pumpkin hazelnut coffee cake.

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.....

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.

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.