Friday, October 8, 2010

Apple Week: Pumpkin-Apple Streusel Cake

To finish up Apple Week, I present to you the ultimate fall dessert: pumpkin-apple streusel cake. It has pumpkin. It has apples. It has streusel. And it has spices. In a word, it is perfection.

The dessert starts with a dense, moist pumpkin cake, which is topped with a layer of spiced sweet-tart apples, which are topped with a crumbly streusel topping. All of the flavors combine perfectly so that you get a little taste of autumn with each bite. The only thing that could improve this in any way would be the addition of some pecans, so if you make this (which you definitely should), add some to the streusel.

I hope you enjoyed Apple Week. These themed weeks are really fun for me to do, so I have a few questions for you: What ingredient would you like to see highlighted for October or November? Would you like a week of pumpkin recipes, or possibly a Halloween Week like I did last year? What other ingredients, sweet or savory, would you like to see featured in coming months? (Just don’t say truffles or caviar. I am on a budget, you know.)

Pumpkin-Apple Streusel Cake
from Epicurious

For the apples:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups diced peeled cored Granny Smith apples (about 4 large)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs

1. For the apples, melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples; sauté until apples begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon and sauté until golden brown, about 3 minutes longer. Cool.

2. For the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside 2/3 cup of mixture for topping. Beat pumpkin, sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, spice, and baking soda into remaining flour mixture, beating just until smooth. Beat in eggs. Transfer batter to pan. Scatter apples evenly over top. Sprinkle reserved topping over apples.

3. Bake cake until topping is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides from cake. Transfer cake to platter. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

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6 comments:

Cristine said...

Oh my goodness... I am SO making this TODAY! Looks and sounds amazing!

And pumpkin week would be awesome! I am always on the lookout for new pumpkin recipes!

Leigh said...

oh man, this might be next week's dvr and dessert date night recipe! It sounds awwwesome!

and I made the MOST delicious pumpkin cookies last night, ohh my gosh! They will be posting in 2 weeks!

Natalie said...

hmm sweet potato week? or squash week maybe?

Unknown said...

i am all about pumpkin but maybe mix it up a little and go with like butternut squash week or something that is fall but out there a bit. i dont know

anyway this looks delish. i missed favorite Thursday this week cause of house craziness but next week you are making the list!

Cara said...

The perfect fall dessert! This sounds amazing, and thanks for sharing all of these great apple weeks.

For future theme weeks, I'll also vote for butternut squash or maybe ginger (that could be taken in lots of different directions, and has the fall-holiday element to it). Or pecans!

Monica H said...

Absolutely would love to see pumpkin week! And Halloween week! and Christmas cookie week! and...