Pumpkin Cake

This post is well overdue for Canadian Thanksgiving, but I figure it's perfect timing for the US, so I better get it out there! I first had the inspiration to bake this cake when I was surfing Pinterest and found this. What a perfect way to celebrate fall and Thanksgiving with a pumpkin inspired cake.

I didn't have any bundt pans, so knew I'd need to buy a couple. I lucked out when shopping around Homesense and found a perfect set of TWO pumpkin bundts designed for this exact purpose.

For the cake itself, I used the recipe on the Sugary Sweets site linked above, but I made a different filling and glaze.

These smelled amazing! To be honest though, they were way more gingerbread-y than pumpkin-y.

I also found the cakes really dense, which is maybe what all bundt cakes are like...? I don't have a lot of bundt cake experience...

Next time, I would use a different recipe and maybe adapt my favorite pumpkin loaf recipe for this instead. Ryan loved the cake as is, it just wasn't exactly what I expected. I definitely got the desired effect from the look though!!

The filling is a swiss meringue buttercream with mascarpone, and the glaze is a vanilla cinnamon. Both tasted amazing - recipes below!

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PUMPKIN BUNDT CAKE
Recipe here.

SWISS MERINGUE MASCARPONE BUTTERCREAM 

½ cup     egg whites (4oz)
 1 cup     granulated sugar (8oz)
 1 cup     butter (8oz) - room temperature
 1 sm.     tub mascaprone (8oz)
 1 tsp      vanilla extract

1. Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer.
2. Place bowl over a bain marie (hot water bath) and whisk until warm to the touch and all sugar has dissolved.
• I usually just stick my fingers in there and feel for grittiness.
3. Place bowl on mixer using the whisk attachment and whisk on medium for about 4mins.
4. Replace whisk with paddle attachment.
5. Slowly add your room temperature butter a tbsp at a time or so.
6. Add in mascarpone and extract. Mix until smooth.
• The frosting may look curdled at some point, just keep mixing it until smooth, it will get there!

CINNAMON GLAZE

    1 cup      icing sugar
    ½ tsp      ground cinnamon
    ½ tsp      vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp     milk or cream

1. Sift icing sugar and cinnamon.
2. Add vanilla extract and 1 tbsp cream. Whisk until combined.
3. Add more cream until you reach the desired consistency.