October 18, 2011

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Pumpkin cake is good. I mean, it’s really good. Really, really good.

For as long as I can remember, my mom has always hosted Thanksgiving at our house, for the entire family.

I don’t have a small family.

My mom is one of seven kids, and there have been times when every single sibling showed up, their kids and grandkids in tow. There are oftentimes fifty or more people, and no matter the year, no matter our age, we always tell the same old stories. The trips we took together to Myrtle Beach as kids. The way my cousin Steve always changed the rules to whatever game we happened to be playing, just to ensure his win. The Black Friday shopping trips we used to embark upon in the era before the internet, when the malls still opened at a decent 7 am, but we didn’t hit them until we’d eaten breakfast, of course.

Mom always makes a pumpkin cake for this family-filled meal. I secretly (or maybe not so secretly) hope no one else will see it ~~where I hide it back in the corner~~, behind my Aunt Sylvia’s German chocolate cake and Sue’s banana pudding.

I want it all for myself.

It’s moist and rich and tastes of fall and childhood, full of cream cheese icing and memories.

It tastes like home.

But enough about me. You came here for an actual cake, not me getting all weepy over family Thanksgiving. So I shall deliver. pumpkin-bundt-3

Last week I decided to make a bundt cake, seeing as how I own a brand new bundt cake pan and have never made an actual bundt cake. Sure, I make cake all the time, and by all the time, I do mean all the time. But bundt cakes tend to turn me off, in their absence of frosting.

What’s a cake without frosting? It may as well be a breakfast food. It’s like a cupcake without icing is basically a muffin. Why have cake without frosting??

Seems kind of cruel and unusual to me.

So, I remedied this icingless bundt cake quandry by baking the frosting right into the center of the cake.

pumpkin-bundt-1 pumpkin-cake-bundt-1

Oh yeah, you read that right. There’s a river of cream cheese goodness baked into the cake, tangy and rich – so you’ll never miss the frosting. Sure, you can do as I did and add a caramel glaze and chocolate ganache to the top, but you don’t have to. It sure makes it pretty though!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Rating: 5

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Yield: 15 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 tablespoons softened butter
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
15 ounces pumpkin puree
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a bundt pan and set aside.
in a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. Set aside. This is your cream cheese ribbon filling.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the pumpkin, buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating one minute after each addition. Add in about 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of the pumpkin mixture, then repeat with another 1/3 of the remaining dry, then wet, until finally ending with the dry. Do not overbeat.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Spoon in the cream cheese filling into the pan, as evenly as possible. Top with the remaining pumpkin batter.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto cooling rack. Top with caramel and chocolate ganache, if desired.

pumpkincakeslice

If you haven’t been here in a few days, be sure to scroll back to yesterday’s post – I’m giving away a great set of Le Creuset Mini Cocettes you won’t want to miss!

Have a great day!