plasticann: Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting

I recently made a Pumpkin Cake with Maple Brown Butter Glaze to bring to a baby shower for some college friends and it turned out great so I'm making a record for my blog since I'm definitely going to make it again sometime soon.

Because of scheduling, I couldn't make my potluck dessert the day before or the day of so I tried some make ahead ideas that turned out great. I had made doughnuts with maple glaze earlier in the week so I had all this delicious maple glaze leftover in the fridge. I baked a Pumpkin Cake using this popular allrecipes.com recipe, wrapped it up in lots of foil and layers of plastic grocery bags and froze the bundt cake. Then I pulled the cake out of the freezer the night before the party and drizzled the warm maple glaze on the cake when I arrived at my friends house. It was so easy and I got so many nice compliments, that I'm a little embarrassed.

Maple Brown Butter Glaze (make ahead, yields two cups or enough frosting for 2 bundt cakes)

3/4 stick butter
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup maple syrup

1. Melt butter in a small pan over medium heat and cook until butter browns, but don't burn the butter
2. Place powdered sugar in a stand mixer bowl, beat brown butter and vanilla into the sugar
3. On high, beat maple syrup into the mixture until the glaze is well mixed and a little fluffy
4. Use immediately or store in the fridge
5. Before you glaze the cake, just warm up the glaze in the microwave for 10-15 seconds or until the glaze is runny and then pour it over your cake. Glaze will set or firm up in about 30 seconds after you pour it on the cake

Melt butter on medium high and brown

Browned butter with little brown bits...should smell a little nutty, but not burned

Pour browned butter into powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Be sure to scrape in all those lovely brown butter bits

Pumpkin Cake (can also make ahead and freeze)

Wet Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1.25 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups or 1 can of pumpkin
4 eggs

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: add some other spices you like. I used 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Liberally spray Bundt pan with lots of oil+flour spray. Invest in the spray, it works like magic. Use it liberally, it'll make or break your Bundt cake
3. Sift dry ingredients
4. In a bowl, mix sugar and vegetable oil together well
5. Mix in vanilla and pumpkin
6. Blend in eggs until well mixed
7. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until cake is mixed
8. Pour batter into the Bundt pan (remember to spray it liberally with the oil+flour spray)
9. Place Bundt pan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet in case the pan overflows a little
10. Bake Bundt in oven for about 45 minutes. You'll want to check on the cake since every oven is different, but bake it until the cake is no longer raw and a toothpick comes out "clean-ish." Super goopy is raw, too clean is dry
11. Let cake cool in pan
12. Turn cake out onto a plate. It should slide right out if you remembered to use the oil+flour spray generously
13. Warm up 1 cup of maple glaze so it's a little runny. Just a little warm and pourable will do
14. Pour glaze over the top of the cake and let it flow down the sides of the cake
15. Eat it!

Note: Use the special oil+flour baking spray. Don't be cheap, don't skimp, just buy it for $3. You'll be glad when your cake slides out of the Bundt pan with ease. If you don't use the spray, your cake will probably be stuck in your pan and you'll be full of regret. Seriously, just buy the spray, it's worth the $3.