Every October I start going a little Pumpkin Crazy. For some reason EVERYTHING I make must contain pumpkin. My husband isn't crazy about my craze, because he hates any baked good with the pumpkin spice taste. He sees me spending hours baking delicious things he will not want to eat. Sorry, babe. You can have your cake and eat it too in December when everything will be super decadent and chocolate covered.
I think the spicy smell emitting from the oven makes home feel so very much more like home. And pumpkin itself is an amazing ingredient for adding rich, buttery depth to something. One day a couple years ago, I actually spent an entire day making pumpkin cookies, pumpkin monkey bread, and a pumpkin yeast roll--in the shape of a pumpkin!! I was just a teeny bit stressed out at the time. The baking helped. Baking always helps.
This year I started with White Bean Pumpkin Chili. I've already declared its immaculate wonderfulness in a previous post, so I'll just stop with a gorgeous picture of the luscious dish with our end-of-summer PeeGee blooms.
Ever notice how Trader Joe's always seems to know exactly what you need when you walk through those doors? It really is eerie. They know what you want before you even know you want it. Then you're walking down the aisle and you're all like, WHAT!? Is that even a thing? I have to have it! Ten of them, because they won't be here next month! This particular visit all I needed was a yummy $4 bottle of red wine and a box of pumpkin cornbread mix. This meal happened when I was running on fumes and absolutely no energy. But we had already ordered in too many times, and my heart needed to know my family was eating something delicious and real. So I made this super easy chowder and threw the cornbread together. The kids LOVED it. They said it was like eating cake for supper. I agreed it was a lot like cake. I enjoyed it, but it was very sweet. It would be better paired with a more savory meal: roast chicken, red-peppered potatoes, and slightly salted broccoli or asparagus.
Last week I made my first pumpkin pasta dish. It was going so well, and I was drowning in my own drool until the very last step of the recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg. I trusted the recipe, which I never do, and I immediately regretted it. I put so much work into that dish and it was really really good at every taste test. But those two spices made it absolutely confusing. I realized that when it comes to savory dishes pumpkin should be treated exclusively as a squash--no sweet spices. My tongue was all, This sausage is so amazing. And the pasta! Oh I do love this sauc---wait. Oh my gosh! What is that? And then my brain was all, You have to eat it all, you recipe-trusting-fool. No one else likes it either, and you worked too hard on it to turn back now. We stomached as much as we could and moved on with life. I'll try again when my taste buds have reset.
And this is what we've all been waiting for: my recipe for Pumpkin Rum Cake w/ Penuche Icing. If you're wondering what Penuche is, you have not yet truly lived. It's a butter and brown sugar based fudge. It is indescribable. I've made it many times, but twice it was ruined by crystalization. Those disappoints nearly caused me to abandon all that I hold to be good and true in this world. It is that profoundly delicious.
A few years ago I was given my first Southern Living cookbook. Such good stuff. Every year since I got it I had tried making this one particular cake, and every single year the attempt would end in a fire-breathing, cussing rant. (Yes, I have a temper. Yes, I hate to fail. What about it?) There were just a few parts that did not work for me, but I was in love with the bones of it. So I changed this and that and came up with something that did finally work for me. And, oh how it worked!
This is the best part:
You begin by putting pumpkin and rum together to consummate their blissful relationship.
Then while they are sitting on your counter, calling to you in their warm, deep voices, you go about the task of assembling the cake batter. (Resisting the urge to pick up that measuring cup and chug it!)
So here's the recipe:
Pumpkin Rum Cake with Penuche Icing
(Okay, so maybe cleaning the penuche bowl WITH YOUR TONGUE is the best part. But I digress.)
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
5 large eggs
---
1 can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup rum
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3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. each of ginger, allspice, & nutmeg
*Grease & flour--or use parchment paper--three 9-inch, round cake pans. Preheat oven to 350º.
1) As I said, join the pumpkin and rum together and give them a little privacy.
2) Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3) Cream butter; add sugars and cream well; add eggs one at a time. Mix until homogeneous.
4) Alternately add dry mixture and pumpkin mixture to the mixing bowl. Mix well.
5) Divide evenly between the three cake pans, and bake for 30-45 minutes. (I know that's a big window, but this was the first time I made this recipe. I don't remember exactly how long my oven needed, but I started checking it around 30 minutes and went from there.)
Penuche Icing:
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup butter
3 tsp. rum
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1) In a medium saucepan, *stirring constantly* gently heat brown sugar, cream, and butter until butter melts. Turn the heat up, medium-high, and bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add rum.
2) Place powdered sugar in separate mixing bowl and pour the hot mixture in. (The cool bowl will help the icing thicken sooner.) Stir with a wire whisk for a very long time. How long will depend on the temperature of your kitchen as well as your climate. Within 10-15 minutes, the icing should have thickened up to the point that you can pour it over each cake layer without it being too thin and running all over the cake plate. If you've cooled it for 25 minutes and it's still not thickening, start adding small amounts of powdered sugar to do the trick. This is the most painstaking part of the cake, but it is the most delicious!
3) Place bottom layer on cake plate and pour 1/3 of the icing over, gently encouraging it to spread to the edges. Repeat with each layer.
Voila! And Enjoy! And you can thank me later.
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