Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing

One more pumpkin recipe for the Fall season, and another that I have not yet tried. Following the cake recipe are the recipes for the icing and candied walnuts. Enjoy!

Serves 8 to 10

* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
* 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup homemade Pumpkin Puree, or canned
* 1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) milk
* Brown Butter Icing
* Caramelized Walnut Halves

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment, and butter the parchment. Coat pan with flour, and tap out any excess.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, and beat until combined. Add pumpkin puree and milk; beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture; beat on low speed until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool. Let cake rest 20 minutes.
5. Unmold cake. Using an offset spatula, spread icing over top of cake, and decorate with caramelized walnut halves.


Brown Butter Frosting
Frosts 1 nine-inch cake

* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 to 2 tablespoons milk


Directions

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.
2. Add sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk; stir until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon milk, a little at a time, until consistency is spreadable. Let cool 5 minutes. Use immediately.


Caramelized Walnut Halves
Makes 10

* 1/2 cup sugar
* 10 well-shaped, large walnut halves

Directions

1. In a small skillet, melt sugar over medium-high heat until medium golden, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Working quickly, drop walnut halves, one at a time, into the melted sugar. If the sugar hardens, return skillet to low heat, and stir several minutes. Using a fork, turn walnuts until they are evenly coated. Transfer walnuts to a wire rack to cool completely. Use to decorate cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe can be used to frost cupcakes and cakes. It goes best with pumpkin, carrot, vanilla cakes. You can also add a few drops of food coloring if you want.

Makes about 2 cups

* 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I have not tried this recipe yet, but I probably will before Thanksgiving. I love pumpkin bread, so I am guess that this will be just the same. It is recommended that the cupcakes are frosted with cream cheese frosting...to follow.

Makes 18

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

New England Cranberry Duff

So I tried this recipe last night and it was so good. I have been looking for a recipe to use up the bag of frozen organic cranberries that have been sitting in my freezer; and this one was the winner! Due to comments on the Martha Stewart website, I doubled the batter recipe and left the fruit/nut measurements the same. I also added a pinch of orange zest to the mix.

Serves 6

* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, (1 stick), softened
* 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
* 1/3 cup pecans, toasted, coarsely chopped
* 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* pinch of orange zest (optional)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter bottom and halfway up sides of an 8-inch square glass baking dish using 2 tablespoons butter. Spread cranberries evenly over bottom of dish. Sprinkle pecans on top, then sprinkle with 1/3 cup sugar; set aside.
2. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat; set aside. Put egg and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until pale and thick, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium-low; gradually beat in flour, and then salt. Pour in melted butter in a slow, steady stream, beating until smooth.
3. Slowly pour batter into pan to cover cranberries. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge to loosen, and invert to unmold onto a serving platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.