This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #IndulgenceDoneRight #CollectiveBias

This Pumpkin Bundt® Cake with a Brown Butter Icing & a cup of coffee make the perfect fall or anytime treat!

Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors!  I don’t need cool, crisp days and the glittering array of the leaves changing colors to make me crave all things pumpkin – but it sure does help.

Fall marks the beginning of the nonstop baking season for me.  County fairs, apple everything, almost daily cravings for fresh baked bread – all of a sudden I realize I’m running out of flour on a weekly basis.  Hello fall.

Pumpkin, though.  Nothing quite tastes like the fall season as pumpkin.

As much as I love pumpkin, for some reason I usually default to baking pumpkin breads.  I really do enjoy pumpkin bread, but our favorite fall time bounty deserves more than bread after bread recipe.

It’s been a few years since I baked this Pumpkin Cake for myself.  I’ve baked it for charity dinners & bake sales – but haven’t sat down and enjoyed a slice (or two) for myself in a long time.  Oh, how I’ve missed it.

This cake is moist and rich with the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor & spices.  A simple brown butter icing takes it absolutely over the top.

This fall favorite dessert pairs perfectly with a hot cup of coffee.  Hold the sugar, please, I’m sweet enough.  What I do need is good half & half.  Like new Land O Lakes® Buttercream Style Half & Half.  The simple goodness of Half & Half made with an extra rich blend of real milk and cream – the way Half & Half should be.

I’ve fallen in love with new Land O Lakes® Buttercream Style Half & Half.  It’s extra rich blend of real milk and cream make for a simple indulgence you will love too!  It makes my morning coffee (and the numerous cups to follow) extra rich and creamy.  No added sweeteners, no funny business – just a rich, gourmet half & half for the perfect cup of coffee you deserve.

I baked this cake twice in one week.  Both times it was gone within a day.  Good company, good cake and good coffee – they make a wonderful combination!

Happy fall everyone!

Amanda ♥

Craft the ultimate cup of coffee with new Land O Lakes® Buttercream Style Half & Half.  Visit here for more information.

Pumpkin Bundt® Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

70 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

This moist Pumpkin Bundt® Cake has just the right amount of pumpkin flavor & spices with a Brown Butter Icing that takes it deliciously over the top! Hello fall ♥

Author: Amanda

Recipe type: cake

Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients

• For Cake:
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 2½ cups pumpkin puree
• For Brown Butter Icing
• 1 stick salted butter
• 1½ cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons Land O Lakes® Buttercream Style Half & Half
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. For Cake:
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease & flour a bundt® pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger & salt. Whisk together and set aside.
4. In a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, cream butter.
5. Add in both sugars and vanilla, beat until creamy.
6. Add in eggs, beat.
7. Add pumpkin puree, mix until combined. This will have a curdled look to it - no worries.
8. Add in half of flour mixture. Mix until combined, stopping to scraped down sides of bowl. Add in other half of flour mixture. Mix until everything is combined. Mixture will be light and fluffy.
9. Scrape cake batter into bundt® pan, smooth and even out top.
10. Bake for about 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
11. Transfer to wire cooling rack. Let cool for 15 minutes and remove cake from pan. Continue to let cake cool on wire rack.
12. For Brown Butter Icing:
13. Have all ingredients measured and ready to go.
14. Add stick of butter to a stainless steel saucepan. Don't walk away, stay by saucepan during whole process - it only takes a few minutes start to finish and can burn easily.
15. Over medium to medium high heat, melt butter and continually whisk or swirl butter.
16. Butter will start to foam up, keeping whisking or swirlng. You'll notice little brown specks at the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and continue to whisk or swirl for a few seconds.
17. Whisk in powdered sugar, Land O Lakes® Buttercream Style Half & Half and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and all lumps are gone.
18. Use immediately. Spoon or drizzle over cake.

3.5.3208

Today I’m talking cupcakes, buttercream & Russian Style Piping Tips.  So get ready to look at a bunch of too cute cupcake pics ♥

Cupcakes.  There is something about a cute little cake that will bring a smile to any girls face – young & old alike.

The cupcake is very much about appearance.  The frosting is just as, if not more, important than the cake itself.  Smear a layer of white frosting on top of a cupcake and you won’t find anyone fawning.  Pull out your piping bag and decorate and watch love at first site occur!

My daughters and I LOVE cupcakes.  My 10 year old daughter & I have loads of fun making and decorating cupcakes.  She’s already got me beat in the decorating department.

I’m always keeping an eye out for new things in cake decorating.  I’ve been seeing nothing but beautiful piping work people were putting out with Russian Piping Tips.  I had to try them!

Lucky for me, my friends at A Touch of Violet sent me this set of 32 piece Russian Style Piping Tips to try out!  Happiness ♥

These tips are beyond simple to use.  Dare I say simpler than standard tips?  Just maybe….

These tips are large – bigger than a jumbo tip from Wilton.  These tips are perfect for decorating cupcakes or cakes – they make large flowers and leaves.

The most important piece of advice I can give you on piping – use a stiff buttercream.  Anything too soft won’t pipe well & won’t hold up.

These tips will make some beautiful flowers with impressive detail.  Try using 2-3 different colors to make everything pop.  I didn’t try plain white buttercream – but it would definitely be gorgeous for wedding or christening cupcakes & cakes.

Have fun and play around with these tips the first few times you use them.  It took a few times for us to figure out which tips make what.  Just like other piping, the angle you pipe at will make a difference in your creations.  I only got a chance to work on cupcakes so far – but I can’t wait to get to cake decorating with these tips.

The only downside is that the set does not come with a guide to what each tip creates.  We jumped right in and got to decorating, figuring it all out as we went.  If you’re not feeling so adventurous, there are a blogs & videos online that can give you a crash course.  Perhaps this winter I’ll work on a photo guide of what tip makes what…

I’ve included a recipe for cupcakes & a basic buttercream.  I recommend using gel colors when using buttercream for piping.  I made a double batch of buttercream and we used most of it on 18 cupcakes.  Hey…we got carried away 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy baking ♥

-Amanda-

Vanilla Cupcakes

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

18 mins

Total time

28 mins

 

Simple vanilla cupcakes perfect for loading up with buttercream. This recipe can make 12 - 18 cupcakes, depending on how much you fill the cupcakes. I recommend making 18 cupcakes for buttercream piping.

Author: Amanda

Recipe type: baked goods

Serves: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup salted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cup all purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° Line a cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Mix in flour, milk, baking powder and salt until thoroughly combined. Do not overmix.
5. Spoon batter into 18 cupcake liners about half full.
6. Bake for 16 - 18 minutes or until tops spring back when pressed or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Let cupcakes rest in pan for a few minutes before removing to wire rack.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

3.5.3208

Basic Buttercream

 

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Cook time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

A basic and versatile buttercream - flavor and color to your liking. Temperature stable, easy to make and work with - my go to buttercream for cupcakes. You may need to double this recipe for Russian Style Piping (I did)

Author: Amanda

Serves: 2½ cups

Ingredients

• ½ cup solid vegetable shortening
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

1. In large mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter with electric mixer until very light and fluffy.
2. Beat in vanilla.
3. Gradually mix in sugar, one cup at a time. Beat well on medium speed, scraping sides and bottom of bowl.
4. Buttercream will be dry when all sugar has been mixed in.
5. Add in milk, beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
6. Mix in any colors or add-ins if desired.
7. Enjoy : )

3.5.3208

*Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, however I did receive a sample to try & review. All opinions are absolutely my own and not influenced in any way.*

Pour this ricotta cheese mixture over a basic yellow cake before baking and the magic happens.  This cake is rich, delicious and moist with a beautiful bottom layer of ricotta.  Go ahead and add this to your “To Bake List” 🙂 

I love baking.  I love talking about baking, I love writing about baking.  I even love chatting it up with total strangers about baking.  Usually it will be while looking at flours or new cake tins or something of the sort.  It seems other bakers like taking about baking too.

The other day I had a discussion with a sweet lady easily twice my age.  She commented that the days of a simple cake baked in a 13×9 dish were gone – almost primitive.  I reassured her that these cakes were not at all a thing of the past.  Really, they’re baked all the time – people just don’t serve them from the dish anymore.  It’s far more “très chic” to cut and plate the cake instead of serving it out of the old anchor or pyrex dish.

So in honor of the always loved and celebrated 13×9 cake, I thought I’d try a new one.

I’ve had something similar to this cake before.  There was chocolate involved and a whipped topping pudding frosting.  Perhaps I’ll make it again sometime.

This cake, though.  I appreciated the simplicity of this ricotta cake.  I don’t always want a fluffy cake frosted to high heaven.  I appreciate a cake that can stand alone and be served with just a dusting of powdered sugar.

The original recipe calls for a boxed cake mix which I usually don’t have on hand.  I threw together a simple yellow cake and topped it with the ricotta mixture.

This is a moist, dense cake – reminiscent of a pound cake with almost a custard bottom from the ricotta.  I appreciate all the flavors are there but none are too overwhelming.

I served this cake various ways.  Dusted with powdered sugar, dusted with cocoa powder, drizzled with dark chocolate syrup, drizzled with raspberry syrup, topped with strawberries & whipped cream – the possibilities are endless here.

This is a delicious, simple and easy cake to bake in your good ol’ 13X9 dish.  You could easily switch this cake up by adding different extracts or lemon juice to the batter – it’s one of those fabulous recipes that’s perfect as is or that can be built upon.

Thanks for reading! Happy baking!

-Amanda-

Recipe is adapted from Jill’s Most Requested Ricotta Cake @ Just Rolling With It. Check out her blog – she’s got tons of fab recipes!

4.3 from 3 reviews

Layered Ricotta Cake

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Author: Amanda

Serves: 12 - 16 servings

Ingredients

• For cake:
• 2½ cups flour
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup milk
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• For Ricotta Mixture:
• 1 pound ricotta cheese
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• optional - powdered sugar or cocoa powder - dust when serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease/spray a 13"x9" baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
3. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles cornmeal.
4. Add in milk, eggs, oil and extracts. Beat until smooth. Pour cake batter into baking dish.
5. In a large bowl (go ahead and use the same bowl) mix together ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla.
6. Evenly pour/spoon ricotta mixture over cake.
7. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Most of the ricotta cheese mixture will have sunk to the bottom creating almost a custard layer.
9. Cool on wire rack. Serve and enjoy. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, cocoa powder or top with a jam or fruit syrup.
10. Store covered in the fridge. Let cake sit for a few minutes at room temp before serving.

3.5.3208