Adventure #4: Pumpkin Coffee Cake

            For this week’s adventure, I had to fly solo because Garrett was out of town for the weekend. I was a little nervous about cooking by myself until I looked over the recipes we had already attempted and noticed that we had not made a dessert yet. I am a fairly decent baker, so I decided to play it safe and attempt to make pumpkin coffee cake, a perfect dessert for the fall season.

            I started adventure #4 by completing step 1, grocery shopping. For once, I was able to find everything on my list without a problem; I didn’t even have to ask an employee for help! My grocery list was fairly short and consisted of 1 can of pureed pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, 1 box of yellow cake mix, walnuts, and heavy whipping cream.  The full list of ingredients for pumpkin coffee cake is as follows

⅓ cups water

1 can pureed pumpkin (15 oz)
2 whole eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, divided
½ cups flour
⅓ cups walnuts, chopped (I used pecans)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cups heavy whipping cream
 

The fact that I already had many of the ingredients for pumpkin coffee cake may have given me an advantage, but I was proud that I successfully completed the first step in my solo mission. I left the grocery store feeling a great sense of achievement and was ready to conquer step 2, baking.

The recipe for pumpkin coffee cake was actually fun to follow! I began by mixing the first seven ingredients together in a large bowl and combining the next four ingredients in a smaller bowl. I poured the mixture from the large bowl into a pan and sprinkled the mixture from the smaller bowl on top. At this point, the cake was ready to bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350.

Making the cake batter and baking the cake were easy tasks, but they were not the final step in the recipe. With the remaining ingredients, I had to make a glaze to go over the cake once it was done baking. I was nervous for this step because I had never made a glaze before. I read the instructions several times and finally decided to attempt to make the glaze. Much to my surprise, I completed it successfully!  (Yay, me!)

Around this time, the oven timer sounded, signaling that the cake was done. I removed it from the oven, poked holes in it with a fork, and covered it with the glaze. A warm, pumpkin and brown sugar aroma filled the house. I was extremely proud because the cake looked nearly picture perfect. However, my real sense of achievement set in when Garrett returned and tasted the cake, giving it not only his approval, but eating two pieces!  

 

 

 

Overall, adventure #4 was a success! However, cooking without my culinary partner in crime was not the same. I’ll be happy to have him back for adventure #5! What should we make?!

 

 

The full recipe for pumpkin coffee cake can be found here http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2011/10/pumpkin-coffee-cake/