There are a few magical times I’ll make something and it’ll turn out exceptionally well, and I’ll promise myself that if I ever own a restaurant that it will be on the menu. I’m happy to report that this cake was one of those times! I found myself with extra sour cream after a turkey chili night we had on Sunday, as well as a can of pumpkin in the pantry. I was craving a fall dessert and maybe a mid-day cocktail, and thus this stunner was born.
I’ve heard the term “snacking cake” and I think it refers to a cake that’s not too sweet that you can eat at any time of the day. Obviously I’m in full support of this concept and I think, correction, I know that this falls into that category. How do I know? I’ve cut a tiny sliver off every hour or so just to make sure it’s still good. Does anyone else do that??
Anyway, the batter is made up of a ton of liquid ingredients (pumpkin, bourbon, sour cream) that give the cake an incredible dense and moist texture, which goes so well with the crunchy crumbly topping. It looks like a lot of ingredients, but don’t be put off, a lot of them are used in both the cake and the streusel and I promise it’s worth it! With no further ado, here she is:
Pumpkin Sour Cream Bourbon Cake with Pecan Streusel
Ingredients
Salted Pecan Streusel
- 1/4 cup brown or coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup pecans, chopped I used the Trader Joes candied pecans
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- big pinch salt
Pumpkin Cake
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup bourbon I used Four Roses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom Omit if you don't have it, it won't make or break this recipe
Instructions
Pecan Streusel
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well until the streusel is crumbly and the texture of wet sand. Set aside.
Pumpkin Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a baking dish, I used a 9×9 square pan, but feel free to use whatever you have available. These would also be fantastic muffins, just reduce the cooking time by half.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add in pumpkin, sour cream, bourbon, and vanilla extract and blend well.
- In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Gradually beat the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.
- Scrape batter into baking dish and top with streusel. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool for at least an hour, slice into 9 servings, and enjoy!