Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread with Crumb Topping

 

There’s a lot of pumpkin on the internet at the moment, so I decided that it was time I got in on the act.

Hopefully I will have a savoury pumpkin recipe for you next week, but in the meantime here is something sweet.

This recipe is adapted from this one over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, which I really wanted to make the moment I saw it because it looked a little different from all the other pumpkin recipes I’d come across so far (not that there is anything wrong with them, they all look delicious).

The swirly cream cheese layer not only adds a different element, but it also helps to keep the cake moist (along with the pumpkin and oil). The mixed spice gives it a gingerbread hint. It’s the perfect seasonal alternative to banana bread.

Slice it thickly and enjoy with a cup of tea on a blustery autumn day (there are plenty of those around at the moment).

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread with Crumb Topping

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Ingredients

• Crumb topping:

heaped ¼ cup gluten-free plain flour

¼ cup light brown sugar

28g butter, cold and cut into cubes

• Cream Cheese Filling:

113g cream cheese

¼ cup icing sugar

½ large egg

1 ½ tsp gluten-free plain flour

½ tsp vanilla extract

• Cake:

113ml rapeseed oil (or sunflower oil if you prefer)

1 cup caster sugar

1 ½ eggs

1 ½ cups gluten-free plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp mixed spice (or pumpkin spice)

226g pureed / mashed pumpkin

Method

1. Start with making the pureed pumpkin. Cut 226g into cubes and steam (either in a pan or the microwave) until tender. Mash using a fork or potato masher (or a hand held blender wand). Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 celsius / 350 fahrenheit. Grease and line a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan, or equivalent.
3. Make the crumb topping by adding all the ingredients into a bowl and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. Set aside.
4. Make the cream cheese filling by combining all the ingredients in a bowl and whisking until smooth.(When it comes to adding the egg, I found it easiest to beat both eggs together in a separate bowl and then pour roughly ¼ of the beaten eggs into the cream cheese mix.) Set aside.
5. To make the cake, combine the oil, sugar and eggs in a bowl and whisk until mixed. Add the cooled pumpkin puree and mix again. Add the dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
6. Pour roughly ⅔ of the batter into the prepared tin, then pour over the cream cheese filling, spreading it as evenly as possible to the corners. Top with the remaining cake batter, also spreading this as evenly as possible over the cream cheese layer. Because the mixture is quite runny, don’t worry if some of the cream cheese peeks through or if the mixture swirls together a bit. Sprinkle over the crumb topping (you may not need all of it).
7. Bake for 45 – 65 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from the tin.