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Pumpkin Coffee Can Bread

By America's Test Kitchen

Published on November 7, 2011

Yield

Serves 24 (Makes three 5- by 3-inch loaves)

Pumpkin Coffee Can Bread

Ingredients

3 large eggs 1 (15 ounces/425 grams) can unsweetened pumpkin puree ¾ cup vegetable oil ½ cup water 2 ½ cups (12½ ounces/354 grams) flour 2 ¼ cups (15¾ ounces/447 grams) sugar 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 1 ¼ teaspoons salt ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup golden raisins ½ cup chopped walnuts

Before You Begin

Recipe creator Priscilla Potter of Westfield, Maine, says, "My mom got this recipe from her sister-in-law, and since it was a hit at a Halloween-themed party, it has been referred to as Witch's Nut Cake in our family." Folger's coffee cans were her can of choice, as others sometimes have a "lip" around the top that make it hard to remove the cakes.

Instructions

  1. Beat together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and water in large bowl. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon together in medium bowl. Whisk dry ingredients into egg mixture in three additions. Stir in raisins and walnuts and pour batter into three buttered and floured one-pound coffee cans. Bake at 350 until skewer or witch's broom inserted in bread comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese icing.
Pumpkin Coffee Can Bread

Pumpkin Coffee Can Bread

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By America's Test Kitchen
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Yield

Serves 24 (Makes three 5- by 3-inch loaves)

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1 (15 ounces/425 grams) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
2 ½ cups (12½ ounces/354 grams) flour
2 ¼ cups (15¾ ounces/447 grams) sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1 (15 ounces/425 grams) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
2 ½ cups (12½ ounces/354 grams) flour
2 ¼ cups (15¾ ounces/447 grams) sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1 (15 ounces/425 grams) can unsweetened pumpkin puree
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
2 ½ cups (12½ ounces/354 grams) flour
2 ¼ cups (15¾ ounces/447 grams) sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts

Why This Recipe Works

Pumpkin bread recipes are easy: Just stir together canned pumpkin, flour, sugar, eggs, oil, and spices; pour the batter into a pan and bake it. The cake should be moist and velvety, with just the right balance of pumpkin and spice, but the pumpkin cake recipes we tried made damp cakes with a harsh burn of spice. To avoid these pitfalls, we made the cake with packed pumpkin puree instead of canned pumpkin pie filling. The cake made with the puree actually tasted like pumpkin, which was one of the features we wanted for Pumpkin Coffee Can Bread. Using puree also allowed us to control the spices ourselves, and we opted to use just a bit of cinnamon, and nutmeg to give the cake a subtle spiciness. Walnuts and raisins add great texture to the cake and the use of a coffee can makes clean up a breeze.

Before You Begin

Recipe creator Priscilla Potter of Westfield, Maine, says, "My mom got this recipe from her sister-in-law, and since it was a hit at a Halloween-themed party, it has been referred to as Witch's Nut Cake in our family." Folger's coffee cans were her can of choice, as others sometimes have a "lip" around the top that make it hard to remove the cakes.

Instructions

  1. Beat together eggs, pumpkin, oil, and water in large bowl. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon together in medium bowl. Whisk dry ingredients into egg mixture in three additions. Stir in raisins and walnuts and pour batter into three buttered and floured one-pound coffee cans. Bake at 350 until skewer or witch's broom inserted in bread comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool and frost with cream cheese icing.

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