This moist & indulgent Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake combines nutty brown butter with velvety pumpkin in a warmly spiced cake. Blanketed with a glossy, salted bourbon glaze.
Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake, that's a mouthful! And, that's a mouthful you're gonna want to put right in your piehole, immediately. This flavorful cake is an ideal dessert for fall.
Around here the holiday season is known pie season. It's the time of year when my kitchen converts to a full time pie shop. My Apple Cheddar Pie with it's unique leafy design and distinct sharp cheddar crust is the ultimate show-stopping Thanksgiving table recipe. And the holiday just isn't complete without this Chocolate Hazelnut Maple Bourbon Pie. It's all pies, all of the time.
But, I realize that for some strange reason beyond my understanding, some people prefer cake over pie. Even during the holidays. Blasphemy if you ask me. However, while I may fundamentally disagree with that, this Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake is my only compromise on the pies.
Bundt cake pans do all of the decorative work for you
I've had a major crush on bundt cakes lately, especially since I bought my Nordic Ware Crown Bundt Pan a few months back. With its stunning shape, it doesn't take much to grab the attention of cake fans. All of the nooks and crannies give cakes sculptural details while trapping glazes in all kinds of places yummy places. I say let the pan do the fussy design work for you. So you you focus on flavor and explore all kinds of bundt cake recipes.
This Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake is inspired by my Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake with Grilled Cherries but this one is a warm and toasty twist for fall. It all starts with browned butter
to add depth and richness to the smooth, bourbon laced, spicy pumpkin
batter.
This Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake is full of fall flavors
- Browned butter is melted butter that's pushed almost to its burning point. The butter begins to brown up and form little toasty bits that add rich depth and toasted, nutty buttery flavor to the cake. It also helps give this Pumpkin Spice Cake is ultra moist tenderness.
- Pumpkin puree not only flavors this cake, but it also gives the cake body and a beautiful orange tint. The pumpkin combined with that browned butter gives this cake and rich and velvety moist crumb.
- Pumpkin spices add layer upon layer of warmth and flavor to the pumpkin bundt cake. This recipe uses a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves to spice the cake. However, you can absolutely sub in a premixed pumpkin spice mix. Or perhaps dial in the spice measurements to your own personal tastes.
- Bourbon rounds out the sweetness and spice in this cake. A shot of smooth and smoky bourbon gives this spice cake serious breadth in flavor and body.
- Buttermilk brings a tanginess to all of the rich ingredients happening here. The slight sourness helps to balance things out and it tenderizes the moist cake crumb.
- Cake flour or fine pastry flour gives this cake loft so the cake rises high and fluffy instead of dense and flat.
Grease up those bundt pans before filling with batter
Since they've got so many little nooks and crannies, bundt cakes can end up sticking and tearing if not properly greased. You want to be sure you get in there with plenty of release grease, aka softened butter, using a pastry brush. Just enough butter to coat every nook. Then add a light layer of sifted flour and gently tap off any excess flour. And that's how you grease and flour a bundt pan before baking.
The Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake is finished in a Salted Bourbon Glaze
Once the Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake bakes, it gets glossed up in a sweet, Salted Bourbon Glaze. Melted butter and sugar combine to make the bourbon spiked glaze. Salt is stirred in to contrast the rich sweetness.
The Salted Bourbon Glaze flows through the Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake
While the Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake cools inside the pan, little flavor channels get poked into the bottom of the cake. The Salted Bourbon Glaze is poured over the bottom of the warm cake and it flows down deep into the flavor channels. Filling the entire cake with moist richness.
Once the cake cools, the bundt pan gets flipped and the Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake plops out onto a plate. The glaze helps the cake release from the pan more easily. Then the whole surface of the bundt cake is brushed with the remaining Salted Bourbon Glaze. Finishing the cake in a gorgeous gloss.
The glossy bourbon glaze covering the cake inside and out results in a deeply moist and indulgent bundt
cake. It's refined and complex in rich fall flavors. The moist crumb makes for a tender and indulgent bite. So even though it isn't a pie, this flavorful cake hits on all of the Thanksgiving high notes.
Because this Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake happens to be one of the best cakes I've ever made, just this once, I will allow the pie to slide to the side and let them eat cake.
Recipe
Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices
Description
This moist & indulgent Pumpkin Spice Brown Butter Bourbon Bundt Cake combines nutty brown butter with velvety pumpkin in a warmly spiced cake. Blanketed with a glossy, salted bourbon glaze.
Ingredients
PUMPKIN SPICE BROWN BUTTER BOURBON BUNDT CAKE
- 3 cups fine pastry or cake flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup bourbon
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
SALTED BOURBON GLAZE
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup bourbon
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
WHIPPED CREAM
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- cinnamon, to taste
Instructions
PUMPKIN SPICE BROWN BUTTER BOURBON BUNDT CAKE
- Prepare a 10 cup bundt pan by brushing the inside (into all of the nooks and crannies) with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and a pastry brush, then lightly dust the buttered pan with an even layer of cake flour. Tap the pan to remove excess flour.
- Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Place ½ cup (1 stick) of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt completely. Just before it starts to brown, it will begin to foam up. Slowly whisk or swirl the butter until it begins to turn a warm chestnut color and tiny brown flecks start to form on the bottom of the pan. This is a delicate process, so stay vigilant. You want the butter browned but not burnt. Once you’ve browned the butter pour it into a heatproof bowl and allow to cool. I generally stick it in the fridge to hurry this process along.
- Sift together the cake flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices in a bowl then whisk by hand to ensure that the ingredients are well mixed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the remaining butter, the cooled brown butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes, stopping to frequently scrape the paddle and the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the mixer on a low speed, blend in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
- Whisk the pumpkin, bourbon and buttermilk together in a medium bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the pumpkin-buttermilk-bourbon mixture in two parts, beginning and ending with the flour. After each addition, mix until just barely blended and stop and scrape down the bowl. Stop the mixture before the last flour addition and blend by hand with a spatula until the mix is just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and spread it out evenly. Place the bundt pan on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake until the cake is golden and springs back when touched, 40 to 45 minutes, carefully rotating the cake halfway through the bake time.
SALTED BOURBON GLAZE
- During the last 15 minutes of the cake bake; combine the butter, sugar, salt and bourbon in a small saucepan over low heat, warm until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves, whisking to combine. Set aside.
- Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the pan. With a wooden skewer, poke holes all over the bottom surface of the cake, creating small channels down into the cake. Slowly, pour ¾ of the glaze over the cake so it runs down the channels, reserving the remaining glaze.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then gently plop it out onto a serving plate so the glazed part is on the bottom. Brush the top and sides with the remaining bourbon glaze. If the glaze has thickened, re-warm it over low heat.
WHIPPED CREAM
- Place a metal mixing bowl and metal whisk into the freezer and chill for 15 minutes.
- Pour the heavy whipping cream and sugar into the chilled mixing bowl. Whisk just until the cream reaches soft peaks, nearing still peaks; around 5 minutes. When you take the whisk out of the cream, the peaks should hold firmly but have soft tips. Stop whisking before the cream turns grainy.
- Slice and serve the cake with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon.
Notes
Be sure to properly grease and flour to bundt pan to keep the cake from sticking to the pan.
You can use a pre-mixed pumpkin spice in place of the spice blend. Or dial in the spices to your liking.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
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