Pumpkin Crunch Cake

If I had a quarter two kronor for every time I heard someone say they don't like pumpkin pie because of the texture, I could afford to buy more canned pumpkin in Sweden.  And that would come in handy because I tried (and liked) a new recipe today.  This picture on Pinterest sucked me in.

Photo source

The crunch layer on top is what really takes it beyond custardy pumpkin pie.  It's not really a cake, but it gets its name from following a dump cake formula: pie filling, dry cake mix, and melted butter layered and baked.  Never mind that Sweden doesn't have Libby's pumpkin pie filling, evaporated milk, or pumpkin pie spice blend to make this dump cake truly easy, but once I found cake mix I couldn't wait to try it.  And today was my turn to bring fika food for Bible study.

Google helped me figure out the spice blend, and my friend Lorah has helpful things like allspice and a mortar & pestle.  I didn't realize allspice is not just a blend of spices, but something resembling peppercorns.  Google also told me I could substitute another type of dairy for evaporated milk, so I chose matlagningsgrädde (which translates to "cooking cream" and doesn't mean anything to me, but it's lower in fat than whipping cream--vispgrädde--so I guess it's like half-and-half in America).  It came out well and smacked of Thanksgiving, a little like pumpkin and pecan pie rolled into one.

Here is the original recipe, but I'm going to show you my Swede-lish version.

Ingredients:
1 box sockerkaka mix
1 precious 35-kronor can of pumpkin from specialty store across town
12 oz. matlagningsgrädde (15%)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
225 grams melted butter, y'all

Directions:
Preheat oven to 175C. Grease bottom of 9x13 pan. Combine pumpkin, cream, eggs, sugar, spices, and salt in bowl. Try not to spray pumpkin mixture on the tile backsplash because grout loves pumpkin. Try not to think about how easy it is to buy all those ingredients premixed in any grocery store back home. If needed you can refrigerate this overnight and pour it into the pan in the morning. (I didn't want my crunch to get soggy by baking this the day before my meeting). Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture, and be thankful that Sweden at least has cake mix. Sprinkle chopped nuts over the cake mix, and be thankful you don't have a nut allergy. Drizzle melted butter evenly over everything and invoke Paula Deen. Bake for 55 minutes or until top is turning golden brown. Place in the cement stairwell outside your tiny kitchen until it's cool enough to take on the bus without oven mitts, and pray nobody trips over it (or takes it) while it's cooling. Share leftovers with Lorah who didn't get to come to the study/fika today.