Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

YouTube: Cast Iron Baking: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Cake

The pumpkin spice bandwagon was in full swing in the year 2015, and they had pumpkin spice flavor in every snack food you could think of. (I passed up on the pumpkin spice potato chips and didn't try them.) That's because when it's done right, it's delicious. This is a chocolate chip pumpkin spice cake, coated with a sugar and pumpkin spice glaze. It was baked in a cast iron bundt pan, using this recipe.

While it's possible to mix the ingredients together by hand, using an electric mixer produces much better results, and this is recommended.

Pans needed: One medium to large bowl for dry ingredients. One small to medium bowl for breaking open the eggs.  A large mixing bowl for wet ingredients plus dry ingredients. A heavy metal bundt cake pan, such as cast iron or thick cast aluminum. Because we're going to be heating the pan to 425° Fahrenheit, you must not use a pan with a nonstick surface. Teflon and similar substances can produce fumes when heated to temperatures of this kind. 

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients

cup sugar
cup brown sugar
tablespoon (3 teaspoons) molasses
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
large eggs
1/2 cups pumpkin puree (equal to one 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree)
cup buttermilk
teaspoon vanilla extract

10 to 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

I've become very fond of a method for baking cakes in a heavy metal bundt pan, such as cast iron or thick aluminum (bare aluminum, not non-stick). If you have one of these heavy bundt pans, don't grease it in advance – place the dry cake pan in the oven and preheat the oven and the cake pan to 425°Fahrenheit. If you're using a thin bundt cake pan or a non-stick cake pan, grease and flour it as always, and preheat the oven to 325° F.

As the oven is heating, prepare your ingredients. Take out one and one-half sticks of butter and let them soften.  Take out three eggs and let them come to room temperature.  If you're preparing a curdled milk substitute for buttermilk, mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of whole milk, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes for the milk to curdle.

Mix dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt), using a whisk. Using the whisk is important, as this will help to incorporate air into the batter. Add spices (cinnamon, ground ginger, cardamom, nutmeg), and whisk them again.

When the oven reaches 425°, finish preparing the ingredients.  Let the iron pan stay in the oven to ensure it is thoroughly heated to the right temperature.  In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and both sugars, white and brown.  Add 1 tablespoon of molasses.  Mix these  ingredients together until they are combined into a paste.

Crack three eggs into a bowl.  Add the eggs to the wet ingredients, and then mix in the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.  When it's all mixed, gently mix the dry ingredients in with the mixer on slow speed. Gently mix everything together into a batter.

Using heavy gloves, carefully remove the hot cake pan from the oven. Add 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and brush the sides of the pan so the entire baking surface is covered. Place the pan back into the oven for abouit a minute to heat up the oil.  Remove the pan from the oven, add the hot oil to the cake batter, and stir it all together. Pour the batter into the hot cake pan. (As anyone who makes cornbread knows, it isn't right if you don't hear the sizzle.)

Place the cake into the hot oven. Then, without opening the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 325 degrees, and set the oven timer for one hour and fifteen minutes, or 75 minutes.   This will let the temperature gradually decrease, and keep the cake from burning.  The long baking time is necessary as the pumpkin needs all of that time to bake.

After 75 minutes, begin testing the cake with a skewer.  When the cake tester comes out dry, this will show the cake is indeed done.

Let the cake rest and cool for twenty minutes before flipping it.

Clear Pumpkin Spice Glaze

I wanted a shiny clear glaze on this cake, so this was my glaze attempt: Boil 1/2 cup water, stir in 1/2 cup sugar, stir to dissolve. Add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cardamom, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Add 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, Stirring constantly to mix it all together into a clear liquid. When the glaze is clear and there are no more clumps of sugar, turn off the stovetop heat. Pour the glaze over the cake and let it thicken.

Let the cake cool after flipping, before adding the glaze. Top with crystal baking sugar.

Punmpkin Spice Glaze

1/2 cup milk
1 2/3 cups powdered confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Add milk to a saucepan and turn to medium-low heat. Sift in the powdered sugar, stirring as you sift. This will let the sugar blend in with no lumps. When it's entirely encorporated, stir in 1 tablespoon molasses. This will turn the sugar glaze into a brown sugar glaze. Stir constantly for ten to fifteen minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and thick. Turn off the heat, and continue stirring for another five minutes. Add vanilla extract and butter, and stir until butter is melted. Add cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg. Keep stirring as the glaze thickens, 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture reaches a pudding-like thickness. Remove from heat and let cool. Drizzle cooled glaze over cake.