Pumpkin Spice Cake
Today is National Pumpkin Day and I am celebrating with Pumpkin Spice Cake, a favorite recipe from my days as Food Editor for the Orlando Sentinel. (Today the test kitchen and your food news is in the very capable hands of the talented Lauren Delgado.) I like this recipe because it serves two purposes: Party centerpiece and dessert. Simply bake two bundt cake using batter from two from-scratch cake recipes or use spice-cake box mixes. When cakes are cooled, invert one onto a platter (curved side down). Cover the flat surface with orange-tinted, cream cheese flavored icing. Place the second cake on top with the flat side down. Continue frosting as desired. For a quick stem, fashion marzipan into the desired shape, or, easier yet, cover a flat-bottomed ice cream cone with brown-tinted icing and position in the center of the tip of the cake. The end result is gorgeous and delicious.
Pumpkin Spice Cake
Yield: 10-12 servings
Cake:
16 ounces solid-packed pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Frosting (see note):
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
Zest of 1 orange
Garnish:
Candy corn
Marzipan decorations (see note)
1. Generously grease a 10-cup bundt pan. Heat oven to 350F.
2. Put pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs in mixing bowl. Beat until well-blended.
3. Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cloves.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, beating slowly. Mix just until blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until metal skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake on cake rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Completely cool cake on rack.
5. In small bowl beat frosting ingredients until smooth with electric mixer. Add a little more orange juice if frosting is too stiff.
6. When cake is just slightly warm, spoon frosting over top of cake, allowing it to run down the cake’s sides. If you wish, sprinkle strips of orange zest on the icing as a garnish. Use a zester to remove long strips of zest from the orange.
Recipe note: Double frosting ingredients if you like a thicker coating of icing.
How to make marzipan pumpkins: Tint a medium piece of marzipan with orange food coloring. Shape marzipan into small balls and shape into pumpkins. Shape a medium piece of brown marzipan into a pumpkin stem.
How to make marzipan acorns: Tint a piece of marzipan with a small amount of brown food coloring. Divide into two pieces and add more food coloring to one of the pieces. Shape the light brown piece of marzipan into a small oval making one end pointed. Use the dark brown piece of marzipan to form the acorn cap. Place the cap over the oval end of the light brown piece of marzipan. Add texture to the acorn cap by cutting “V’s” into it with a small sharp knife.
How to make the marzipan leaves and stems: Tint small pieces of marzipan with orange, yellow, green and brown food coloring. Roll out the small pieces of tinted marzipan, dusting the surfaces with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Cut with a small leaf-shaped cookie cutter or cut leaf shapes using a paper stencil.
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