The Perfect cake for the Autumnal season – a cinnamon spiced sour cream pumpkin coffee cake, topped with a maple glaze.

Ever since I was a child, I have always loved pumpkins.  Photos of endless fields of the orange beauties, the way people decorate their porches with them, the scary carved ones that grin on Halloween.  I even had a story about an evil one!  There is something about them that is deliciously Autumnal, which is, of course, the best season of all – I think so anyway.

In the story about the evil pumpkin, the people who owned the pumpkin farm also sold lots of pumpkin products – cakes, breads, cookies etc.  I wanted to find out about how to make pumpkin treats like this and as I grew older, I discovered the huge array of recipes that you can add pumpkin to.  Growing up in England, there wasn’t much pumpkin around really and the first time I ever made a batch of pumpkin pancakes that I had seen online, I had to make my own puree the long way round.  Canned pumpkin is still not readily available everywhere and I buy my cans online, but once I had tried my first taste of pumpkin pancake, I was hooked!

I wanted to make a pumpkin coffee cake, so experimented with various coffee cake recipes, until I settled on this version.  It’s a moist and tender sponge with that unmistakable pumpkin flavour and the spices make the house smell wonderfully autumnal while it bakes.  The maple syrup glaze really makes it a showstopper.

Streusel:
½ cup of packed brown sugar
¾ cup of plain/all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
½ stick of cold butter, cut into cubes

Cake:
3 cups of plain/all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 ½ stick of butter
1 cup of pumpkin puree
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt

Glaze:
½ cup icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar
2 tbs maple syrup
½ tsp maple extract (optional)

Method:
Butter and flour a tube pan and pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F

Place the streusel ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix until the butter has been worked into the flour and sugar and is in crumbles.  You can also do this with your hands.  Set aside.

For the cake, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  I do this in the stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and leave it going for around 4-5 minutes.

Then add the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next one.  Add the vanilla, sour cream and pumpkin and mix well.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and soda into another bowl, along with the pumpkin pie spice and with the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Finish by hand rather than risk over-mixing.

Spoon half the batter into the tube pan, and smooth out the top.  Sprinkle over half the streusel mixture and then top with the remaining batter.  Finish by sprinkling the rest of the streusel mixture over the top of the cake batter and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then turn out onto your cake plate and allow completely.  If you try to glaze when the cake is still warm, it will just melt and run off.

Mix the glaze ingredients until it is a thick consistency that will drizzle.  Add more syrup if too thick or more sugar if it’s too runny.

Drizzle the glaze over the cake, back and forth until you have the desired coverage.