I am thankful for: pumpkin spice cake with pumpkin bourbon ice cream

I apologize for the delay in blogging, life has been busy!  With Thanksgiving and my finals coming up, things have gotten a little behind. Nonetheless, I managed to squeak one new creation in, my pumpkin spice cake that I brought in to work for the Thanksgiving feast. This is a pretty technically difficult cake because of all the steps it requires.  With a little effort though, you will end up with a visually stunning dessert that tastes like Thanksgiving goodness on a plate.

My pumpkin with the pumpkin

Pumpkin spice cake with pumpkin bourbon ice cream

Topping

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup roasted nuts of your desire

sea salt

parchment paper for preparation

Cake

1 and 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

3/4 cup unsalted butter

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cardamom 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Frosting

1 package softened, light cream cheese*

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter*

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*completely softened, I leave mine out for a few hours (atleast 4)

Ice cream

http://www.bunkycooks.com/2010/11/pumpkin-ice-cream/

Recommended bourbon: maker's mark

I started this cake by making the topping.  It is roasted nuts (whatever you have in the house), topped with a caramel and some sea salt. 

Take one cup of granulated sugar and melt it slowly in a pan over low-medium heat.  Watch it carefully! There is nothing worse than spending all that time developing a beautiful caramel only to have it scorch. Don't stir it with a utensil. Your utensil will end up a clumpy mess and it will cause lumps in the caramel.  All you need to do is swirl it every 2-3 minutes to get the sugar melting.  

Watch it carefully.  That brown amber color along the edges is what you want

 finished caramel

Take one teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and pour it into the caramel.  It will hiss and sound very angry.  That's ok, this is normal!  :)  Take your roasted nuts of choice and place them on a piece of parchment paper so they don't stick.  Pour your lovely caramel all over them.  Sprinkle a little sea salt on top to give flavor and contrast.  That's it, let it hang out and harden while you prepare the rest of the cake.

To start the cake, begin with making the brown butter.  I know it sounds intimidating, but it really is easy.  Basically all you are doing is toasting the milk solids in the butter.  It creates a really delicious nutty complexity to the butter.  Take your 3/4 cup butter and place it in a sauce pan over medium low heat to let it melt.  Check on it every 2-3 minutes and swirl it around. 

Butter starting to brown

This took me around 8-10 minutes.  You are looking for a nutty golden brown color.  Once you have the color you want, take it off the heat and set aside in a bowl.

Finished brown butter

Thoroughly butter and flour two nine inch round cake pans and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Measure out your dry ingredients.  Make sure you are using dry measuring cups for the dry ingredients and wet ones for the wet ingredients.  I measure by "fluffing up" the flour, then leveling off with a knife.

Put the flour, baking soda, salt and spices into a sifter to get rid of any lumps.  

Place the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, brown butter and buttermilk into a separate large bowl and whisk until well combined.  Now we bring the wet and dry together!

Incorporate the wet into the dry in three batches. (1/3 of the dry mix into the wet, stir just to combine, repeat times two) You don't want to overwork the batter and develop the glutens in the flour.  Just mix until all the ingredients are combined.  Pour the batter evenly into your two pans.  Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean (About 25-28 minutes.)

Your cakes will come out like this:

Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely while you make the frosting.  The most important thing about the frosting is to use completely room temperature ingredients so you don't end up with lumps in your frosting.  I use my stand mixer, but you could certainly use a bowl and a whisk.  Place all ingredients into a stand mixer or bowl and beat until light in color and the sugar has dissolved.  Start out slow so you don't get confectioners sugar all over you!

Once the cake has completely cooled, you can frost it.  I wanted mine to look very rustic.  You could do it with cleaner lines as well.  I chopped up the nut/caramel topping and scattered it on top.  So beautiful!

To make the ice cream, all you need is a few simple ingredients and an ice cream maker. If you don't have one, ask for one for Christmas.  It is so fun to make your own  unique flavors of ice cream. Or just go to Morelli's gourmet ice cream and pick up some of their amazing ice cream to go. http://www.morellisicecream.com/

Enjoy!