Someday I need someone to tell me the difference between bread and cake, muffins and cupcakes. Like those monstrous things at Dunkin Donuts with chocolate chips in them are breakfast food, and carrot cake is dessert? Is bread something you eat with your hands, and cake needs a fork? I suspect it’s mostly a matter of perception. For example, pumpkin bread. It has a vegetable in it, like zucchini bread, so healthy, right? It also had a cup and a half of sugar in the recipe, originally, which is more than most cakes I bake. Pumpkin bread wants you to think it’s healthy, but it’s cake in disguise. So why pretend? I took a half cup of sugar out of the batter but then put it right back as a maple sugar glaze. Now that it has icing and needs to be eaten with a fork, it has definitely crossed into cake territory. But for the sake of tradition (so important this time of year), I will continue to call it bread, keeping it perfectly respectable to eat for breakfast.
ingredients for bread:
- 4 tbl. unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 & 3/4 c. unbleached flour
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 1 c. pumpkin pie puree
- 2 large eggs
- 2/3 c. water
ingredients for maple glaze:
- 1/4-1/2 c. maple syrup(the real stuff!)
- 1 c. confectioner’s sugar
Preheat your oven to 350°. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9″ loaf pan. Line the pan with a strip of parchment paper, leaving the ends hanging over the sides. Butter the parchment paper, then flour the paper and pan. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat the butter, sugars and oil on high speed in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Add the pumpkin puree and beat until combined.
Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until incorporated.
Turn your mixer to low, then add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with 2 parts water. Pour your batter into the pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 1 hour to 75 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely.
Once your cake is cool, make your glaze. Whisk together 1/4 c. of maple syrup and the confectioner’s sugar. Add more syrup if too thick. Spread on top of your cake and let dry. Cut and eat!
