Are you a math person?
I’m a weird sort of non-math math person. I’m the type of person who can figure out completely convoluted math word problems quickly. But then, I’m sad to say, my basic math skills – like multiplication and division – are pretty lacking. Sigh. I have absolutely nothing to say for myself.
Mike is always confounded as to how my mind works. He’s the opposite of me, so I guess we complete each other, lol.
In high school, I remember just about every math teacher I ever had telling the class that we’d be using math nearly every day for the rest of our lives. Of course that was usually in response to a wise crack from some student complaining When are we ever going to use this in real life?!
Well, kids, I can tell you that if you want to have a food blog you’ll be using fractions, ratios, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division almost every time you cook.
For example, take this recipe. (Which by the way, bears noting that it tastes like autumn and smells like heaven.) I made this gorgeous Pumpkin New York-Style Crumb Cake in a 7 by 11-inch rectangular baking dish. It’s an odd size, I get that. Normally you’d see 9 by 13-inch or 8 by 8-inch, but this recipe just fit perfectly into a 7 by 11. And I knew someone would ask me if they can use a different size baking dish. (I totally don’t mind, so don’t feel bad about asking questions! But I like to be prepared if possible.) So I wanted to calculate the area of the baking dish and see what would be comparable before the question crept up.
For this size rectangular dish, the area is length multiplied by width, or 7 X 11 = 77 inches2.
Easy enough, but I knew that in order to find a comparably sized dish, I would need to look at circular dishes and I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to calculate the area of a circle. Enter Google…I found the equation and it all came flooding back to me. (Well, not really all, lol.)
For a circle, A = ∏r2.
Long story short and to spare you any math-related boredom, the closest size pan is a 10-inch round pan with an area of 78.5 inches2. So for this recipe, feel free to use a 7 by 11-inch rectangular baking dish or 10-inch round pan. Whatever works.
Note that this recipe should also work just fine either using an 8 by 8-inch square baking dish or a 9-inch round pan; but just a heads-up, you will most likely have to increase the baking time a bit to account for a slightly smaller pan being used. (If you try it in a different sized pan, let me know how it goes!)
And now about this cake. If you’re a fan of New York-Style Crumb Cake and you like seasonal flavors, this will be your new favorite. It’ll be your go-to when a friend wants to drop by for a quick chat…or when you need something sweet to bring to a party…or hey, maybe even just for a middle-of-the-week-I-made-it-to-Wednesday-treat. I won’t judge; some weeks that’s just the way it goes.
Serve it with coffee, tea, or steaming hot apple cider for maximum fall atmosphere.
P.S. If you’re into pumpkin treats, you might also like my recipe for Pumpkin & Cheese Spice Bread!
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅔ cup (135 g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1¾ cups (225 g) whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 10 tablespoons (145 g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) canola oil
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- ⅔ cup (160 g) pumpkin puree (homemade or canned)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups (160 g) whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- Butter, to grease the dish
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, for topping
- Preheat oven to 325F. Generously grease a 7 by 11-inch rectangular baking dish or 10-inch round pan with butter.
- Mix together all spices for the spice mix; set aside.
- For the topping, whisk together the brown sugar, flour, half the spice mix (or 1¾ teaspoon pre-made pumpkin pie spice mix), salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Use a fork to cut the butter into the mixture, then once the dough forms pieces the size of peas, use your hands to work it until it forms large wet crumbs. Set aside.
- For the cake batter, whisk together the oil, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and the remaining half of the spice mix (or 1¾ teaspoon pre-made pumpkin pie spice mix); be careful not to over-mix.
- Spread the batter out in the prepared pan and sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly moist with just a couple crumbs, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Cool completely, and then sift the powdered sugar on top of the cake.
Baking Time: Like the recipe says, be sure to take this cake out of the oven when a toothpick comes out slightly moist with a couple crumbs…once it cools, it is perfect like this and you don’t want it over-cooked!
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
I will be making this today. Have you ever frozen it? If it turns out as good as I think it will, I’d like to make several to freeze for later.
Katie, I haven’t froze this cake, but please let me know how it goes if you try it. I hope you enjoy it! :)
This cake look fabulous Faith…love the different layers…perfect for the season…
Thanks for the recipe. Have a wonderful week my dear :D
I’m SO not a math person! But girl, I SO know I would love this cake. Gorgeous!
Not sure I ever had Pumpkin Crumb Cake but now I really do. That is a weird sized pan. I have always been quick with mental math but I may need a calculator for this one with Pi.
Aloha Faith … this looks so yummy — can’t wait to give it a try!
Math is definitely not my strong suit either but I remember from Home Ec class many, many moons ago, being told we could use a 7×11 and 9×9 pan interchangeable because 7 + 11 and 9 + 9 both = 18. It always works … even if the math is off. 8-)
Mahalo for another great post! Mynda
Mynda, Thanks so much for the tip, that is really helpful! :)
Amazing photos and pumpkin is my favorite fall anything! Haha…I just finished up a term of Algebra, and this post brought me back to my class..I’m soooo not a math fan! Cheers~
I’m all over this! Such a gorgeous cake!
For someone who went to MIT, I have severely lacking math skills (definitely sometimes still add using my fingers to count!)…except when it comes to volume and weight measurements! But that’s all due to the blog. And to science research lol.
PUMPKIN. I am so excited for this coffee cake!!
Absolutely a delicious looking cake. all the crumb yumminess..
Absolutely love this cake, Faith! The crumb topping makes it!
sounds yummy!
What a great recipe!!! Can’t wait to make this!!! Looks and sounds amazing!!
This sounds like a delicious cake!! I am not too strong in the math area either!
Haha. I went to school for engineering, so I also can do rather crazy math..but basic? Its escaped me. This looks SO delicious. All that crumb deliciousness
so much crumb, so little stomach space. :)
I used to think the exact same thing – why are we doing all this algebra? I am so glad I am using those skills in recipes – who knew?
I am the least mathiest person in the universe, so bless you for taking the time for do the conversions for me. :) Because I need this cake in my life ASAP and I don’t want any math equations in my way!
Faith this sounds absolutely delicious with nice warm flavors. Beautiful!
I am NOT a math person. Usually I use my fingers for even basic math! But as far as cooking is concerned, I make do! :) This cake looks fantastic. I am excited to see all the pumpkin recipes coming out for the fall season. I am starting to get the itch to do some baking… I am not a big snacker so I don’t bake often but this time of year with all the delicious pumpkin-y stuff that comes out, how can you not!
A faulous cake! I am definitely going to try this recipe soon.
Cheers,
Rosa