Pumpkin Maple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Pumpkin Maple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

    Yes, this recipe sounds familiar (because we made the muffin version together a few weeks back, remember?)… but THIS.

    THIS.

    This is a cake (way more fun than a muffin) and it’s slathered with cream cheese frosting, so it’s a total muffin makeover.  (I often wonder how many things cream cheese frosting can go on, and I’m left with the answer of “pretty much everything”.  Maybe not so much on things like broccoli, but maybe in the right moment it could fly.  People put cheddar cheese on broccoli, so why not frosting?  Oh- imagine cheddar cheese frosting- there really could be a time and place for that… like how Little Goat Bakery makes a Cheez-It cake here in Chicago.  Really.)

    Back to the pumpkin cake, covered in frosting.  The maple cream liqueur (sub maple syrup for those of you not in the mood for booziness or for those of you who haven’t found maple cream liqueur yet, so sorry for you) takes this cake up several notches, and now I’m wishing I worked it into the frosting itself- something I will absolutely do for next time.  Better yet, I’ll make a maple cake and use maple frosting.  With maybe some maple praline.  We’ll see.  By the time I get around to it, it will be spring and I’ll want to focus on fruit.  Sigh… never enough Saturdays to make seasonal desserts.

    Adapted from my Pumpkin Maple Muffins recipe (which was originally from Food Network)…

    CAKE:

    2 cups light brown sugar, packed

    1 cup sugar

    1 cup vegetable oil

    4 eggs, lightly beaten

    16-oz. canned unsweetened pumpkin

    3 1/2 cups flour

    2 teaspoons salt

    2 teaspoons baking soda

    1 teaspoon baking powder

    1 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated!)

    1 teaspoon allspice

    1 teaspoon cinnamon

    1/2 teaspoon cloves

    1/3 cup milk, almond milk, or water

    1/3 cup maple cream liqueur or maple syrup, plus extra 1/2 cup for brushing after removed from oven

    FROSTING:

    1 8-ounce block of softened cream cheese (1 cup)

    1/2 cup softened butter

    1 teaspoon vanilla

    1 tablespoon maple liqueur (optional)

    3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (more or less, depending on how you prefer the consistency)

    1. Preheat oven to 350º, and grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan.
    2. In a large bowl, stir together sugar and oil.  Stir in eggs and pumpkin.
    3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour through cloves (all dry ingredients) together until combined.  Combine maple liqueur (or syrup) with milk.
    4. Blend dry ingredients and maple-milk into wet mixture, alternating (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients*).  Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 36 – 40 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.
    5. Using a wooden skewer, poke cake in about 50 spots and brush 1/2 cup of maple cream liqueur (or syrup) over hot cake.
    6. FROSTING: mix cream cheese, butter, and vanilla well, with beaters or a stand mixer.  Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth (scraping sides of bowl after each addition of sugar); add sugar until you have reached your desired spreading consistency.  Spread generously over the cooled cake :)

     Tips:

    • Fresh nutmeg really does make a difference, so please buy the nutmeg nut balls and grate on the rough side of your cheese grater.
    • Maple cream liqueur?  FIND IT.  DRINK IT OVER ICE.  BAKE WITH IT!
    • *Alternating ingredients?  Confusing, I know.  Stir in 1/3 of the dry into the pumpkin mixture, then 1/2 of the maple-milk, then another 1/3 of the dry, the remaining 1/2 of the maple-milk, then the remaining 1/3 of the dry.  The way you add the ingredients helps the structure of the batter.  Trust me, it’s worth it to do it.  I’d never make you do something pointless, would I?
    • This cake freezes well if you wrap them tightly… just thaw in the fridge and serve warm.
    • Enjoy!

     

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    December 3rd, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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