The Original Pumpkin Crunch Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – My Holiday Tradition

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.

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

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My Pumpkin Crunch Cake is the original version that you see all over the internet. And believe me when I tell you it will be the best cake you’ve ever tasted! In fact, your family and friends will verify that statement when you serve it to them.

When I was asked to come up with a dish that was Holiday tradition in my homes, it was a no-brainer for me. One very special dessert came to mind,  a dessert that usually makes one or two appearances a year, depending upon the parties I host. But you can be guaranteed that sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas you’ll see this extra special cake. It’s also a cake I made for our engagement party the very first year Lisa and I were together.

Since I usually end up eating 75% of the cake by myself, it’s a good thing I don’t make it more often…sigh. Last year I did start distributing wedges of cake to the neighbors, which got me a marriage proposal in the process….luckily her husband took it in stride as did Lisa! So when you make this cake for your family and friends be prepared, and also have extra copies of the recipe on hand, because you’re going to need them! This cake is just that good!

Holiday’s can be a very special time, we have been blessed as food bloggers, not only do we have enough to eat, but we have enough to make dishes to blog about……not everyone is that fortunate, and although it should be in our thoughts the entire year, this time of year it needs to be at the top of our list.

Once your incredibly delicious Pumpkin Crunch Cake is finished, it should be allowed to chill for a few hours before cutting, it will help firm up this cake (When you do cut it make sure to use a serrated knife). So try to be patient.

If you like my Pumpkin Crunch Cake Recipe, you might also like these recipes:

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

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4.71 from 68 votes

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

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: American 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 ¼ cup sugar
• 6 oz softened butter
• 16 oz can solid pack pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ 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 prepared (greased and floured) cake pans - standard 9-inch rounds (One very full cup per pan), 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 Cake

• In your mixer beat sugar and butter for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl frequently.
• Add in the 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 cake pans, smooth it out and make it as even as possible in the pan.
• Place the remaining crunch mixture in another cake pan or pie dish and allow it to bake for the same amount of time as the cakes.
• Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 25-30 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 a wire rack 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

• 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.
• After your cake is completely cooled ( you can even refrigerate for a few hours) begin frosting the layers and putting the cake together.
• When 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*

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