M: Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

How was everyone's weekend? Great, I hope. The hubs and I had a nice little Sunday. Most of the morning was spent hiking. We went to one of the many scenic hiking trails in Charleston for the first time and had a blast.

I love taking pictures of nature - trees, flowers, anything. Sunday was such a beautiful day!

I love this rustic bridge in the middle of the trail.

So I have just recently (FINALLY) invested some money into a bundt pan. I know, how is that possible? I can't believe I didn't own a bundt pan until now. I knew I wanted to make a pumpkin bundt of sorts, but couldn't decide what kind of glaze I wanted to pair with it. I didn't want to do the usual brown sugar or brown butter, I kept thinking "contrast"...So, what do I do? I call my mom...Isn't that what everyone does when they have a nagging cooking/baking question? LOL I certainly do.

Here's how the conversation went:

Mom: "Hey baby! How are you?"

Mandi: "I'm good, I'm baking a pumpkin bundt cake but I can't figure out what kind of glaze I want to make with it, I don't want to do the -"

Mom: "Do orange!"

Mandi: "Mom, you read my mind! Orange glaze it is"

I know, riveting...But man sometimes I feel like my mom can read me like a book.

I went searching for a fun looking pumpkin bundt cake and found this awesome one on Martha Stewart's website.

This cake turned out incredibly delicious! I loved all the mixes of the spices - lots of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg...Just perfect for a fall dessert!

I was actually glad I used cake flour because I think that made for a much lighter crumb - it made the cake super fluffy. If you don't have cake flour on hand I'm sure you can use all purpose and just sift it through a couple of times. (Or you can make your own cake flour: for every cup of all purpose, take out 2 TB of the AP flour, and add in 2 TB of cornstarch and sift very thoroughly!) And can we talk about the moistness factor? Perfect!

The orange glaze was really what made this cake pop! It was such a great compliment to all those yummy spices. I highly suggest if you want to make a glaze with this recipe, do an orange one!

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Orange Glaze

Bundt cake recipe from Martha Stewart

Cake Ingredients:

4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 TB ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

Glaze Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted

1 TB butter, softened

5 tsp. orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 14-cup bundt pan with baking spray (or you can do the whole butter and flour routine!).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and remaining spices.

Beat butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scrape down the sides when necessary. Reduce speed to low. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat until just incorporated. Add pumpkin and beat until combined. Pour batter into greased pan.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpic inserted in the center comes out clean. About 55 minutes. Let cook in the pan for a few minutes and then carefully turn the cake onto the rack to cool completely.

For the glaze, simply whisk together glaze ingredients until all sugar has dissolved. Pour onto the top of the cooled cake. I suggest drizzling while the cake is still slightly warm so it absorbs a little into the cake and runs down a little. If you want it to be more of a frosting, then add more sugar to make the glaze thicker and wait until the cake has completely cooled.

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't forget about our Jessica Seinfeld cookbook giveaway! Just go to Erica's previous post and follow the directions from there! Entries must be received by Thurs. (Nov. 18) at noon. The winners will be announced on Friday! Good luck!