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| Pumpkin Sugar Cake |
The Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Baking cookbook answers the burning questions with which bakers are faced each and every time they turn on their ovens:
What’s for breakfast? The most important meal of the day can be made sweet with Big-Batch Fresh Raspberry Muffins or savory with Bacon–Blue Cheese Scones.
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| Bacon Blue Cheese Scones |
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| Entirely Too Rich Corn Bread |
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| Chocolate Mud Bars |
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Pumpkin Sugar Cake
Recipe from The Old Farmer's Almanac Everyday Baking cookbook
This "cake" can be served as a coffee cake for breakfast or with a scoop of ice cream for dessert! Please read the recipe all the way through before you begin, as it requires 1 1/2 hours of resting time.
DOUGH:
¼ cup lukewarm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 packet (2 ½ tsp) active dry yeast
¾ cup mashed or canned pumpkin
½ cup milk, slightly warmer than body temp
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 large egg plus 1 yolk, at room temperature
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
TOPPING:
¾ cup packed light-brown sugar
¾ cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. cinnamon
7 TBSP unsalted butter
For dough: Pour the water in to a small bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Stir to blend, then set aside for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, milk, sugar, oil, egg and yolk, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the dissolved yeast. Whisk well. Add 2 cups of the flour and beat with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup at a time, beating well with the spoon for 1 minute after each addition. Do not skimp on the time: This hand beating eliminates the need to knead. Set the dough aside long enough to butter a 13x9-inch baking pan. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and into the middle of the baking pan. Set aside for 5 minutes.
Tear off a sheet of plastic wrap a little larger than your pan and oil it or coat with nonstick spray; the oil will ensure that the plastic doesn’t stick to the dough. Place the plastic on top of the dough with the oiled side toward the dough, center the plastic, and press the dough out evenly into the pan. Take your time to make it reasonably level. Remove the plastic and cover the pan with a fresh sheet of plastic wrap. Set aside at room temperature for 1 ½ hours to rest (it won’t seem to rise very much).
For topping: While the dough rests, put the brown sugar, walnuts and cinnamon into a food processor and pulse until the nuts are very finely chopped. Set aside.
After 1 ½ hours have passed, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic and cover the dough evenly with the brown sugar topping. Using a fingertip, make 12 deep indentations in the dough (three evenly spaced rows of four holes). Melt the 7 tablespoons of butter and spoon evenly over the top, letting some of it drip into the holes. Bake one the center oven rack for 35 minutes. The top will be a rich golden brown, but the best indicator of doneness is total baking time. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Makes 12 to 15 servings.
