spice cake

Cheesecake-Stuffed Pumpkin Bread

Cheesecake-Stuffed Pumpkin Bread
Cheesecake-Stuffed Pumpkin Bread

Easy Carrot Cake with Whipped Icing

Easy Carrot Cake with Whipped Icing
Easy Carrot Cake with Whipped Icing

5 Steps to Throw an Easy, Breezy Summer Party

5 Steps to Throw an Easy, Breezy Summer Party
5 Steps to Throw an Easy, Breezy Summer Party

Brown Butter Pecan Gooey Butter Cake with Spiked Whipped Cream

Brown Butter Pecan Gooey Butter Cake with Spiked Whipped Cream
Brown Butter Pecan Gooey Butter Cake with Spiked Whipped Cream

Brown Butter Pecan Gooey Butter Cake with Spiked Whipped Cream



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: 6 servings

This delicious cake has everything delightful in it: nutty brown butter, bloomed cinnamon and cloves, toasted pecans, a simple caramel sauce, and spiked whipped cream! It’s perfect for a holiday table, but easy enough for an anytime dessert.

Crust Ingredients:
1 cup cake flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup cold butter

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup toasted pecans*
icing sugar

Topping Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)
20 Werther’s Original® Baking Caramels
2 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:
*NOTE: To toast pecans, spread them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for around 6-7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until fragrant. Chop while still warm.

NOTE 2: If you don’t have a skillet, I believe you can bake this in a greased 9-inch square baking dish (I’d use a glass one if you have it, and check it early and often. Remove when there’s some jiggle left.) Let us know how it goes if you try it this way for all the other skilletless people!

Make the brown butter: Cut the 1 cup butter into 1-tablespoon cubes. Place it into a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat and brown the butter, whisking often. The butter will melt, foam, and then begin to brown, and the whisking is important so that it browns evenly. Whisk in cinnamon and cloves. Pour your brown butter into a shallow, wide dish to cool for a bit before sticking it in the freezer to set up. After it’s set up, set it back out at room temperature to soften for use.

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together cake flour and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles fine crumbs and starts to cling together (I often use my food processor for this step, pulsing the cold fat into the flour). Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch cast iron skillet using a flat glass or the back of a spoon.

Make the filling: Cream together the softened brown butter and white and brown sugars until fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Mix in the egg until just combined. Alternate adding the flour and evaporated milk, mixing after each addition. Mix in the corn syrup and vanilla. Stir in the toasted pecans. Pour the filling into the crust and sprinkle the top with icing sugar.

Bake and assemble the cake: Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until cake is nearly set (mine was probably ready around 30). Some jiggle is fine — do not overcook! It’ll finish setting up as it cools. Let it cool in pan for 2 hours. Whip the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and rum to stiff peaks. Melt the caramels and milk together in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes, stirring often but carefully, until the hot caramel sauce is ready. Pour caramel sauce over cooled cake and top with a giant mound of spiked whipped cream. Serve from the skillet with a few forks or on plates, if you like things a little more formal.

Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake

Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake
Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake

Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking using a pumpkin sheet cake recipe adapted from Taste of Home
Yield: 20 servings

A pumpkin spice sheet cake meets a tres leches cake! The whipped icing on this delicious, custardy cake is one of the best parts.

Cake Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Tres Leches Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1/2 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

Whipped Icing Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup milk
7 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 7/8 cups granulated sugar (not powdered sugar; note: 1/8 cup = 2 tablespoons)
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 15-inch x 10-inch x 1-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, cream together sugar, pumpkin, oil, and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Gradually whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool the cake completely on a wire rack (keep in the pan). Poke holes in the cake with the back of a wooden spoon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together whole milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk. Pour this mixture over the cooled cake. Chill the cake overnight.

To make the frosting, heat the milk, flour, and granulated sugar together over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it starts to boil, continue whisking and heating it for around 7 minutes or until it’s very thick, like cake batter consistency. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Remove the mixture to a shallow pan and let the mixture cool completely (after a bit, I stuck mine in the fridge to hurry it along). Once the mixture is cool, beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft and fluffy. Add the completely cooled mixture and beat on high until you have fluffy frosting the consistency of stiff whipped cream. Frost your chilled cake.

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