Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese glaze

Pumpkin bread! This moist, headily-spiced cake is such a fab tea-time treat. I got this recipe from my American friend Alaina, whose Mom used to make it on weekends or for sleepovers. (You may remember Alaina brought it to our most recent Yarra Valley weekend - love it!)

I finally made it myself on Saturday when I had friends coming over for a pretty epic "Art and Food Day", (I'll explain more in an upcoming blogpost), and took the remaining slices to a Thanksgiving lunch the next day - I thought the pumpkin-filled cake would be very appropriate for the occasion. (My first Thanksgiving! I'll be sharing some pics of the lunch in my November "Unblogged Files"!)

Making pumpkin bread - recipe on my iPhone, hehe

I fiddled with the pumpkin bread recipe a bit - using two different sugars rather than all white, and measuring out the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cloves individually, instead of using pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. (If you do have pumpkin pie spice, then use 3 teaspoons of that, but still add the extra teaspoon of cloves). I managed to find tinned pumpkin at USA foods, but it is pretty expensive here (and only available at specialty shops), so feel free to steam and mash your own pumpkin if you like.

The other obvious addition was the thick blanket of cream cheese glaze. Alaina makes the pumpkin bread unadorned, but the last time she made it, I snuck some cream cheese icing onto a slice and knew it was a match made in heaven. Whilst typing up the recipe below, I had thought of stating that the glaze is optional, but in my heart of hearts, I know that cream cheese is never optional.

Baked pumpkin bread

I've made cream cheese icing a bunch of times, but never a cream cheese glaze. A quick google search revealed hundreds of practically identical recipes - it's basically just cream cheese beaten with vanilla, icing sugar and enough milk to make a drippable consistency. Go easy with the milk - you want a nice thick coating of cream-cheese glaze, not an insipid drizzle. Think: slow-moving glacier, rather than a river. (I saw loads of recipes online where the cream cheese glaze was nothing more than a few liquidy, practically transparent, thin lines on top of a cake/muffin/loaf/whatever - what's the point?)

Cream cheese glaze...

Drips...

Super moist

The bread (let's be real: it's a cake) is warmingly spicy in a pleasant, not overwhelming way (don't be alarmed by the whole teaspoon of cloves in the recipe!) I added choc chips this time, but I'm told that pecans are a great addition too. (Indeed, just plain is also lovely). Although it is very moist, it tends to dry out quite quickly once sliced, so I'd suggest keeping it in an airtight tin (or in individual, glad-wrapped slices) once you've started cutting into it. I can never resist a bundt tin, but think this could be great in a lot of different shapes: a loaf tin, as muffins, mini-bundts (CUTE!), mini-loaves...

Pumpkin Bread (à la Sven) with Cream Cheese Glaze
Pumpkin bread recipe from Alaina's mom (with some slight adaptations)
Cream Cheese glaze recipe from all over the Internet

Ingredients
For the Bread
1 2/3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or chopped pecans, to taste (optional)

For the Glaze
125 grams cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons milk

Method
To make the bread, preheat the oven to 175C.
Sift the flour, spices and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sugars.
In a separate bowl (or a large measuring jug), whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, baking soda and water, and vegetable oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, followed by the choc chips or pecans (if using). Spray a 21cm, non-stick bundt tin with cooking spray. Spoon in the mixture and smooth the top down with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the glaze, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Sift in the icing sugar and beat to combine, followed by the vanilla extract. Add in the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until you achieve a drippable consistency. (You may not need all the milk). Set the cake and its wire rack over a tray (to catch the drips), and pour the glaze over the cake. Cut into thick slices to serve.

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese glaze

Pumpkin bread! This moist, headily-spiced cake is such a fab tea-time treat. I got this recipe from my American friend Alaina, whose Mom used to make it on weekends or for sleepovers. (You may remember Alaina brought it to our most recent Yarra Valley weekend - love it!)

I finally made it myself on Saturday when I had friends coming over for a pretty epic "Art and Food Day", (I'll explain more in an upcoming blogpost), and took the remaining slices to a Thanksgiving lunch the next day - I thought the pumpkin-filled cake would be very appropriate for the occasion. (My first Thanksgiving! I'll be sharing some pics of the lunch in my November "Unblogged Files"!)

Making pumpkin bread - recipe on my iPhone, hehe

I fiddled with the pumpkin bread recipe a bit - using two different sugars rather than all white, and measuring out the cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cloves individually, instead of using pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. (If you do have pumpkin pie spice, then use 3 teaspoons of that, but still add the extra teaspoon of cloves). I managed to find tinned pumpkin at USA foods, but it is pretty expensive here (and only available at specialty shops), so feel free to steam and mash your own pumpkin if you like.

The other obvious addition was the thick blanket of cream cheese glaze. Alaina makes the pumpkin bread unadorned, but the last time she made it, I snuck some cream cheese icing onto a slice and knew it was a match made in heaven. Whilst typing up the recipe below, I had thought of stating that the glaze is optional, but in my heart of hearts, I know that cream cheese is never optional.

Baked pumpkin bread

I've made cream cheese icing a bunch of times, but never a cream cheese glaze. A quick google search revealed hundreds of practically identical recipes - it's basically just cream cheese beaten with vanilla, icing sugar and enough milk to make a drippable consistency. Go easy with the milk - you want a nice thick coating of cream-cheese glaze, not an insipid drizzle. Think: slow-moving glacier, rather than a river. (I saw loads of recipes online where the cream cheese glaze was nothing more than a few liquidy, practically transparent, thin lines on top of a cake/muffin/loaf/whatever - what's the point?)

Cream cheese glaze...

Drips...

Super moist

The bread (let's be real: it's a cake) is warmingly spicy in a pleasant, not overwhelming way (don't be alarmed by the whole teaspoon of cloves in the recipe!) I added choc chips this time, but I'm told that pecans are a great addition too. (Indeed, just plain is also lovely). Although it is very moist, it tends to dry out quite quickly once sliced, so I'd suggest keeping it in an airtight tin (or in individual, glad-wrapped slices) once you've started cutting into it. I can never resist a bundt tin, but think this could be great in a lot of different shapes: a loaf tin, as muffins, mini-bundts (CUTE!), mini-loaves...

Pumpkin Bread (à la Sven) with Cream Cheese Glaze
Pumpkin bread recipe from Alaina's mom (with some slight adaptations)
Cream Cheese glaze recipe from all over the Internet

Ingredients
For the Bread
1 2/3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips or chopped pecans, to taste (optional)

For the Glaze
125 grams cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons milk

Method
To make the bread, preheat the oven to 175C.
Sift the flour, spices and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add in the sugars.
In a separate bowl (or a large measuring jug), whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, baking soda and water, and vegetable oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, followed by the choc chips or pecans (if using). Spray a 21cm, non-stick bundt tin with cooking spray. Spoon in the mixture and smooth the top down with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the glaze, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Sift in the icing sugar and beat to combine, followed by the vanilla extract. Add in the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until you achieve a drippable consistency. (You may not need all the milk). Set the cake and its wire rack over a tray (to catch the drips), and pour the glaze over the cake. Cut into thick slices to serve.