Sticky Toffee Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Sticky Toffee Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

While Spouse still dearly loves her bread puddings, my favorite comfort food dessert still remains the English classic Sticky Toffee Pudding. The pudding is dense and sweet, served warm with a delicious toffee sauce. The texture of the pudding appears cake-like but it sort of collapses in your mouth to a dense, rich, caramel-y, luscious bite that is simply addictive.

Like in our Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake, I've taken that texture and translated it into an outstanding dessert cake, this time with the seasonal favorite flavor of pumpkin spice. It is abundantly obvious that as a result of writing Rock Recipes website, our family has more than our fair share of delicious desserts but truth be told, it is quite rare that anyone in our family will eat any more than a single serving. Friends and neighbors on the "Leftover List" are always the lucky recipients of the surplus dessert.

While that is now normal procedure at our house, yesterday it became a matter of absolute necessity of practically emergency priority. My resistance can be quite high for many desserts but this cake, with it's amazing texture, spicy pumpkin flavor and caramel hints from the brown butter in the frosting, was practically irresistible to me. I had only a single slice and within an hour or so after I took the photos, I had cut the cake into 4 chunks and had them delivered them to 4 different households in the neighborhood.  A mixture of relief and regret immediately ensued but in the end I know this will become a seasonal Autumn favorite and I already have plans to serve it again at an upcoming gathering. Be sure to add it to your Fall favorites.

Click the links below to check out our other "sticky toffee" themed desserts.

Perfect English Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Banana Cake

Sticky Banana Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe by Barry C. Parsons

Inspired by the famous British dessert, Sticky Toffee Pudding and another banana cake version of it that I developed, this dense moist cake is the perfect way to use those Fall pumpkins. This cake does not have a typical cake texture; like a good sticky toffee pudding, it sort of collapses in your mouth to a dense, rich, caramel-y, luscious bite that is simply addictive. Using brown butter in the frosting adds a beautiful caramel note to the cream cheese icing.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes to 1 hour
Yield: 12 - 16 servings
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups pureed roasted pumpkin (you can use canned pumpkin puree if you prefer)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dark corn syrup (or golden syrup)
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
• 1 kilo bag (2.2 lbs) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1-3 tbsp milk enough to bring the frosting to a spreadable consistency
• 1 cup butter, browned
• 1 cup cream cheese
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract vanilla extract

Directions

1. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper. The parchment paper greatly aids the release of the cakes from the pans when baked.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Mix together the pureed pumpkin and baking soda and set aside.
4. Cream together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla well.
5. Beat in the dark corn syrup (or golden syrup).
6. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Add the pumpkin mixture and blend until smooth.
8. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and baking powder.
9. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in three equal portions mixing until smooth after each addition.
10. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
11. Let the cakes rest in the pans for 10 -15 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Frost with brown butter cream cheese frosting.
12. TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
13. You must first brown the butter over medium heat. It will simmer until all the water boils off then quickly turn a golden brown. As soon as it turns a deep golden brown remove it from the heat, let it settle for 5 minutes, then decant it into a heatproof glass measuring cup. Chill until it solidifies.
14. Mix the cooled brown butter with all the frosting ingredients and beat well until smooth and fluffy. Add only a little milk at first and just add a little at a time until you get the perfect spreadable consistency. 

Sticky Toffee Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding

Banana Sticky Toffee Pudding

Do you always have over ripe bananas sitting on your counter top waiting to be transformed into something to show you didn't waste your money in the first place by buying them? This is a constant reality at our house for sure and most get made into endless loaves of banana bread and banana muffins. Yesterday, with a big bunch of brown speckled bananas begging to be used up, I tried this idea for a twist on our very popular Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe by substituting mashed bananas for the pureed cooked dates. It was a big success to say the least and the 8 teenagers that showed up for lunch made short work of them. 

For a fancier presentation idea, I made some of these in mini silicone muffin pans which worked particularly well because the puddings are so easy to remove from the silicone pans. I plated three of them on a single serving plate which you might think is a little bit of a large portion...but then again, you haven't tried them yet. ;)

Makes about 18 little puddings when baked in muffin tins. These also freeze quite well and can be thawed and reheated in the microwave before serving.

Cream together:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat in, one at a time, beating well after each addition:

• 2 extra large eggs

Add in and beat well:

• 3 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp golden syrup (or substitute dark corn syrup)

Sift together:

• 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in three equal portions mixing until smooth after each addition.

Mix together:

• 2 cups pureed banana
• 1 tsp baking soda

Add this mixture immediately to the batter and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into well greased and floured muffin tins and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes at 350 degrees F until the center is just firm. Serve warm with Toffee Sauce.

Toffee Sauce

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Bring to a slow rolling boil for about 2 min before serving over the baked puddings.