Healthy Pumpkin Cake With Apple, Ginger & Pecan Streusel
This cozy, moist sourdough pumpkin cake recipe features warm spices and an apple, ginger & pecan streusel for a perfect fall breakfast treat.
Equipment
- grain Mill optional
- A few bowls
- Wire Whisk
- Fork
- Baking pan
- cooling rack
- Apple peeler optional
- Paring knife
- Kitchen knife
- Chopping board
Ingredients
For The Crumble
- 57 g butter ¼ cup
- 90 g flour ¾ cup
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 34 g panela sugar ⅓ cup
- 100 g pecans 1 cup
- 500 ml apples 2 cups diced
- ½ cup crystallized Ginger or 1/4 cup young fresh ginger finely diced, or 2 tbsp fermented ginger paste + an additional 1-2 tablespoons of panela sugar.
For The Batter
- 65 g butter 4 tbsp, softened
- 60 g avocado oil 4 tbsp
- 120 g sourdough ½ cup after stirring
- 425 g pumpkin puree 15 oz, or 1 can
- 50 g panela sugar ¼ cup
- 80 g maple syrup ¼ cup
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 120 g fresh milled mix of einkorn 1 cup
- 90 g fresh milled kamut or spelt flour ¾ cup
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp sea salt (omit or reduce if using salted butter)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon ground
- ½ tsp nutmeg ground
- ½ tsp cardamom ground
- ½ tsp cloves ground
- 1 tsp ginger ground
- 1 tsp turmeric ground
- ¼ tsp white pepper ground
Optional Maple Drizzle
- 1 ½ tbsp butter melted
- 1 ½ tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp evaporated cane juice or turbinado sugar powdered
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉
- Prepare your baking pan: Butter or oil your baking pan and flour it or line it with parchment that includes 'handles' if you want to take the cake out of the pan later.
For The Crumble
- Dump the flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon into a large bowl and mix well. Add the pecans.
- Cover with the melted butter and mix till it is completely incorporated.
- Add the apples and ginger, give it another stir to incorporate, and set aside.
For The Batter
- In a small bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices with a fork or spoon. Set aside. Tip: sift the baking powder and baking soda to eliminate any chunks.
- Place the butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat with a wire whisk or a hand blender till smooth and creamy
- Add the eggs one at a time and whisk after each addition until they are well incorporated and the mixture is getting thick.
- Add all the other wet ingredients, the sourdough, pumpkin, vanilla, oil, and maple syrup, as well as the salt if you used unsalted butter. Whisk together till smooth and creamy.
- Dump the flour mix on top of the wet ingredients and fold it in gently and until just incorporated. I like to use a stiff silicone spatula for this. Do not over mix!
- Pour half of the batter into your prepared pan.
- Cover with half of the streusel mix.
- Place the rest of the batter on top of the streusel and smooth the surface.
- Cover with the rest of the streusel.
- You could swirl it a little if you want streusel throughout the cake. I didn't and just used it as a topping.
- Place the baking dish into the oven.
- Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, or with just a couple of dry crumbs on it, about 45 minutes. Be sure to bake it through but don't over bake.
- Take the cake out of the oven and place it on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Prepare the Optional Maple Drizzle
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the drizzle if you want to use it.
- Heat the butter, sugar and syrup on the stove on low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Let it coolNow you can either drizzle it over your cake as is, or whip it after it's cooled for a thicker consistency. When whipped, it will become pretty thick and needs to be piped on. I rolled up a piece of parchment and secured it with a piece of tape right at the tip to keep it from unraveling. Filled it and cut a hole for piping. You could also use a plastic bag and cut a corner, but I prefer the parchment. Or you can use a purchased piping kit too.
Storage
- This cake is really best on day one or two. After that you'll want to refrigerate it for storage for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze it, whole or in portions. Defrost on the counter and eat or try heating it before you eat it to renew the fresh taste.I like to make muffins to freeze, but I like the cake for fresh eating.
Notes
Tips, Advice, And Substitutions For The Best Pumpkin Cake
- When mixing your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, do it right before you are ready to bake and gently fold it in without mixing too hard. It's ok if you see a little dry flour in a few spots. Overmixing at this point will make your cake tough because it will start to develop the gluten.
- It's always best to start with room temperature ingredients.
- If you're using salted butter, don't add extra salt to the dough or streusel.
- You can use honey in place of maple syrup or try using just panela sugar. This will add more molasses flavor and you'll find the taste much like gingerbread.
- Add dried cranberries, raisins, or zante currants to your batter, or, if you love chocolate, add some bittersweet chocolate chips.
- Use any nuts you like in place of the pecans. If you have an allergy toward nuts, you can surely omit them, or substitute with sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, or pepitas. I always use pumpkin seeds to top my pumpkin breads and I think that's the most appropriate fit.
- I made mine in a 5x9 loaf pan plus a 6 cup muffin tins, because I wanted to make a few muffins too. So you can do that instead of using an 8x10 or 9x9 inch pan. Or make only muffins, the same way. You'll get about 18 of them.
- If you love the drizzle to taste like molasses, you can use panela sugar instead of the evaporated cane juice. I think it's delicious, but it may be too much of a good thing for more sensitive palates.
- You can use cultured dairy or sour cream in place of the sourdough 1:1. If you're a cheese maker, add some quark cheese instead, or chevre, clabber cheese, kefir cheese, or Greek or strained yogurt. They will achieve a similar effect, but add ¼ cup of flour to the recipe as it's written to make up for the flour that would be in the sourdough. I was going to try whey, but haven't yet. My thought is that it's too watery and might make the dough too wet. If I get to try it, I'll update this.