Pumpkin-Apple Streusel Cake

My boss is a very lucky woman. When I heard it was her birthday over the weekend, I immediately volunteered to bake a cake. But what to make? My office mates have come to love a few things over the last year or so. But I wanted to do something new and special for her. She has been drinking pumpkin spiced coffee for the last several weeks (perhaps so much so that she is turning into a pumpkin?), so naturally I thought, let's try something new.

I found this recipe highly recommended on Epicurious, so I thought, sure, why not? I've got to say, this is a keeper. Everyone loved the cross between pie and cake, and it was so easy to make. It does take a while since you need to cook the apples, then assemble the cake, but if you have time on hand, it makes a wonderful day-of dessert to share. Ice cream would make a nice accompaniment, but not required.

A quick note - I actually only had a 10 inch springform pan, and that worked just fine. Maybe a few minutes less on the timer, but otherwise, easy to do.

Ingredients:
Apples
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups diced peeled cored Granny Smith apples (about 5 large)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake
11/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup (firmly packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs

Directions: 

For the apples:
Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
Add apples; sauté until apples begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and cinnamon and sauté until golden brown, about 3 minutes longer.
Cool.

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan or use a nonstick baking spray.

Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, and salt in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside 2/3 cup of mixture for topping. 

Beat pumpkin, sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, spice, and baking soda into remaining flour mixture, beating just until smooth. Beat in eggs. Transfer batter to pan. Scatter apples evenly over top. Sprinkle reserved topping over apples. 

Bake cake until topping is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. 

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides from cake. Transfer cake to platter. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) 

Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream. If you are making it a day ahead, it will be just as good too.

Enjoy!