12 October 2013

pumpkin hazelnut coffee cake.

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My internet presence lately has been completely lackluster. I no longer have a job were I can Instagram all the bits and bobs I bake up and now Instagramming shoes just seems a bit silly. Plus I already do that for the store's Instagram, and write for their blog too! But I took one of my days off and finally baked up some, Pumpkin Hazelnut Coffee Cake. It was originally going to be with pecans but hazelnuts were shockingly cheaper at my grocery store, so hazelnuts it was. Now I'm always concerned with this type of cake that the crumbly bits on top are all going to sink into the cake and it will not look as pretty coming out of the oven as it did going it. But I think this thick cake batter solved that problem, plus actually baking it at the correct temperature. At my parent's house our oven ran really hot so I would always bake things 50-100 degrees lower than the recipe called for. So I always have that mind set. But I resisted the urge and baked this at the proper 350 degrees and it came out great. Old habits....

The recipe is a total winner, go make it now, or at lease tomorrow morning. Moist, sweet, the spices are subtle and the nuts give a great crunchy texture. Maybe some dried cranberries would be good in the crumble too? It's a recipe I want to make over and over, it was that good. 

In other news, I have a new baby cousin! Just a few days old and I get to go meet him tomorrow. My messages on my phone have just been flooded with photos of him already so I feel like I have already met the little one. Sometime within the next two weeks, my Aunt wants me to photograph him. While I am excited to do that, I am also terrified because she wants those baby in little crochet outfits dressed as fruit or in a pea pod or in cocoon hanging, type of photoshoots. Which is not my thing at all and told her those photos are scary. But as long as I can also take some cute candid photos of what he is really like and not overly propped madness, I'll be happy. We kinda have to please our families right? Wish me luck! Hopefully it will work out.....

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Pumpkin Hazelnut Coffee Cake
a slight adaptation of a Williams-Sonoma recipe

Streusel:
42 grams (1/3 cup) AP flour
100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
85 grams (6 Tbsp) butter, cold and cubed
128 grams (1 cup) hazelnuts, chopped

Batter:
187 grams (1 1/2 cups) AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamon 
1 tsp salt
114 grams (1/2 cup) butter, soft
200 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
2 eggs
122 grams (1/2 cup) pumpkin puree
115 grams (1/2 cup) sour cream

Glaze:
62 grams (1/2 cup) powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.

For streusel: Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and salt together in a deep bowl. Using hands or pastry cutter, cut in butter until small pea sized cubes. Stir in nuts. Set aside

For batter:
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a bowl then mix into batter. Finally stir in pumpkin and sour cream until you have a smooth batter. 
Pour half of the batter into a smooth layer at the bottom of pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel over. Top with remaining batter, making sure to cover all the streusel. Evenly sprinkle all remaining streusel over. 
Bake for around 50 minutes until center is set and a toothpick comes out clean. 
Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, remove from pan and let cool completely. 
Whisk together all the glaze ingredients and drizzle over cake.
Serve.


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As I was photographing the pumpkin cake, I heard a knock on my door and it was my neighbor dropping off the last of the season's tomatoes. Plus a squash and some swiss chard. It has been a great run this summer and early fall getting so many tomatoes, for free I might add. They tasted so amazing and the chard was great once I sautéed it up in a pan for a bit, getting the edges a little crispy. Forever indebted to my neighbor.


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14 comments:

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar said...

Such a fabulous combination for coffee cake. YUM!!

Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar said...

This flavour combo looks straight up perfect. LOVE!!

Laura Dembowski said...

This looks like the perfect coffee cake! The pumpkin is lovely for this time of year too. Looking forward to seeing the recipe.

Kezia said...

What a lovely neighbour to have! The cake looks so good, I could do with a massive slice right now in fact as it's horrible and raining here right now. Congratulations on your cousin too!

Laura@baking in pyjamas said...

Cake looks delicious. Simple and perfect for the season.

Anonymous said...

This cake is torture. You have succeeded at taking drool-worthy photographs!

Trisha said...

YUMMMMMM. the drizzle makes me want to eat this whole. mmmm

Brittany said...

such beautiful images!

Alyson said...

Beautiful and sounds delicious!

shattered said...

I cut out about 100 grams sugar, didn't do the glaze and it was still pretty sweet! Anywho, this was extraordinary *-*

Megan {Country Cleaver} said...

Coffee cakes of any kind make me furiously HAPPY and this has two of my all time favorite flavors in one - pumpkin and hazelnut. Excuse me while I devour the whole thing with my eyes.

Mila said...

This really looks amazing! I absolutely adore your photos ♥

Hamid Hunt said...

It is very handy and delightful one look for me about the delicious and healthy recipe. Which is really very new and attractive look for me. I hope most of the people like this concept like me. Who love to eat healthy and delicious food.

Coffee Maker Reviews said...

Amazing!! It looks like a banana cake.