- Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post as it seems I got inundated with a bunch of cake orders late September and every weekend thereafter! I was a little sad about making cakes and not having one of my own last month, so of COURSE I had to make something for home! With pumpkin season in full swing and a bottle of Lorann's Pumpkin Spice Emulsion sitting lonely in my cabinet, I had to get baking. After making Sweetapolita's Red Velvet Raspberry Supreme Cake several times with amazing results, I was inspired! (She inspires a lot of my work, by the way...) Why not make a PUMPKIN Velvet cake, with a light, yet tasty Swiss meringue buttercream to top it off? I didn't want the usual cream cheese buttercream (though it's one of my favorites!) I wanted something lighter for this dense pumpkin-y cake. I decided to make a Pumpkin Pie Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It had a light pumpkin pie flavor that was not too overpowering, it was just perfect.
- For the Pumpkin Velvet Cake:
- (Adapted from Sweetapolita's Red Velvet Raspberry Supreme Cake)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin spice emulsion*
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup canned or fresh pureed pumpkin, drained and patted dry between paper towels
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup of cake flour (Such as Swan's Down or King Arthur)
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups of warm buttermilk
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- 1-1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
*I used Lorann Pumpkin Spice Emulsion, can found at Amazon, I purchased mine at Home Goods
- For the Pumpkin Pie Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 5 large egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups of sugar
- 3 sticks of butter, cut into cubes
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup canned or fresh pureed pumpkin, drained and patted dry between paper towels
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- Dash of cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour (or use Baker's Joy spray) 3 8" cake pans.
1.) Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
2.) Add the Pumpkin Spice Emulsion and mix until well blended.
3.) Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting for each to blend in before adding the next.
4.) Add the drained pumpkin puree and mix until well blended.
5.) Sift the flours together with the cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.
6.) Add to the wet mix in by 1/4 to 1/2 cup intervals, alternating with the warm buttermilk, starting and ending with your dry ingredients.
7.) Once all the ingredients are well combined, gently fold in your mayonnaise.
8.) In a small bowl, mix your vinegar and baking soda and again, gently fold into your cake batter.
9.) Divide batter evenly into the 3 cake pans and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 25 - 30 minutes.
While the cake cools, prepare your Pumpkin Pie Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
1.) Place egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl that has been wiped with lemon to prevent grease from seeping into the meringue or it may not fluff up. Make sure you also wipe the whisk and paddle attachments for beating the egg white/sugar mixture.
2.) Place bowl over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water and whisk egg whites and sugar constantly until the temperature reaches 160 degrees, or the mixture feels silky between your fingers and the sugar has dissolved. It REALLY helps to have a candy thermometer on hand, which is not expensive considering how helpful that little tool can be. I happened to take advantage of buying mine at my hobby store with a 40% off coupon. :)
3.) With the whisk attachment, start beating the egg white and sugar mixture on medium-high to high, about 10 minutes or so. The egg whites should look glossy at this point, and the bowl should not be hot/warm to the touch.
4.) Switch over to the paddle attachment and start adding the cubes of butter, one by one, mixing them on low speed. Mix until smooth. Add vanilla, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice and mix until well incorporated.
If the frosting is too runny at this point, refrigerate for about 30 minutes. It will still be soft enough to decorate the cake. The frosting was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be as I had to refrigerate mine overnight! I used an offset spatula and a Wilton 2D tip to decorate with. You can decorate any way you like of course, it still tastes great no matter how it looks!
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees
Grease and flour (or use Baker's Joy spray) 3 8" cake pans.
1.) Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
2.) Add the Pumpkin Spice Emulsion and mix until well blended.
3.) Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting for each to blend in before adding the next.
4.) Add the drained pumpkin puree and mix until well blended.
5.) Sift the flours together with the cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.
6.) Add to the wet mix in by 1/4 to 1/2 cup intervals, alternating with the warm buttermilk, starting and ending with your dry ingredients.
7.) Once all the ingredients are well combined, gently fold in your mayonnaise.
8.) In a small bowl, mix your vinegar and baking soda and again, gently fold into your cake batter.
9.) Divide batter evenly into the 3 cake pans and bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 25 - 30 minutes.
While the cake cools, prepare your Pumpkin Pie Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
1.) Place egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl that has been wiped with lemon to prevent grease from seeping into the meringue or it may not fluff up. Make sure you also wipe the whisk and paddle attachments for beating the egg white/sugar mixture.
2.) Place bowl over a pot of simmering (not boiling) water and whisk egg whites and sugar constantly until the temperature reaches 160 degrees, or the mixture feels silky between your fingers and the sugar has dissolved. It REALLY helps to have a candy thermometer on hand, which is not expensive considering how helpful that little tool can be. I happened to take advantage of buying mine at my hobby store with a 40% off coupon. :)
3.) With the whisk attachment, start beating the egg white and sugar mixture on medium-high to high, about 10 minutes or so. The egg whites should look glossy at this point, and the bowl should not be hot/warm to the touch.
4.) Switch over to the paddle attachment and start adding the cubes of butter, one by one, mixing them on low speed. Mix until smooth. Add vanilla, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice and mix until well incorporated.
If the frosting is too runny at this point, refrigerate for about 30 minutes. It will still be soft enough to decorate the cake. The frosting was not as smooth as I would have liked it to be as I had to refrigerate mine overnight! I used an offset spatula and a Wilton 2D tip to decorate with. You can decorate any way you like of course, it still tastes great no matter how it looks!
The cake came out more dense than light and
fluffy, which was fine with me. This was more than likely due to the addition
of pumpkin puree. I may try to play around with this recipe a bit more to try
getting it more fluffy, but the taste was still wonderful. Oddly enough, it
wasn't ridiculously overpowered with pumpkin flavor either, it was just right.
This would be great to take along to a Thanksgiving gathering, or if you are as
pumpkin crazy as I am, why need an excuse?
Thank you so much for looking! Now
go bake something and spread some YUM!
XO,
Diana
No comments:
Post a Comment