Pumpkin Cake with Walnut Crunch Topping

Dear Diary...

... I might have made a huge mistake. Might.

I volunteered to host a dinner at my house. You know... not just any dinner. Christmas Eve dinner.

See, because here's the thing. It's exciting to me. I'm honestly, genuinely, really excited about it. I've planned about 6 desserts so far. I picked out 4 appetizers. And unfortunately due to the fact that I've only got 5 confirmed guests, I think I'm going to have to scale back a bit. 

The part that I'm not fully sure I'm excited about is the actual dinner itself. I don't have a great relationship with things that roast in the oven. I want to work on this relationship. It's an important relationship. But it's still new and fragile and I just don't think I'm ready to out that relationship to the world yet. It's closeted behind my oven door. I love Italian food and a small part of me really wants to recreate my childhood with a Feast of Seven Fishes, but the more influential part of me, the part which understands my bank account, says no. 

The thing is, I really want to put something in the oven. I want to set it and forget it, so to speak. I don't want to spend the whole night sauteing or boiling or grilling or whatever. So like.. gimme some ideas. Please?

And I'll share this cake! I found the original recipe at The Noshery and I instantly fell in love. It's yummy. It's nutty. It's crunchy and sweet. It's pumpkin and sugar and  butter and delicious spices! And share some holiday secret recipes with me pleeeeaaseeee.

Soundtrack:


  Your Floor Is Now A Tree by AIMES

Pumpkin Cake with Walnut Crunch Topping
Adapted from The Noshery

3/4 c of brown sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter, divided
3/4 c chopped walnuts
1 2/3 c ap flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs
1 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c warm (110 degrees) milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Place brown sugar in a 9 in round cake pan and spread around. In a small saucepan, melt 1 stick of butter over medium heat. Pour butter over sugar into cake pan and stir with a fork to combine until sugar is dissolved. (Reserve pan to the side for later use.) Press the walnuts into the cake pan, spreading into an even layer. Spray exposed sides of pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Sift the ap flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, salt, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl and set aside. 

Melt the remaining stick of butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Beat the remaining stick of butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs, milk and pumpkin together in a large bowl until combine, about 2-3 minutes. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, stirring with a spatula and scraping down sides until just combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in the pan before inverting the cake onto a cooling wrack and cooling completely.