Pumpkin Tres Leches Bundt Cake for #BundtaMonth

After 10 years near the equator, I am finally living in a place with seasons.  I am not sure exactly that there are four seasons in Cairo because, for me, one of the signs of autumn is leaves that turn lovely yellow, orangey, brown colors and then fall from the trees.  The nights and even days are getting cooler but the trees stay steadfastly green and the flowers are still blooming.  But since I have become part of the blogging community, I can’t ignore the most definitive sign of autumn:  All the pumpkin recipes that are flooding the internets.   This month, I am joining a group of bloggers dedicated to Bundt cake, large and mini.  Because I love a Bundt cake.  With a nod to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I have to ask, Who can resist a cake with an hole in it?  And the theme for October is, you guessed it, pumpkin.  And since October sits nicely between Mexican Independence Day in September and American Thanksgiving in November, I decided to make a pumpkin tres leches Bundt cake.  If you are not a fan of saturated cake, by all means, just make the pumpkin Bundt and forget drenching it in the sweet milk mixture.  But I can tell you that I took this out to a dinner party for dessert and people were swooning over it in a most dramatic fashion.  It is that good.

Ingredients 
For the Bundt cake:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour plus extra for preparing the Bundt pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon salt



For the milk mixture:
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup milk

For serving:
Unsweetened whipped cream (optional but highly recommended)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and butter or non-stick spray your Bundt pan extremely well.  Sprinkle in a generous amount of flour and make sure it covers all the way up the middle part of the pan.  Set aside.

Heap all of the ingredients for the Bundt cake in your mixing bowl.  I measured out the dry ingredients first and then topped them with the wet.

Mix until well combined.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and make sure there isn’t any still dry flour at the bottom of the bowl.

Mix on medium for at least three minutes.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and bake in your preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While your Bundt is baking, whisk together the ingredients for your sweet milk mixture.  Set aside.

When your Bundt comes out of the oven, allow to cool for about five minutes and then run a knife gently around the inside of the top and middle of the cake to loosen it.  Place a plate over the top of the pan and invert to remove the cake.

Poke the cake all over with a wooden skewer or satay stick.  The little holes will allow the milk mixture to seep into the cake.

Pour about half of the sweet milk mixture into the Bundt pan and gently ease the cake back into the pan so it doesn’t splash out.

Poke holes in the bottom of the cake.

Slowly drizzle the balance of the milk mixture over it.  Cover with cling film and put the whole thing in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

To remove from the pan when you are ready to serve, invert a cake plate with a slope or sides on top of the Bundt pan and turn the cake over quickly.  Remove the pan.  Some sweet milk mixture will seep out of the cake.  Scrape out any sweet milk that is left behind in the pan and drizzle it over the cake.

Cut slices of cake and top with unsweetened whipped cream, if desired.  And drizzle on some of the sweet milk mixture.

Enjoy!

To learn more about BundtaMonth or to join the fabulous group of bakers for next month's challenge, head on over to Baker Street and Cake Duchess, the hosts of this Bundt-loving group.

After you have drooled over their lovely creations, scroll down to see the rest of the participating bloggers' beautiful Bundts.

Apricot Pumpkin Muffins #MuffinMonday

The news is getting out so I might as well tell the world here.  It hasn’t even been a year and we are moving again!  We have loved Cairo and would happily stay here for many more years but my dear husband got a job offer that was too good to refuse and we are loading up the camels and heading to Dubai.

We travel light!  Yeah. Right.  Don't I wish!

The United Arab Emirates was our very first long term (read: more than just a few months) posting after we got married so it sort of feels like coming home.  That said, I am fully expecting not to recognize anything though because, by all accounts, Dubai has grown and changed enormously, even in the last few years.  I have been house hunting online today and reading all about the marvelous grocery stores and, as much as I will miss Cairo and the people here (and our lovely home) I am starting to get just a little excited about the move.  Kind of like being pregnant and excited about the baby, while dreading the actual labor, which is the painful process of packing and unpacking in this analogy.  I hate moving.  But I love baking muffins.  So let’s just do that today instead.

This week's muffins are from Celebrating Quick Breads and Pastries and were originally an orange pumpkin muffin with some walnuts for topping.  You know I had to put some walnuts inside as well and I decided that chewy bits of apricot would be better than orange.  I don’t know if I am right about better, but they sure were delicious.

Ingredients for about 16 muffins
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1/2 cup or 100g firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 50g walnuts plus extra walnut halves for garnish before baking
8 dried apricots
1 egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil
1 1/2 cups or 180ml canned pumpkin

Method
Grease your muffin pans or line with paper baking cups.  Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Chop your apricots and walnuts and add them to the dry ingredients.

Use a couple of forks or your fingers to separate the apricot pieces from each other if they are sticking together.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and oil with the pumpkin.   Beat until well blended.

Fold the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Spoon or scoop the batter into prepared pans filling each cup two thirds full.  Top each with half a walnut.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from pans, serve warm or cool on wire rack.

Now wasn’t that more fun than moving house?!

Enjoy!

Orange Marmalade Pumpkin Muffins #MuffinMonday

Thin shred marmalade mixed through sweet pumpkin batter makes these orange marmalade pumpkin muffins deliciously more-ish! Perfect for breakfast, snack or teatime!

When I was about five years old, we moved from Houston to Trinidad.  My father worked for Texaco and we lived in the small company camp of Pointe-a-Pierre.  When we first arrived, our house wasn’t ready yet because my father had asked them to install windows. All the little bungalows had screens to keep out the bugs, but no glass.  He says they called him a crazy American because he wanted windows!  Of course, his goal was an air-conditioned house and windows were essential to that plan.

Anyway, we stayed the first few weeks in the Texaco guest house, next to a main dining hall, and took most (all?) of our meals there. It was my first introduction to orange marmalade which looks just like a sweet jam but with little strips of orange rind. I was an all-American grape jelly eater so I knew sweet on toast and had no problem loading up with butter and marmalade. That first bite was bitter surprise. Followed closely by dismay. “Who eats this foul stuff?” I thought.

Fast forward years and years later, and I married a man who loves marmalade. He grew up eating the foul stuff, being of the British persuasion. We lived a few places where I couldn’t find orange marmalade for him so I started hauling back a large can of thin-cut Seville oranges  from the United Kingdom to make it myself. Because that’s the kind of person I am.

Each can was almost a kilo of prepared oranges. Just add water and sugar, cook it down and you have several jars of “homemade” marmalade to last the year. And, you know, I discovered that orange marmalade wasn’t near as bitter or nasty as I remembered it. In fact, it was quite nice.
I was delighted this week when I received the email with the #MuffinMonday recipe ( which came from this wonderful book ) because I knew my husband would love them.  If you are a fan of orange marmalade or if it’s been a long time since you gave it a second chance, try these. 

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 170g sugar
1/2 cup shredded orange marmalade plus more to glaze
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup or 220g cooked pumpkin (canned or fresh)
1 cup or 240ml buttermilk  (or 1 tablespoon white vinegar mixed 10 minutes ahead with 1 cup or 240ml whole milk)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Method
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and line your muffin tin with paper liners or spray thoroughly with non-stick spray.

Mix together all of your dry ingredients: the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

In another small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients except the butter: the orange marmalade, the eggs, the pumpkin and buttermilk. 

Once they are thoroughly mixed, whisk in the melted butter.

Pour the liquid mixture over the flour mixture and fold it in with a rubber spatula until the flour is incorporated.  Do not over mix.

Divide the batter between your muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes and then remove the muffins from the tin. 

Add about half a teaspoon of marmalade to the top of each muffin and spread it around with the back of your teaspoon to glaze.

Enjoy!

Mashed Garlic Pumpkin

Roasted pumpkin drizzled with olive oil and then mashed with garlic makes a deliciously succulent side dish I'm calling mashed garlic pumpkin.

Here’s a post for all my old friends who used to think my life is glamorous.   We have finally gotten there!  Back when we lived in Paris, I remember friends exclaiming, “Paris! That is so wonderful.  I have always wanted to go to Paris!  What do you do there?” The answer to their question was, “Well, Mondays I do laundry, including the ironing. Tuesdays I clean downstairs. Wednesdays I clean upstairs. Thursdays the bathrooms have to be cleaned and Fridays are always bed linen changing and washing day.”  

And everyday, of course, I was caring for my two little darlings. Changing diapers, nursing the baby, potty training the toddler, getting spit up stains out of my t-shirts and cooking, always cooking.  Such a glamorous life I led!

But now, in truth, I can say that this last week has been pretty cool. No family responsibilities (except a baby sitter for the hound) and besides the fact that we flew economy class, the jet-setting started on Thursday with a dinner dance next to the pyramids in Egypt.

Beer and wine were served from 6 p.m. (and we brought some champagne and cocktails of our own) with the pyramids in full view!  Everyone was in tuxedos and lovely gowns just like the beautiful people.   We were the beautiful people! (Except for not being skinny and rich.)

Look!  One of the pyramids in the background.  Is that cool or what?!

Then the party went inside to the hotel ballroom, where we were served a sit-down meal and entertained by three or four live bands in succession.  We ate, we drank, we danced!  Then around 11:30 p.m., we headed home to change our clothes and collect our luggage.

We checked in for our flight to Bologna via Istanbul then hung out in the executive lounge (That Star Alliance gold card comes in handy!) until the flight was called.

Mere hours later, we found ourselves on a sleek train from Bologna to Venice, and then on a water taxi to the Splendid Hotel.  We enjoyed the sightseeing and reveled in the delicious meals that Venice offers. Glorious seafood! The hotel even had complimentary Prosecco – Italian sparking wine - at every breakfast.  Splendid indeed!

The Grand Canal in Venice, taken from the Rialto Bridge

After two wonderful days in Venice, we rented a car and drove down the coast roads to Ravenna for work (dear husband) and more sightseeing (me) and more delicious meals and wine (both.)

The altar: Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna

Then we were off  to Istanbul for more gorgeous seafood Tuesday evening at Afrodite Restaurant in the historic area of Kumkapi, and a Wednesday shipyard visit (him again) and more sightseeing and shopping (me.)  

The view from our hotel room in Istanbul. 

I am thinking that this is what my friends imagined I did all these years. Anyway, it certainly feels like a dream. We arrived home today almost a full week after our whirlwind departure from the pyramids, exhausted but happy.  Some work, some play but, all in all, a great week. 

Mashed Garlic Pumpkin

Here’s a quick easy dish that is delicious eaten with a spoon right out of the pan (me) or as a side dish.

Ingredients

1 1/4kg  or 2 3/4 lbs pumpkin

Olive oil

4-5 cloves garlic

Sea salt

Black pepper

Method

Preheat your oven to 200°C or 400°F.

Cut the peel off of your pumpkin and cut it into chunks.  

Put the chunks into your baking pan and drizzle liberally with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss then distribute the chunks evenly around the pan. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, drizzle your garlic with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

Roast the pumpkin for about 30 minutes.

Add in the garlic, toss the pumpkin around, and roast for a further 30 minutes.  You want some browned bits but you don't want the garlic to burn and turn bitter so keep an eye on it.  

Using a potato masher, mash the pumpkin and garlic as smoothly as you like.  I like to mashed the garlic thoroughly but leave a few small bits of pumpkin for texture.   Check your seasoning and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!