All in One Holiday Bundt Cake with Sugared Cranberries

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I made Dori Greenspan's all-in-one holiday bundt cake for the first time this week. It's the perfect cake for this time of year. This cake is filled with cranberries, nuts, apple,and pumpkin. Sounds great right! Then you add a maple glaze. Yummm! That's pretty much all the holiday flavors packed into one delicious cake.
To make it even more festive, I topped the cake with some of the sugared cranberries I had leftover from the ICE cupcake cranberry challenge.
I thought this would be the perfect entry for this month Sugar High Friday. Sugar High Fridays started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess. This month's host is Susan atThe Well Seasoned Cook and the theme is: All that Glitters. Perfect because these cranberries just sparkle like little gems. Check out all the other glitter holiday desserts on here.



All-In_One Holiday Bundt Cake
Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours
(makes one 9- to 10-inch Bundt cake)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoon/5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned unsweetened pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved or coarsely chopped
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Optional: Maple syrup icing (see recipe below)

To make the cake:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (about 12-cup) Bundt pan. Do not place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven's heat to come up through the Bundt pan's open core.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside dry ingredients.

Working with a stand mixer (using a paddle attachment, if you have one), beat the butter and both sugars together at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition; beat in the vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the pumpkin and apples - don't be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until the flour is just barely incorporated. Working with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the cranberries and pecans.

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Slide the pan into the oven and bake 60 to 70 minutes at 350F, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding. Cool to room temperature on the rack. Drizzle with maple syrup glaze.

Maple syrup glaze:
Sift 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar into a bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup. Add more maple syrup little by little, until you have an icing that runs nicely off the tip of a spoon - you might need another 1/2 tablespoon to get the right consistency. Put the cooled cake on a sheet of parchment or waxed paper and drizzle with the glaze. Let the glaze set for a few minutes before serving.

Autumn Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Toffee Streusel

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I don't know what happens to me in the Fall, but I become a little pumpkin obsessed! I can't seem to make enough with pumpkin. Maybe it's because we have such long hot summers here in the South that those first cool days make me want to celebrate. I'm not sure the reason, but I do know that this time of year I crave spicy, pumpkiny, nutty, goodness.
I've had Rebecca Rather's Pastry Queen cookbook for a while now and everything I've made from it has been wonderful. I decided to give her pumpkin quick bread recipe a try. I made muffins rather than the loaves and added toffee pieces to the topping. Why? Because I love toffee too and thought I'd throw all my favorite things on top of these muffins.

This is also my entry for this month's Sugar High Friday. This month's host is Dessert First and the theme is spice. Check out all the other enrties here on Oct 31


Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Toffee Streusel

recipe from Rebecca Rather's The Pastry Queen slightly adapted

Muffins
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces (divided)
1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola or safflower
3 cups sugar
4 lg eggs
1 (15 ounce )can pure pumpkin puree
1 cup water
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 toasted pecan pieces (above)
1/2 toffee pieces
If you like a lot of the streusel, you may want to double this part.

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 7-9 min., until golden and aromatic. Reserve 1/2 cup for streusel topping.
Grease standard size muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, pumpkin, and water and whisk until combined.
In another bowl whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and pecan pieces.
carefully mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.
Fill the muffin pans almost to the top with batter.

For the struesel
Stir together sugar, butter, cinnamon pecan pieces, and toffee. Sprinkle liberally over tops of muffins before baking.
Bake muffins 30-35 minutes.
Yield 36 muffins or you can make this into two loaves by equally dividing batter between two greased loaf pans and baking for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These muffins are very so flavorful and aromatic, like taking a bite of Autumn. I suggest brewing a pot of coffee as they cook, because you'll want to eat one of these muffins as soon as they emerge from the oven.

Key Lime Squares

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Summer and citrus desserts just seem to go together. When I saw that Helen, of Tartlette fame and my personal pastry hero, was hosting Sugar High Friday Citrus, I knew I wanted to join in! I decided to make key lime squares. When I googled a recipe, guess who's turned up? Helen's! So of course I had to make them, and they're superb! They have the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a buttery, delicious crust. I did add a little ground ginger to the crust because I like that hint of ginger with the key lime.
Thanks Helen for hosting Sugar High Friday's and for the great new recipe.

Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground ginger
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Filling:
6 large eggs
3 cups sugar
6 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tb finely grated key lime zest
3/4 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice


Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and line a 13x9-inch square pan with parchment paper.
To make crust:Combine flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture is pebbly. Press evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan. Bake until lightly golden, about 18-20 minutes. Set aside crust.

To make filling:In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk in lime zest and juice until well combined. Pour over crust (it's okay if crust is still hot). Bake until filling is just set, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool completely before serving. It's much easier to cut when chilled completetly. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.