Pumpkin Cake With Rum-Raisin Frosting
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 1, 2011
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours cooling
Yield
Serves 16
Ingredients
Cake
2 cups (10 ounces/283 grams) all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground allspice ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger 1 teaspoon salt 4 large eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 1 ⅔ cups (11⅔ ounces/331 grams) granulated sugar 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin pureeFrosting
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened1 ½ cups (6 ounces/170 grams) confectioners' sugar 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened, cut into 8 pieces2 tablespoons dark rum 1 teaspoon molasses ½ cup raisins, chopped fineBefore You Begin
Be sure to use canned pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, for this recipe.
Instructions
- 1.For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat eggs, oil, and granulated sugar until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add pumpkin, and mix until incorporated. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until only a few small lumps of flour remain, about 1 minute. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.
- For the frosting: With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add rum and molasses and mix until smooth. Fold in raisins. Turn cooled cake out onto wire rack then invert onto serving platter. Spread frosting evenly over cake. Slice and serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
Time
1¼ hours, plus 2 hours coolingYield
Serves 16Ingredients
Cake
Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
Frosting
Why This Recipe Works
Pumpkin cake recipes are easy: Just stir together canned pumpkin, flour, sugar, eggs, oil, and spices; pour the batter into a pan; bake it; and top the cake with cream cheese frosting. The cake should be moist and velvety, with just the right balance of pumpkin and spice, but the pumpkin cake recipes we tried made damp cakes with a harsh burn of spice. And the cream cheese frosting was way too sweet and rich. To avoid these pitfalls, we made the cake with packed pumpkin puree instead of canned pumpkin pie filling. The cake made with the puree actually tasted like pumpkin, which was one of the features we wanted for our Pumpkin Cake with Rum-Raisin Frosting. Using puree also allowed us to control the spices ourselves, and we opted to use just a bit of ginger, cinnamon, and allspice to give the cake a subtle spiciness. To solve the problem of heavy and cloyingly sweet frosting, we lessened the amounts of butter and confectioners' sugar and increased the amount of cream cheese. The result was a tangy frosting that perfectly complemented the spiced cake and gave us our ideal Pumpkin Cake with Rum-Raisin Frosting.
Before You Begin
Be sure to use canned pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, for this recipe.
Instructions
- 1.For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat eggs, oil, and granulated sugar until thick and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add pumpkin, and mix until incorporated. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until only a few small lumps of flour remain, about 1 minute. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.
- For the frosting: With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add rum and molasses and mix until smooth. Fold in raisins. Turn cooled cake out onto wire rack then invert onto serving platter. Spread frosting evenly over cake. Slice and serve. (Cake can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
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