Combining some of my favorite fall flavors, pumpkin, maple, apple, caramel, and walnut, this cake is truly an explosion of harvest goodness. Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg mingle to help create a perfectly balanced taste sensation. Finished with an apple caramel topping this cake certainly evokes the richness of the autumnal season.

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Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing & Apple Caramel Topping

Some of the best flavors of fall in one delicious, moist cake. There are a few steps to making this cake, but it is well worth the time!

Course Cakes, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Christoph

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix or homemade puréed pumpkin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature

Apple Caramel Topping

• 1/2 cup Boiled Cider Syrup, See Cook’s Notes
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into four pats

Maple Icing

• 1/2 cup maple sugar or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons milk, preferably whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Cake

• Heat your oven to 350° F. Prepare a bundt pan with oil or non-stick spray, then flour the pan. Tap out excess flour and set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the batter blade (or in a bowl with an electric mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, blending and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
• When the eggs are fully incorporated, blend in the pumpkin and vanilla. The batter may look a bit “curdly” at this point but it should. Don’t worry.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour with the rest of the dry ingredients. Add about 1/3 of the flour to the butter mixture and blend until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the buttermilk and blend in completely. Repeat with another 1/3 of the flour and blend. Finish mixing the batter by adding the final 1/2 of buttermilk, mixing, then adding the final 1/3 of flour.
• Spoon the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan, gently even out the top.
• Bake the cake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the thickest part of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly with your finger.
• Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto the rack to cool completely.
• Now while the cake is cooling, time to make the caramel.

Caramel Topping

• Bring the boiled cider syrup and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream and return to a boil.
• Boil for 2 more minutes then drop the heat to low. Add the butter one pat at a time, whisking it in until it’s fully incorporated. When all of the pats of butter have been added and incorporated, pour the hot caramel into a clean pint jar, reserving any excess for drizzling over the cake.
• Let cool completely. (The apple caramel will also make an excellent ice cream topping).

Maple Icing

• Bring the maple sugar, butter, and milk to a boil, whisking constantly. Boil for 1 minute, whisking constantly.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Gradually whisk in the powdered sugar. Continue whisking it gently until smooth, cooled slightly and thick, about 3-5 minutes.

Assemble

• Pour the still warm icing over the completely cooled cake. Allow to stand for about 5 minutes.
• Drizzle the cooled apple caramel over the cake.

Serve

• Spoon on a little more of the apple caramel and top with some toasted walnuts. I am quite sure that this dessert will become a fall favorite; I know it has become one of mine.
• Enjoy!

Notes

There are three different components to making this cake. Each brings a different level of flavor to the cake, and I highly recommend all three. This cake however would be good served with just the icing, omitting the caramel topping to save some time.

If you do not have a source for boiled cider syrup it is easy to make, it just requires additional time. You might want to make the cider syrup the day before you make the cake.

To make cider syrup, boil apple juice (not apple cider) over medium heat until reduced to a thick “syrup”. I boiled one-half gallon of juice for about 2½ hours to reduce it to less than a cup of syrup. As the juice reduces, lower the heat to a slow boil to prevent scorching.

The post Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing & Apple Caramel Topping first appeared on James & Everett.]]> https://jamesandeverett.com/2012/10/20/pumpkin-cake-with-maple-icing-apple-caramel-topping/feed/ 0 1442 https://jamesandeverett.com/2012/10/02/the-ultimate-carrot-cake/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ultimate-carrot-cake https://jamesandeverett.com/2012/10/02/the-ultimate-carrot-cake/#respond Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:30:00 +0000 https://jamesandeverett.com/?p=1409 Carrot cake would have to be my favorite cake, and this beauty is the King of them all. Made with fresh pineapple, raisins, apricots, and a pound of grated carrots, this is one moist, flavor full dessert. Topped with an orange zest cream cheese frosting, …

Carrot cake would have to be my favorite cake, and this beauty is the King of them all. Made with fresh pineapple, raisins, apricots, and a pound of grated carrots, this is one moist, flavor full dessert. Topped with an orange zest cream cheese frosting, these layers of love are the Ultimate fall treat.

So since I love fall, and carrot cake, and it just so happens to be my birthday, I decided to make this treat for myself. And of course me, being me, wanted to take this Ultimate cake to an even higher level. So I decided to add a little sugar art to dress it up for my celebration. I have to say I think it turned out quite well. Happy Birthday to me!

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Ultimate Carrot Cake

The king of all carrot cakes. Pineapple, raisins, and spices create an explosion of flavors in this moist, rich cake. Topped with a cream cheese frosting, this one is the bomb!

Course Cakes, Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Christoph

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 pound finely grated carrots
• ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup golden raisins, plumped
• ¼ cup dried apricots, plumped and diced
• ½ cup pistachios, chopped

Cream Cheese Frosting with Orange Zest

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 ounces 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange, plus 2 tablespoons of juice
• 3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar to taste

Instructions

Cake

• Heat oven to 350° F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by lightly coating with oil and lining the bottoms with parchment paper.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl. Set aside.
• Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla, and pineapple together in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
• Stir in the carrots, nuts, and plumped fruits just until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake on the center rack for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
• Cool cakes in their pans for at least 30 minutes before attempting to remove them. Then, remove from the pans and peel off the parchment paper. Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Frosting

• Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
• Add extract, juice, and zest and beat just until incorporated.
• Beat in sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting has the flavor and consistency you want. (You may not need to add all of the sugar).

Assemble

• Spread a layer of frosting over the top of one half of the cake. Place the second layer on top and spread with frosting. Sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts.

Notes

Recipe modified from The Essential Baker

 

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