Pumpkin Streusel Cake

Who loves pumpkin? Y'all do!

How do I know this? Because every other blog post and tweet is about some pumpkin dessert, pumpkin savory side, pumpkin latte, or pumpkin beer. I guess it is Autumn, the most pumpkin-iest time of the year, but I'll confess that I'm not as passionate about pumpkin as y'all are. I don't hate it, and I'll eat an entire pumpkin pie gladly, but pumpkin desserts in particular are not my first choice.

So why am I making a pumpkin struesel cake? Because I'm eating down my pantry, and there was a can of pumpkin puree in there from, I guess, last year when Autumnal pressures made me buy it, and, then, I was not compelled to use it. Plus, I know y'all love pumpkin, and not every post has to be about what I like. And, it's about time I posted a vegan dessert recipe. And, I wanted to use Sweetzels Spiced Wafers in a recipe.
Sweetzels is a Philadelphia food institution that you'd never know about unless you live in the area. These crisp and thick spiced cookies baked in Skippack, PA, are only rolled out seasonally in surrounding area stores, but recently have made a push into the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. They're really no different than other mass produced gingersnaps, save for a few extra spices in the mix, but they're locally iconic, and I'm embracing the local foodways.
Pumpkin Streusel Cake
adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
makes 16 servings

This vegan streusel cake bakes up very moist. Skip the streusel top, if you'd like something more pumpkin bread-like. And, make a standard spiced struesel topping, if you don't have gingersnaps.

Streusel

7 gingersnaps, broken into pieces
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

• Pulse gingersnaps in a food processor until a flour-like consistency.
  
• Mix pulsed gingersnaps and brown sugar together in a bowl. Sprinkle with canola oil, and mix until combined. Add pecans and mix

Cake

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
3/4 cup soy milk
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons light molasses (I used sorghum)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

• Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  
• In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, soy, milk, oil, sugar, molasses and vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking poser, salt, and spices.
• Adding half of the flour mixture at a time to the pumpkin mixture, gently mix the ingredients by hand, avoiding over mixing.
• Pour batter into the prepared baking pan. Top evenly with the streusel mixture.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes until done, or a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.