I've died and gone to pumpkin heaven...

Ohmygoodness is this good. I might even go as far to say that it's the best coffee cake I've ever had! That may be a lot of pressure for this recipe to withstand, but with the combination of caramel (which is made using heavy cream), streusel and cake (made using buttermilk, sour cream and pumpkin)...there really wasn't much chance for this to NOT be amazing! Thankfully I bring these creations to an office full of men, otherwise it would be incredibly hard for me to stay away from sneaking tiny pieces all throughout the day.

Funny side-note to this recipe...

I stopped by the grocery store after work to pick up a few ingredients and noticed that the entire shelf of canned pumpkin was empty. I was bummed that I had to stop at yet another grocery store, but just figured everyone was in the mood to do some fall baking and had beat me to the pumpkin supply. A little later in the evening I stopped by yet another grocery store, only to find the same thing. Hmm. I found an employee and asked if they had it in a special section that I was missing or if they were completely out. Apparently there is a shortage of pumpkin this year! The store manager informed me that Nicaragua is one of the largest suppliers of pumpkin, and due to last year's severe flooding, they lost the majority of their pumpkin supply and therefore the stock is very low and grocery stores are limited in their capabilities of stocking the shelves with pumpkin. SO, I started stopping by those random little grocery stores that no one ever seems to shop at...and lo & behold, I found pumpkin! So I did the only thing any person in search of pumpkin would do - I bought 3 large cans :). Shoot, it's September and I intend to do a lot more fall baking, so I want to make sure I'm stocked up and ready to go! So, just a head's up if you are craving a pumpkin pie...go grab your pumpkin now!

You can find the recipe to the Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Coffee Cake here. Let me know if you make it!