Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Crumb Cake (Cheat)

Forget the pumpkin pies and cranberry sauces, this pumpkin chocolate crumb cake is incredible and the ultimate Thanksgiving dessert! Who needs tradition when you can go for the alternative – a soft, moist, and spiced pumpkin cake with chocolate crumbs and pockets of half-melted chocolate hidden inside, and topped off with a generous layer of chocolate crumbs and gooey chocolate!

To be honest, I’m quite annoyed at myself. As I was sprinkling the crumble mixture into the first layer of batter, I noticed that some places had more crumble than others, but I figured that I’d be lucky enough to get a crumble-filled slice when I took my photos. Boy, was I wrong. Anyways, I can guarantee that, although not proven in the photos, most of the slices had beautiful layers of heavenly crumble and chocolate wedged into the middle.

In case you haven’t been able to tell, I’m getting seriously excited about pumpkins and pumpkin purée. For the last two months, my inbox has been flooding with pumpkin recipes. I eagerly opened them all, only to be disappointed that they all required pumpkin purée. ‘What a pain’, I thought, though I willingly trudged off to the grocery store to buy some, only to discover that Chinese supermarkets don’t stock pumpkin purée. Sighhhh. Thankfully, I figured out the easiest way to make pumpkin purée at home.

Use a sharp knife to stab 5-10 holes into a pumpkin (or cut the pumpkin in half) and stick it in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius for an hour or so (depending on the size), until the flesh goes soft. Then stick it all in a food processor, blend, and voila! You’ve got yourself a good portion of pumpkin purée, which you can use for this recipe, or these healthy vegan pumpkin bars, for example.

Pumpkin Dark Chocolate Crumb Cake

Adapted from Hungry Girl Por Vida

Makes 1 8-inch cake

Ingredients

For the crumble

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

For the cake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. For the crumble, in a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, chopped chocolate, and salt together until fully combined. Work the butter into the mixture using your fingers of a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
3. For the batter, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt together until fully combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, pumpkin purée, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Pout this mixture into the dry mixture and fold until just combined, do not over mix.
5. Spread half of the cake batter into a greased, 8-inch cake tin. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the crumble over the batter. Add the remaining batter, and sprinkle the other 2/3 of the crumble on top.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean