Take a Break ~ Pumpkin Coffee Cake

You know those moments in time when the house is quiet. As a busy mom, I know that these moments don’t come along too often. When they do we need to take full advantage of the peace. Pour a cup of tea, a book and settle in for a few as many minutes of peace as you can.

What is that quiet, mom-centric moment missing?

Pumpkin coffee cake. It’s missing a freshly baked slice of pumpkin coffee cake. One with a pumpkin seed streusel topping and a sweet vanilla glaze.

Good news…I’ve got the recipe right here! What are you waiting for? Time to bake this up, take a break and enjoy.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the streusel
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

For the glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Butter and flour a 9″ tube pan (or 10″ x 14″ baking dish).

Make the streusel by combining flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and toasted pumpkin seeds in a small bowl. Use your fingers (they are the best tool for the job) to work the butter into the flour mixture. The end result will be a buttery, sugary dough. Set aside in the fridge until it is time to use the streusel.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Beat until everything is combined.

Add flour mixture and pumpkin puree into butter mixture – alternating between flour and pumpkin. Beat until batter is well mixed.

Drop about half the batter into the pan. Spread evenly with an offset spatula. Once the batter is spread into the pan sprinkle with half of the streusel. Sprinkle all over.

Drop the remaining half of the batter over the streusel and spread with offset spatula. Sprinkle remaining streusel over the batter.

Bake in a 350°F oven for 1 hour, until skewer poked in comes out clean.

Set aside to cool in the pan. Once the pan is cooled, remove the cake from the pan. Be sure to run a narrow spatula around the cake and under the cake before attempting to remove it from the pan.

Set on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze by stirring together icing sugar, vanilla and milk. The glaze will be very loose. Use a fork to drizzle the glaze all over the cake.

Slice, serve and enjoy…with a cup of tea…or coffee.

If this doesn’t inspire you to take a break, snuggle up with a book, cup of tea and a slice of pumpkin coffee cake, then I don’t know what will. I took inspiration from Martha Stewart’s cinnamon coffee cake recipe – where she sprinkles half the streusel in the middle of the cake. This turns the cake from delicious to totally awesome.