Pumpkin and apples meet up in a homey breakfast cake

Most baked treats in fall are either apple-based or pumpkin-spice-focused, but bringing these two classic flavors together results in a delicious cake that’s ideal for breakfast or dessert.

I found the original recipe here, but made modifications based on personal taste and what I had available.

The element of the cake that caught my attention was the caramelized apple topping: The apples are peeled and chopped, then gently sautéed with butter and brown sugar. This softens them, releases their juices and keeps them from sinking into the cake as it bakes. 

Like many crumb cakes, this recipe requires making the butter-flour-sugar crumble first, setting some of it aside for the topping, and using the rest as the base for the cake batter. My biggest change is to cut back on some of the sugar and then the amount of crumble used on the cake. I reserved the required amount of 2/3 cup, but used only 1/3 cup on top of the apples. That was plenty, but if you’re a crumble fan, feel free to use all of it.

The rest of the crumble I’ve saved in the frig to top ice cream or muffins later. I might add some chopped nuts to that, too.

Pumpkin crumble cake with caramelized apples

Makes one 8-inch-square cake, 9 to 12 servings

Ingredients:

For apple topping:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 Granny Smith or other tart apples, peeled, cored and roughly diced

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cake:

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon, divided

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup buttermilk or 1/3 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pumpkin spice blend* or preferred spice(s) 

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature

Instructions:

Make the apple topping: Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the diced apples and sauté over medium-high heat for 2 minutes, until the apples start to soften. Sprinkle the 3 tablespoons brown sugar over the apples and continue to cook until the apples are tender and well-coated, and most of the liquid has cooked away. Any liquid that’s left should be syrupy.

Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the cinnamon and vanilla. Set apples aside to cool. (Note: The apples can be prepared ahead of time and kept refrigerated in a covered container.)

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or butter an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the 1/2 cup each of the sugars, the 1/3 cup butter and the salt,  using a pastry cutter or two knives or your hands. Remove 2/3 cup of this mixture to be used as the crumble.

To the rest of the crumble in the bowl, use a flexible spatula to stir in the pumpkin puree, the buttermilk or sour cream, the remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, the pumpkin spice blend, the baking soda, baking powder and vanilla. Smoosh the butter crumbs with the spatula as you see them, but don’t worry about getting all of them smooth.

Finally, stir in the two eggs.

Note: It’s OK to use an electric mixer on this recipe, but stick to a low speed and minimal time. Like muffins, this cake does not take well to overmixing.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan.  Top with the caramelized apples, including any syrup that remains in the pan.

Sprinkle the desired amount of crumble over the apples. (As noted above, I used about half the reserved crumble, 1/3 cup, and saved the rest for another use.)

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden and a knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Leftovers can be stored at room temperature for a day or covered and refrigerated.

*My homemade pumpkin spice blend for this recipe is 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/8 teaspoon each allspice, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.