The Original Pumpkin Crunch Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I first made My Pumpkin Crunch Cake back in the fall of 1999 for Lisa and my engagement party and it’s been a holiday standard ever since. When I first started blogging back in 2009, I had no idea where this delicious journey would take me and it was in the fall of 2010 when I first shared this magnificent cake with all my friends that follow my blog.

This cake has been a huge success on the internet being made by countless bloggers and home cooks who have shared the deliciousness around the world, and as always I’m very happy to see it shared. So I thought I would republish my Pumpkin Crunch Cake for all the friends and followers I’ve made since I first shared it on my blog…. I hope you enjoy it!

(Revised: first published Oct 2010)

It’s definitely that pumpkin time of year, everywhere I look I see my friends creating all of these wonderful Pumpkin treats, and the skies the limit!

I am so proud to be part of this wonderful online community with so many creative, talented people sharing their recipes with us, and just when I thought I had seen it all, someone surprises me!! Life is good when you can learn something new every day!

So, my friends that being said, I would like to share with you a cake that is sure to please. I have been making this since my restaurant days many years ago when I became the reluctant baker at a restaurant I worked at.

It is adapted from my first baking book, Good Housekeeping Illustrated (it had pictures…lol). Whenever I make it, it becomes everyone’s instant favorite, I get requests for whole cakes, recipes, and even marriage proposals…lol….yes it’s just that good! So when you try it at home, be prepared to wow your family and friends!

The Great Pumpkin Crunch cake fits in perfectly from October till December, after that you’ll just have to think of an excuse to make it, but whatever you do, just make it!!

Now I always make this cake with 4 layers, it just looks spectacular with 4 layers, but feel free to cut it down to 3 layers. I also varied my normal cream cheese frosting by adding in some Mascarpone Cheese, you can use all cream cheese if you like.

To cut this cake, I would advise using a serrated knife, the crunch topping is a little hard to cut through. I also make extra crunch topping to decorate the sides and tops with, to me, it covers up all my imperfections but feel free to leave it plain.

My preferred cake pan for all my baking is the 9-inch USA Pan Bakeware Cake Pan.

An Off-set Spatula is also one of my favorite kitchen tools for baking. You’ll thank me every time you use it!

More Recipes You’ll Love!

• Best Tiramisu Recipe
• Classic Pumpkin Roll
• Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Bee Sting Cake

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5 from 19 votes

Great Pumpkin Crunch Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

What better way to celebrate the season than with my Pumpkin Crunch Cake! It will definitely bring smiles to your table and soon become your new family fall tradition.

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time25 mins

Total Time1 hr 10 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dessert, pumpkin cake, pumpkin crunch cake

Servings: 20

Calories: 942kcal

Author: Chef Dennis Littley

Ingredients

Crunch Topping

• 3 cups walnuts finely chopped
• 3 cups vanilla wafers about 75 cookies
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 8 oz butter

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 oz butter softened
• 16 oz can solid pack pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 1/4 Teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 24 oz cream cheese
• 16 oz mascarpone
• 8 oz softened butter
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Crunch Topping

• Melt Butter
• In a food processor, pulse cookies to a fine crumb
• Then Pulse walnuts to a fine chop
• Add in Brown Sugar and mix well.
• Add in Melted Butter and blend together.
• Divide mixture into 4  9-inch round Cake Pans, pressing into bottom and spreading it evenly into the cake pans. Reserve about 2 cups of the mixture which will be baked to use on the sides of the cake.
• Set pans aside and begin cake.
• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

• In your mixer beat sugar and butter for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl frequently.
• Add-In Pumpkin and all the rest of the ingredients, except the eggs. Mix just until blended.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time just until blended.
• Divide batter equally into your 4 prepared (greased and floured) cake pans, smooth it out and make it as even as possible in the pan.
• Bake the reserved crunch mix for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees F. Or until it crisps up a bit. Don't let it burn!

  Allow to cool before adding to the sides and top of the cake.
• Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you use 2 racks to bake on in the oven, at the halfway mark rotate the pans Allow pans to cool about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks and allow to completely cool.
• break up the extra crunch mix to very small bits to use to decorate the cake with.
• While your cakes are baking prepare a Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• Whip the cream cheese, mascarpone, and butter till very smooth and creamy
• Slowly add in the confectioner's sugar while the mixer is on low setting
• Add in vanilla and mix well. Set aside till needed.

Assembly

• After your cake is completely cooled ( you can even refrigerate for a few hours) begin frosting the layers and putting the cake together.
• After you have assembled all the layers with some frosting between them, start to spread the remaining frosting on the sides and top.
• When finished frosting, coat sides and top with your extra crunch mixture ( you can eliminate this step).

Notes

*You can substitute cream cheese for the Mascarpone, I don’t always have it on hand. You may want to increase the butter a bit cutting that amount from the cream cheese. If you have a favorite cream cheese frosting recipe, use that!

*feel free to eliminate the extra frosting on the sides of the cake and the additional crunch topping on the sides, the original cake was served simply with only whipped cream between the layers.

**I always use standard size 9 inch round cake pans. You can use other size pans but your cooking times will need to be adjusted

****If your cake sticks to the bottom of the pan, place it on a burner of your stove for about 15 seconds, the heat will help release the cake from the pan. This process works for all cakes. Just be careful and judge how hot and evenly your stove top heats the pan.
After heating place a plate on top of the pan, and invert quickly. Tap the pan with the heel of a knife to help release the cake.

Nutrition

Calories: 942kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 63g | Saturated Fat: 31g | Cholesterol: 170mg | Sodium: 540mg | Potassium: 323mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 64g | Vitamin A: 5148IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 2mg