Keeping It Simple’s Pumpkin Streusel Bread Review
Read my review of Keeping It Simple's Pumpkin Streusel Bread. Is it worth adding to your repertoire this baking season? Read on to find out.
Keeping It Simple’s Pumpkin Streusel Bread Review
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What Is This A Review Of?
This is my detailed and honest review of Pumpkin Streusel Bread by Melissa @ Keeping It Simple.com. (See image here). Melissa collates easy meals, desserts & drink recipes for her readers, with a mission to show that delicious meals can easily be made at home, regardless of skill level or access to special ingredients.
The recipe I picked is for a pumpkin bread, (a loaf cake to us UK readers), with a layer of streusel in the centre and on top, and is described as a “..Moist and delicious pumpkin streusel bread…”.1
Let’s try the recipe and see what we think!!
How My Reviews Work
Just before reviewing the recipe, I want to discuss my review process.
My reviews are always detailed & take into account how the recipe taste, but also several other factors, before determining a final rating out of 10.
Testing the recipe as if I was a beginner to baking, with no assumptions on how to do things & only guided by the recipe instructions, images & video (if applicable).
I also rate how the recipe is written, how it is presented, is there anything missing, as well as providing any recommendations I might have.
Imagery is very important for me in recipes. Far too many recipes have no image or just one of the final dish. Many are visual learners and in some instances the written word is not always enough to demonstrate batter consistency for example.
Tips are great, but placing them after the recipe can sometimes be redundant as so many people are in a hurry and just skip to the recipe & don’t read everything.
Taste plays a big part in the review rating too & is always based on at least 3 other people’s verdict, other than just my own.
My final rating is determined by looking at all areas reviewed & giving an overall score.
Reviewing The Process
We begin by preparing the streusel mixture, by mixing and processing the flour, cinnamon, butter & sugar.
My processor was playing up a bit that day & so had to use my hands. And so my streusel mixture was not of an even consistency, with some large chunks. But was sure it would be fine.
Next up is mixing the wet ingredients – creaming the butter and sugar, adding eggs & vanilla extract.
I added my homemade vanilla extract that is so easy to make. You can even make an alcohol-free vanilla extract.
I used the last of my frozen pumpkin puree for this recipe (that was actually made from butternut squash).
The dry ingredients are mixed, added to the wet mixture and finished off with warm milk that Melissa advises makes a difference & helps make the bread moist. And that is all there was to making the pumpkin bread batter.
The batter is to be added to a greased and paper-lined loaf tin. No mention of the size of the loaf pan. I think in the US you still get 1lb & 2lb size tins. (These are about 450-500g for the 1lb tin and 900g for the 2lb tin, ranging from 21-23cm (8.5-9 inches) long for the 2lb, for your reference).
After I made the batter, I decided to try the 2lb loaf tin & greased with Frylight cooking spray, & then paper lined in the cross-shape as shown in Photo collage 2. This is so easy to do & stops paper being baked into the cake at the corners. (See my paper-lining cake pans lesson).
Half the batter is added to the tin, then half the streusel & repeated once more. (See Photo collage 2, where the first half of batter & streusel have been added).
We were instructed to bake in an oven preheated to 350°f. No mention of Celsius or gas mark number. This equates to 180°c, 160°c fan oven & gas mark 4.
Baking in the centre to allow enough space for the pumpkin bread to rise nicely, and for about 50-55 minutes. Melissa advises on checking sooner and that a cocktail stick with a few crumbs is fine.
Once cooled and removed from the loaf tin, it is sliced & enjoyed.
The recipe yield was for 8 slices, however, I got 12 decent thickness slices out of this pumpkin bread. 8 I think would be quick chunky slices.
12 slices reduced the calories too and makes it last that little bit longer.
It baked off nicely, with a good colour and rise.
Reviewing Wording & Imagery
The recipe instructions were simple and to the point.
Before the Recipe Card, (for those that don’t know, that’s an abbreviated version of the recipe), there is a breakdown of the recipe process, as well as some process images, for the main steps.
8 instruction images to be precise. This is a lot more than a lot of recipe sites and will always get extra brownie points in my book.
From my perspective as a teacher & mentor, images are not just for visual learners, but an important key to baking success. Especially so for beginner bakers.
How The Bread Looks
The pumpkin streusel bread did rise well, as expected and had a nice colour to it.
Talking of colour, my bread was not as vibrant a colour, and I think probably due to me using homemade puree, from butternut squash. I believe cans of pumpkin puree in the US, are made up of squash and pumpkins, giving it a more saturated and vibrant orange colour than my puree was.
Does not affect the taste or texture, so not something to worry about.
The cake is soft (and moist), but is relatively easy to slice.
Taste Test
So how did the pumpkin bread taste? It tasted really nice. The crunch of the streusel gives some added texture to the soft, moist cake. The streusel on top was a tiny bit too sweet for me at times. But probably just my taste. My husband has a much sweeter tooth and he liked it fine. And he is not always so easy to impress!
12 slices were all gone by day 3 so I think that says it all. Would love to try without the streusel or with some extras added.
Would I make them again?
Yes, I would make this pumpkin streusel bread again, for sure. Easy to make & tastes good.
Accuracy
How accurate was the recipe? Well, as mentioned I got 12 regular sized slices, when the yield was listed as 8. But these must have been very generous, thick slices haha.
There were no measurement conversions, so no inaccuracies there.
The recipe card did have an automatic option to switch to metric measurements & upscale the recipe.
I always write my recipes in grams, ounces & cups, after using these during recipe development. But if you need some hand measured conversions, check out my table of conversions for most frequently used baking ingredients
Listed cooking and process times I feel were accurate and realistic.
My Alterations & Recommendations
Melissa suggested adding some more spices to the cake batter and I did just that. I added 1/2 tsp of ground ginger & 1/4 tsp of ground anise.
If you don’t have those, you could add 1/2 – 3/4 tsp of UK Mixed Spice, or US Pumpkin Spice. Some chai spice would be nice too, so will try that next time.
She also suggests some other extras to add, like chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts or dried cranberries, which all sound great.
Not really any other chnages, and only just to advise that 350°f is 180°c regular oven and 160°c for a fan oven, gas mark 4. And to use a 2lb loaf tin.
My Conclusions
Overall Rating
Taking everything into consideration mentioned above, how good it tasted & how quick it vanished, I am rating this recipe an 8.5/10. One of my highest ratings over the years. So one for you to try for sure.
(8.5/10)
Where To Find The Recipe
You can find Melissa’s recipe on her website Keeping It Simple.com, via the recipe link below, (or try her original Pumpkin Bread recipe).
More Quick bread/Loaf Cake Recipes:
Love an easy cake (quick loaf), baked in a loaf tin/pan? Then try my Madeira cake recipe. Classic Madeira, or add fresh cranberries & orange extract.
Love banana bread? Try my original banana bread recipe, or the tropical version with pineapple and coconut.
Fancy something more Autumnal feeling? try old fashioned British gingerbread cake.
(All images of the cakes are below, just click to jump to the recipe).
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Want some images to showcase the recipes you developed but feeling your own are not showing how great the food is?
Then let me take the stress from this and produce images that will make your food creation stand out and look great. The food really should be the star of the show and why having an impressive ‘hero shot’ makes such a difference to readers and getting your recipes seen.
Contact me by email – caro@easyonlinebakinglessons@gmail, or check out the Work With Me page.
Check out some other Autumnal recipes by clicking on the images below, or go to the Halloween & Autumn/Fall recipes page. Or jump to the Christmas recipe page.
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Caro x
Keeping It Simple’s Pumpkin Streusel Bread Review
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Reference:
- Recipe quote from Melissa @ Keeping It Simple.com/pumpkin struesel bread ↩︎
