Pumpkin Stout Gingerbread Bundt with Brown Butter Icing

Tags

baking, brown butter, bundt, cake, fall, gingerbread, icing, pumpkin, recipes, stout

Ahh, fall.  Your days are shorter, the air is cooler, and leaves crunch beneath our feet.

Wait…what’s that other sound?

Bundt pans trembling with fear!  Or is it with glee?

That’s right, we’re hurtling towards National Bundt Day (November 15!), made popular and most earnestly celebrated by Mary the Food Librarian.   Last year was my first time paying tribute to the curvaceous confection, and thus the Zebra Bundt Cake was born.  This year’s offering is much more visually tame, but the flavors certainly make up for that.  

The inspiration began at the grocery store where I saw stout gingerbread hanging out in the bakery.  (“Hey!”)  I didn’t see samples, but went a’googling when I got home and found something presumably even better: pumpkin stout gingerbread!  It was even in bundt form.  Having seen brown butter icing on a couple of my favorite blogs, I couldn’t resist and made that instead of cream cheese frosting.

The cake is dense, moist, and ginger-spiced with a slight dark, bitter flavor thanks to the stout.  But as soon as you have a bite with that icing, the gingerbread merely becomes a tasty vehicle for the caramely-tasting crack cocaine it’s under.

Unnecessary fork and plate are unnecessary.

Pumpkin Stout Gingerbread
adapted from Dinner with Julie

So you probably noticed that my bundt looks pretty small.  That’s because it is! The original recipe is for a full-sized bundt pan, and I halved it for my 6 cup pan.

1/2 cup dark stout (I used Convict Hill Oatmeal Stout by local Independence Brewing Co.)
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice (I used ground cloves)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs (if doubling, use 3…I rounded up from 1 1/2!)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil (I used grapeseed)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a 6 cup bundt pan really (really) well with nonstick spray.  (If you have a standard-sized pan, double this recipe or see the original.)

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the stout and molasses.  Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat.  Stir in the baking soda.  It will foam up a lot!  Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the rest.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugars, oil, pumpkin puree, and fresh ginger.

Add a third of the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, then whisk until just combined.  Add half of the stout mixture to the pumpkin mixture, then whisk until just combined.  Repeat, alternating in this manner (flour, stout, flour).

Pour the batter into your prepared bundt pan.  Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 15 minutes, then invert onto the rack and let cool completely.

Brown Butter Icing
adapted from Martha Stewart

I halved this also and it was the perfect amount!  The original recipe is supposed to make a spreadable icing, but I added more milk to make it pourable.  You can go either way.  Also, this is the easiest and tastiest icing EVER.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk (or however much you choose!)

In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-high heat.  You want it to brown of course, which will take about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Stir in the sugar (I used a plastic whisk for this), then add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk.  Keep stirring and adding milk a little at a time until the consistency you want is achieved.  Pour immediately over the bundt.

Check out all the bundts that Mary has been baking away this month.  My personal favorites so far are the Doll Bundt Cake as well as the Buried Alive for the hilarity factors.  If you want to participate, bake a bundt and submit it to Mary before November 24 so she can send you an awesome button by JustJennDesigns!

(maybe I should be posting this on actual Bundt Day, but I’m not organized like that…)