In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon with a spoon.
Use your hands or a fork to work in the softened butter into the flour sugar mixture. Mix together until you can squeeze the crumb mixture together and it will stay formed in your hand.
Toss in chopped pecans.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside. If prepping the night before, you put the crumb topping in the fridge.
Pumpkin Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. I always use a metal or cast iron baking pan.
Mix granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with a whisk or an electric hand mixer.
Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger.
Combine the dry ingredients into the pumpkin batter using an electric hand mixer or a whisk until completely combined.
Pour the batter into prepared baking pan. Top with evenly with crumb topping.
Bake for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick when inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Carefully rotate the baking pan 190 degrees about half way through the baking process. This will help your cake bake more evenly.
Remove the cake from the oven and let cool on a baking rack. Let the cake cool for 45-60 minutes before cutting.
Remove the cake from baking pan and cut into squares.
Notes
Crumb Topping
Often times, I wear food safe gloves and use my hands for making crumb topping. Because your hands tend to be warm, it helps incorporate the butter into the flour and sugar better. You can adjust the cinnamon amount to your liking.Crumb topping can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for a few days or frozen for several weeks.
Pumpkin Cake
Use canned or fresh pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling.Carefully rotate the baking pan 190 degrees about half way through the baking process. This will help your cake bake more evenly. Be very careful not to bump the pan or your can potentially fall.