Pumpkin citrus cake

All this pumpkin's gotta get used somehow.

Streusel center
All measurements here are approximate
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4-5 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Chopped pecans
3 Tbsp cold butter

Mix all dry ingredients, crumble butter in, set aside.

Pumpkin Citrus Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of ground nutmeg and clove
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange extract
Dried cranberries (Aldi sells these fantastic orange-flavored cranberries that were PERFECT for this)

Preheat oven to 350F

Soak dried cranberries in Very Hot Water, just enough to cover them. Leave 'em soaking while you make the cake.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt together. Add pumpkin, butter, extracts and eggs - beat until smooth.

Drain cranberries (save the water) and place at the bottom of a well-greased pan. I used a Bundt pan, but there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to make an upside down cake with other fruits, maybe some candied orange peel or ginger (I love me some ginger), whatever you're into.

Pour about 2/3-3/4 of the batter on top of the cranberries--that streusel stuff has a way of going for the bottom of the pan like it's a race. Sprinkle the streusel center over this batter and spoon the remaining batter carefully over the streusel.

Bake for, I kid you not, about an hour. I've been experimenting with this recipe a few times and I'm yet to find an exact time. Baking it at 375F turns the edges too brown too quickly before the rest of the cake is done, and it's also a little hard to gauge because the streusel center stays rather moist and sticking a knife in to check for doneness is a bit misleading because of this. Whooooo, that was a busy sentence. If you make this, keep an eye on it after 45-50 minutes, make sure it's not getting burned, do the knife/toothpick thing if you must--some sticky on the knife is okay (the streusel), as long as you're not seeing blatant raw batter. And if you figure out a more accurate baking time, LET ME KNOWWWWWW, PLZ, THX.

It doesn't help that my oven's temperature likes to fluctuate any way it pleases.

Whenever it finally does come out of the oven, cool for about 20 minutes and flip onto a serving plate.

Glaze
(approximate)
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp orange extract
Water from the cranberry-soaking business earlier--strain any stray seeds

Combine sugar and orange, and then add the water, a few drops at a time, until easily stirred. You don't want it too runny, but not quite spread-like consistency. It's a GLAZE, you know what that's supposed to look like, right? Drizzle it over cake while the cake is still warm so it drips nicely.


Once the cake is cooled COMPLETELY, sprinkle about 1/2 a teaspoon of confectioner's sugar over it using a fine mesh sieve. This is just for added pretty (and added sugar), it's technically completely unnecessary.

This cake is awesome with coffee.

Pumpkins

All over the internet you'll find pages advicing you that Jack-o-Lantern type pumpkins are not the kind you want to use for baking. Too stringy, no flavor, not sweet enough, blah, blah, blah.

Fact: IT'S FRESH PUMPKIN. I don't care how you look at it, it's still better than crap-in-a-can. Besides, it seems like such a waste.

Too stringy? Before you do anything with it, you have to bake and puree it. If your puree is stringy, You're Doing It Wrong.
No flavor? Were you planning on eating it by itself? You're weird.
Not sweet enough? Add more sugar to the dish, come on, people, this isn't rocket science.

I got a great run out of last year's pumpkin (read: about 3 gallons worth), and I didn't hear anyone complain about the cream-cheese filled, streusel topped, pumpkin/cranberry muffins.

I started out with a massive pumpkin that I had to bake in 3 different batches, and which produced as much puree as roughly 3 small houses. A good bit of it is stored in my freezer now, but I kept about half a gallon in the fridge to experiment a bit over the next couple of days.

Tonight I made a cream of pumpkin base, because I wanted to try savory and sweet versions (savory won, no contest), and a cranberry/citrus flan that sounded much better in print than it actually was. I mean, it was decent. If someone served that to me at their house I'd eat it and enjoy it. Just like I ate and enjoyed it tonight, but I probably won't be making it again.

Cream of Pumpkin
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Evaporated milk
Pumpkin puree
Salt
White pepper

Making a roux is easy stuff--melt butter over low heat, add equal amounts of flour, let it cook/dissolve/get creamy and thick. I had something like 1/4 cup evaporated milk in my fridge, so I used that, let it thicken again, and started adding pumpkin puree. I didn't measure it, but I probably added about 2 cups (maybe less), gradually. It seemed a bit too thick, so I added a bit more regular milk (probably another 1/4 cup or so). Salt/white pepper to taste, topped with fresh parsley. It was definitely more than decent, and if The Husband enjoyed Cream of- soups more I'd probably make it on a regular basis.

Tomorrow I might try to make pumpkin noodles. I've been wanting to try that for a while.