temperature.)

I love this streusel because it doesn't require any fancy gadgets. It's made in a minute!

Mango Streusel Cake

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one eight-inch square baking pan

Streusel

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter

Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon with a fork to combine. Cut the butter into 16 pieces, add to sugar mixture, and work with your fingers until blended. Refrigerate.

Cake

butter and flour for the pan

1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
10-ounce bag frozen mangoes
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Take butter and milk out of the fridge. Add vinegar to the milk. Bring to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 375. Butter and flour the pan. If the mangoes are in large chunks, cut them in fourths. Pour the flour into a bowl. Take 2 tablespoons flour out of the bowl and sprinkle on the mangoes. Stir to combine. Add the baking powder and salt to the flour (not to the mangoes) and stir to combine.

Cream the butter with the sugar. Add the egg and beat. Add vanilla and beat. Alternate slowly adding the flour mixture and the milk until completely blended. Add the mangoes to the batter and fold gently to distribute.

Pour batter into the pan. Spread to corners. Crumble the streusel on top. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is brown.

Cut the butter for the streusel.

Make the streusel with your fingers.

Cut the mangoes if the chunks are large.

Mix with 2 tablespoons of flour.

Cream the butter and the sugar, and add flour and milk.

Fold in the mangoes.

Sprinkle with the streusel.

Bake at 375.