Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. The leaves change, school starts, the weather cools off, pumpkins ripen on the vine and cinnamon, nutmeg and sweaters are once again in fashion. Fall is the anticipatory time period before the holidays kick into full swing. It's the space between sweating and freezing and it's so full of beauty it makes me want to sing through the hills.

The other thing it makes me want to do is make pumpkin flavored food. Last year I made my own pumpkin puree and froze it in zip-lock bags. It wasn't hard and since canned pumpkin has gone up in price (like everything else at the grocery store) it saved me a lot of money for my baking. Since I'm the only one I know who does that, I figured this recipe for Pumpkin Bundt Cake with canned pumpkin. I know you're going to love it and since your family will too, you'd better stock up on pumpkin!

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Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Serves 10-16

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 stick of butter at room temperature

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

Cream cheese frosting

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease and flour a large bundt cake pan or two small bundt cake pans. (I divided mine into two because I intended to freeze one for Sunday dinner - didn't happen.)

3. In a stand mixer, combine the sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between.

4. Add the vanilla and the pumpkin and mix well.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 

6. In a small cup, combine the milk and melted butter. 

7. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the pumpkin. 

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s).

9. If baking one large bunt cake, bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. If baking two smaller pans, bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 

10. Allow cake(s) to cool for ten minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to finish cooling. 

11. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting. (Just heat the frosting in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to loosen enough to make a drizzle.) Then sprinkle with nuts if desired.

If you're thinking that's all frosting, you're gonna be disappointed...

Pretty, isn't it?

I do like a good 'n fluffy frosting. This one was perfect. Actually, the reason I decided to share this post was not because of the fluffy frosting. It was because this was the perfect sized cake for my family of 6 (yeah I said it - 6!) to have for dessert and not have leftovers. 

How can this be?

It can be, be-cause it is only one layer. The layer does pop up in the middle. However, I was not going to stack it so I left the pop and frosted it well. My kids were so disappointed to learn that there was only 1/4 inch of frosting all the way around. Hubby, on the other hand, was quite relieved. He doesn't like frosting as much as a normal person should. In fact, (Gulp) he prefers his cake frosting-free. (He's a freak. I know. If I had known that when I married him...)

So here's the recipe. I hope you enjoy.

One Layer Cake

What you'll need:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

4 tablespoons of butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease a 8" round pan

Throw everything into a bowl and mix it up. (Really, you should probably combine the dry ingredients and then the wet and then mix them together. But I threw it in and it worked just fine.)

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean; about 17-25 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Frost with your favorite frosting. I used a whipped cream/powdered sugar/vanilla combo. Decorate as you like. 

Topping it off

Three tips to wonderful cake.

1. If you are baking a cake mix, add 1/2-3/4 cup of pudding. The flavor could be any you choose. Here are a few combos I like:

1. White cake mix/white chocolate pudding
2. German chocolate cake mix/chocolate pudding
3. Dark chocolate cake mix/cheesecake pudding
4. Fudge chocolate with chocolate chip cake mix/vanilla pudding (this is the combo I used in the cake pictured)

2. Use a cake syrup to keep your cake moist longer or to add another layer of flavoring

1. Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup water. Warm over medium heat until the sugar dissolves - do not boil. 
2. Add 1 tsp flavoring (I used coconut in the dark chocolate cake - so good). 
3. Brush over cooled cake before frosting. 
4. The taste of the syrup is more pronounced the second day. I like to make my cakes 24 hours in advance so the flavors have time to mellow together.

3. Presentation. Presentation. Presentation

1. If you are going to go to all the work to make a cake taste good - you should take the extra steps to make it look good too. 
2. Cut off the tops of your layers. This evens out the cake and helps to keep it level when you stack.
3. Use the parts you cut off to decorate the sides. Crumble the tops to small pieces, frost the sides of the cake. While frosting is still moist, press the crumbs into the sides. It looks so professional and it's soooooo easy.

4. I like to do swirls or some other decoration on the top of the cake. But if you want to do random peaks that works as well. The important thing is to not skimp on the frosting. It's always better to have too much than too little.

Hope this helps in your decorating! Now, I'm going to go eat cake.