Pumpkin Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS
1¼ cups sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (15 oz). can pumpkin
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

Caramel Drizzle
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and sour cream. Add flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt and stir in to combine. Pour into a prepared bundt pan. (Use the spray that has flour in it, if you don't have any, grease and flour it yourself.)
Bake for approximately 50 minutes at 350 degrees F. Test it with a wooden pick to see if it comes out clean. Invert cake onto a cooling rack.
Caramel Drizzle
Heat milk and brown sugar in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from stove and add butter and vanilla. Cool for five minutes and drizzle over cooled cake.

from Chef-in-Training

Pumpkin Snack Mix

Ingredients

• 3 quarts popped popcorn

• 4 cups Cheerios

• 4 cups Corn or Rice Chex

• 2 cups salted peanuts

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 3/4 cup light corn syrup

• 1/4 cup butter, cubed

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

         1 package (16 oz.) candy pumpkins (or candy corn)
• 
  

  Directions

  1. In a large greased roasting pan, combine the popcorn, cereal and peanuts. In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter; bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat; quickly stir in vanilla and baking soda until mixture is light and foamy.
  2. Immediately pour over popcorn mixture; toss to coat. Bake, uncovered, at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Stir in candy pumpkins. Cool completely. Yield: about 5-1/2 quarts.
  
  
  

Pumpkin Snack Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
6 tablespoons water
1 1/8 cups cake flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup molasses

Cinnamon Maple Icing Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (not powdered sugar)
1 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
Toasted Pecans*
*To toast pecans, bake at 350 degrees F for 5-7 minutes, tossing regularly, until fragrant. Allow to cool completely.

Directions:
Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare an 8-inch square baking pan (I brush the pan with Wilton’s Cake Release and place a square of greased parchment in the bottom to ensure the cake will come out clean.) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the butter and water to a boil. In the meantime, in a separate large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves before mixing in the egg, sour cream, pumpkin, and molasses. While mixing, slowly pour in the boiling butter and water mixture. Mix to combine completely. Your batter will be very runny. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool for about 10 minutes before gently poking holes in the cake with a fork. Sprinkle the rum over the top of the cake evenly and allow the cake to cool completely.

Make the frosting: Immediately after leaving your cake to cool, start your frosting, since it will need cooling time as well. Heat the milk, flour, cinnamon, and granulated sugar together over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it starts to boil, continue whisking and heating it for around 4-5 minutes or until it’s very thick, like cake batter consistency. Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup. Remove the mixture to a shallow pan and let it cool completely (it’s very important that it’s completely cool, or your frosting will be runny. I let the frosting mixture and the cake both cool for at least 2 hours.)

Once the mixture is cool, beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the cooled flour mixture and beat on high until you have fluffy frosting the consistency of stiff whipped cream (this takes several minutes, so be patient). Frost your completely cooled cake and top with toasted pecans. Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the fridge, but be sure to let it sit out for 30 minutes before serving so the frosting can soften.