Pumpkin Pie Crunch Cake — THE Dessert you have been looking for! (Part 1 of the “Busy Mom Approved” recipe series)
***THANKSGIVING DESSERT RECIPE ALERT***
Okay friends, I am going to blast a few recipes out over the next week. There will be very little commentary – not because they are not commentary worthy, but because this momma is full-up with life. These are TOO GOOD to them let slip away into my vault of recipes that never make there way to the light of the blog!
You know these recipes must good, or else there is NO way I would stop and share. Maybe they will help bring a little “slow-down” to your days – so ready or not, here they come!
I bet you are right there with me in the “little time to spare” category, so make a post-it reminder for yourself to follow along with my “Busy Mom Approved” series. These recipes have been a MAJOR hit in our home (both in ease of preparation and in taste) and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to pass them along to you.
I came across this dessert while having lunch in the city with David. I normally don’t add a dessert to my lunch but David ordered for me. So, I suppose he is to thank for this! With the first bite, I knew. This recipe would be mine. After a short conversation about how delicious this pumpkin dessert was, the kind owner of the restaurant generously (and somewhat hesitantly) shared the recipe.
I made a few little tweaks; the 2 biggest being the addition of an oat streusel topping and using my homemade cake mix in place of the box mix. I also used 1 cup of packed brown sugar & ½ cup of powdered sugar in place of the granulated sugar ((I ran out of regular sugar!!! Major problem.)).
The pumpkin custard was simple to make – and subtly seasoned with fresh grated ginger and vanilla.
Pour the custard into a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and top with 3 c of the pre-made homemade cake mix. *I poked the cake mix into the custard, using a “poke-cake” method.
Top with one stick of melted butter ((try to get your butter to spread out more evenly than mine did)).
Mix up the simple oat streusel.
Spread the streusel out evenly and bake – a long time ((85 minutes at 350°)).
SO VERY good. Thick pumpkin custard topped with a yummy homemade cake and crisp streusel — perfection. Absolute perfection.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed.
- 2 15 oz cans of pumpkin puree
- 1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 t salt
- 2 t ground cinnamon
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1/2 c powdered sugar
- 3 cups pre-made cake mix*
- 1 stick butter, melted (I prefer salted)
- 1/2 c quick cooking oats
- 1/2 c packed brown sugar
- 1/4 t salt
- 1/2 stick butter, softened
- 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 3 c heavy whipping cream
- 4-5 T powdered or granulated sugar
- 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin pie filling ingredients, stirring until smooth. Pour the pie filling into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top of the pie filling. Using the handle end of a wooden spoon, poke the cake mix into the pie filling (about 20 pokes should do it)**. Pour melted butter over the cake mix. Try to spread the melted butter out as evenly as possible.
- In a medium bowl, combine streusel ingredients. Mixing by hand to get the most even blend. Be sure to leave the streusel topping in big crumbles. Sprinkle the streusel over the cake and place the baking dish on the parchment lined baking sheet. Place a stand mixer mixing bowl and the whisk attachment into the fridge to chill before making the whipped cream***.
- Place the cake into the preheated oven and bake for 80-85 minutes, until the center is set.
- While the Pumpkin Pie Crunch Cake is cooling, remove the chilled mixing bowl and whisk attachemt from the fridge. Pour the cream into the chilled bowl, add sugar & cinnamon, whip on high for approximately 2 minutes, or until the desired consistency in obtained. Be careful not to beat too long or you will have sweetened butter instead of cream.
- Serve a dollop of cinnamon sugar whipped cream over the pumpkin pie crunch cake.
- Serves 12
- * See links in the post of this blog for my simple 4 ingredient cake mix, or substitute a box of yellow cake mix.
- ** This "poking" draws some of the cake mix into the filling and results in some areas of moist pumpkin-like cake.
- ***This step helps with making the perfect whipped cream.