Sunday, November 26, 2006

Cake recipes to come…

First of all, a little late Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And Thanks for those who stopped by to wish us a happy holyday as well, you all are the reason I love this blogsphere!
It’s been a while since my last post, however I haven’t abandoned the kitchen, especially with the Thanksgiving and all the cooking and yummy food it involves.
This year we went to one of our best friends house, and we did have a great time there! I wish I had taken pictures of everybody and the delicious feast we had, but surely enough I did the favor of forgetting my camera… oh well, it happens to all of us!
We contributed with three dishes, a simple mixed leaf salad topped with apple slices and dried cranberries, cranberry compote, and a sweet potato casserole! All were very good and got me many compliments. The one my friend likes the most is the cranberry compote, and although I cannot show you pictures, I can certainly share the recipe here, just let me know!
Well, enough of that Thanksgiving talk, as I believe most people here in the US had its share of it, right?!
So, moving forward to the nice cake picture above. Well, I think it looks nice, but I have to tell you that it tasted even better than it looked!
Really, it was a very nice cake. Extremely moist and not as dense as I was expecting it to be, especially with the “pound cake” presented in the recipe title.
As I said, the cake part was delicious, full of yummy fall flavors and as moist as it could be, good, really good! And lets not forget the glaze, which as a great exception, I loved too!
I am not a fan of glazes, frostings, powdered sugar stuff on top of my cake, and you know, this cake might not even need a glaze at all, but this one was so good that I was glad I included it too, plus it did made the cake look prettier!
The glaze was simply made with buttermilk, sugar, cornstarch, and a tad of butter, which definitely made it taste smooth. It was sweet for my taste, but that is how glazes are supposed to be, right?
I really liked the tang provided by the buttermilk and it complemented the cake flavors really well, even more so because the cake was not overly sweet, so it was a very happy combination in between the two. And as a fellow baker who tried this recipe mentioned in the CLBB, this glaze was almost drinkable by itself! Yes, I found it to be that good, and will certainly use it in other recipes as well!
All in all, we had a nice week and a happy Thanksgiving!
And for the title of the post, it is just as it says; be prepared to see a few more cake recipes posted around here in the days to come. Our microwave broke and while we don’t replace it the husband doesn’t have a quick way to reheat his beloved muffins, so I have been baking muffins and cakes almost daily for breakfast, and we are eating it as snack too. They are healthy cakes, of course, and I have a couple recipes and pictures that accumulated to share here with you!
So, please come back, and in the meantime try this pumpkin cake, it was a delicious surprise to all of us, and to some friends that I took the cake to share with on a breakfast gathering. Everyone really enjoyed this one!
Ana

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze (Adapted from Cooking Light, Dec. 2006)
15 ounces pureed pumpkin
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (13 ½ ounces)
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon cloves)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
While you get your ingredients ready, put pumpkin puree in a fine sieve and lay it on top of a bowl to drain excess liquid.
With a mixer cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well blended. Add the drained pumpkin and vanilla and mix well. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, incorporate those ingredients and then alternately add the flour and the buttermilk, mix well until well blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, remove and let cool over a rack.
For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook it over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and drizzle over cake.

Editing to add: for the pumpkin pie spice, according to foodsubs you can make your own by combining "4 parts cinnamon + 2 parts ginger + 1 part allspice + 1 part nutmeg, all ground OR equal parts cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and cloves, all ground."

11 comments:

Valentina said...

Ana, this cake looks absolutely gorgeous. What ingredients are there in pumpking cake spice?

Karen said...

Parece tão bom!

Ana said...

Valentina, thanks!!
Quanto ao Pumpkin Pie Spices, according to www.foodsubs.com:
To make your own: Combine 4 parts cinnamon + 2 parts ginger + 1 part allspice + 1 part nutmeg, all ground OR equal parts cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and cloves, all ground.
Easy to make it at home!!

Karen, nao so parece, tava muito bom mesmo, foi um bolo q eu gostei bastante!

Ana

Anonymous said...

Ana, we have missed you around here!! It's so good you're back! Yay! :D

The cake looks fantastic. I'm not a fan of glazes, either, just like you, but this cake looks lovely with it!

Cinara said...

Voltou arrasando, hein, Ana? Que bolo mais lindo!!! Adorei a dica do glaze... Já está anotado. Beijos!

Akemi said...

Também fiquei com vontade! Parece delicioso, assim como os outros pratos que vc preparou para o Thanksgiving. Que linda comemoração, tomei conhecimento com vcs que moram nos EUA!

Ana said...

Patricia, how nice of you! I always miss posting on the blog too!!
I also liked the looks on this cake, especially with the glaze on top, and really, even though I prefer my cakes plain this glaze was worth it!!

Cinara, obrigada!!O glaze eh muito bom, eu adorei!

Akemi, fica mesmo delicioso! Sabe q lembrei de voce, e ate acredito q se usar leite de coco ao inves do buttermilk na massa deve ficar uma delicia! Sei q vc tbem gosta da combinacao abobora com coco, ne!!
O Thanksgiving eh bacana sim! Ainda mais q a gente come peru, q eu adoro! hehehe!

Ana

Elvira said...

Deve ter ficado uma delícia, esse bolinho! :-)

Anonymous said...

que boa ideia de usar leite de coco!!!
a bobora 'e espremida depois de cozida?

aguardo a sua resposta!
um abraco,
graziella

Ana said...

Graziella, eu cozinho e processo a abobora como pure. Depois eu meco a quantidade pedida na receita, coloco em uma peneira fina e deixo escorrer um pouco do excesso de agua (enquanto preparo os outros ingredientes).
Se vc fizer com leite de coco me avisa se ficou bom, acho q vai ficar otimo, mas ainda nao tive tempo de testar.
Ana

Anonymous said...

Oi Ana, que bolo mais lindo! E gostei das dicas para fazer o pumpkin spice. Bjs!