Pumpkin Streusel Cake: GLUTEN-FREE!

Back before I had to avoid gluten, I used to make a fabulous pumpkin streusel cake.  This year, I set out to create a gluten-free version of it.

I've made so many pumpkin cakes this month, I think we will go through withdrawal when I stop.  It is the most delicious breakfast, moist and nutty and fragrant with cinnamon.  The coconut flour in it makes it high-fiber as well!  So, I tell myself, this is healthy cake.  (Hmmmmm...)

Through my experimenting, I discovered three things:

First, there is a lot of leeway in this recipe.  I never had a failure.  Different versions had different benefits, but all of them were tasty.  We've eaten every last bite, happily.

Second, in the last version I made, I added cocoa and chocolate chips to the streusel filling . . . and I didn't care for it.  This surprised me.  I read an article about how adding cocoa powder to your food adds antioxidants and makes everything healthier.  I thought, Hey!  I could stick some into my next pumpkin cake!  Yum!  But, in my opinion, the cake is better with a mixture of pumpkin pie spices and no cocoa.  Although, we are enjoying this chocolate filled cake, too.  It will not go to waste.

(This is the version with chocolate filling.  

When it was warm, the filling collapsed, 

but after it cooled, there was no longer

a hole in the middle of the cake.)

Third, and pretty important, this cake improves with time.  It's a heavy, moist cake, and something about a night or two in the refrigerator blends the flavors and settles the texture into a luscious loveliness.  So, if you make it and eat a slice while it is still warm, and you think it's kind of ho-hum, let it finish cooling.  Put it into the refrigerator overnight. Then heat up a slice for 20 seconds in the microwave the next morning, and see if you don't change your mind.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Streusel Bundt Cake

1.  Prepare the streusel for the streusel filling:

• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans!)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of ginger
• 2 Tbsp. butter (or coconut oil)

Pulse in food processor until mixed to a streusel consistency.  Set aside.

2.  Grease the bundt pan:  This cannot be overemphasized.  Take your time and be sure to grease every last crevice.  Be generous with your grease.  It's so frustrating when a bundt gets stuck in the pan.  Settle in and grease the pan thoroughly; maybe listen to a podcast while you work.  I use hydrogenated vegetable oil.  Greasing finicky pans is the only thing that hydrogenated vegetable oil is good for.

3.  Start the cake:

Measure out your dry ingredients:

• 1 cup oat flour
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• (opt) 1/8 tsp. clove

Whisk together thoroughly to break up any lumps, especially in the coconut and almond flours.  Set aside.
In your large mixing bowl, place:

• 1 cup butter or coconut oil (softened)
• 2 cups sugar

Beat together until fluffy.  Add (one at a time):

• 5 eggs

Beat well after each addition.
Gently beat in:

• 1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin
• 1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
• 2 tsp. vanilla

4.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees!!!

Add the flour mixture to the mixture in the mixing bowl and beat together gently but thoroughly (since there is no gluten, you won't make it tough by overbeating, but you will knock the air out of the eggs if you overbeat, so still be cautious).

Spoon approximately half of the cake batter into your greased bundt pan, and spread up the sides, forming a valley.  Using a normal spoon ("teaspoon") from your normal silverware, spoon the streusel filling into the valley.  Spread the rest of the cake batter over the streusel filling.  The streusel should not touch the sides of the pan; the batter should touch the sides of the pan.

5.  Bake the cake:

Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes, until cake tests done with a toothpick.  Cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes.  Turn out and continue cooling.  You may not be able to resist having a slice while it is warm and fresh, but it will be better after it has spent a night in the refrigerator.  Because of the number of eggs, this cake really needs refrigeration.  You can dust it with powdered sugar or glaze it with a glaze made from apple cider and powdered sugar (approximately 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp. apple cider, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, tiny pinch of clove).