Kirst’s post yesterday about faking fall was so spot on. In case you’re new here (or have just forgotten), Kirst lives on a tropical island and I (Jord) live in the Middle East, so fall isn’t much of a “thing” either of us get to partake in. We totally compensate for the lack of changing leaves and crisp air by consuming massive amounts of pumpkin and cinnamon. We also get up at 3am, turn our AC on full blast and try to watch football games on our spotty internet…while eating pumpkin-y treats, of course.
On that note, I am so excited to share this cake with you today! A friend of mine shared this recipe with me and all I can say is- you. are. welcome. This cake is moist and dense and just delicious. We aren’t huge pumpkin pie people around here (just too many other good pies to include!) but this cake will definitely be making an appearance on our Thanksgiving dessert table. My friend makes this cake with a chocolate ganache, which is delicious, but I wanted to repeat the flavors in the cake and use another fall favorite, so I came up with this glaze. Y’all. Just make this glaze. It seriously tastes like Autumn on a cake.
Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients:
4 eggs, divided
3 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 cup apple cider glaze (recipe following)
fresh whipped cream
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a blender combine the egg yolks, oil and pumpkin until very smooth. In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients. Add the puree mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well until completely combined. Beat the eggs whites in a mixer until soft peaks form and then fold them gently into the rest of the cake. Butter the bottom and sides of a bundt pan and dust with flour. Pour the cake mixture into the the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean). Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in the pan 15-20 minutes, until the cake pulls away from the edges of the pan. Flip the cake onto a plate or stand and, while still warm, drizzle with the 1/4 cup glaze. Add another 1/4 cup glaze to the center hole on the cake and allow to soak into the cake.When the center glaze is almost soaked up, its ready eat. Serve the cake with an extra drizzle of the glaze, a dollop of fresh whipped cream and grate a bit of fresh nutmeg right onto the slice. Like I said; Autumn on a plate.
Apple Cider Glaze
Ingredients:
2 cups apple cider*
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg, cracked into large pieces
* NOT apple juice, which has usually been processed and contains extra sugar. Fresh apple cider shouldn’t have any added sugar. For this recipe, you can also make your own fresh apple juice if you have a juicer.
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer until the glaze has reduced by half (this took me about 30 minutes). Strain out the cinnamon and nutmeg and use the glaze on any cake (or pancakes!) to seriously up the yumminess!
