Yesterday was my 29th birthday.  I’m a little in denial about being another year closer to 30, but 28 was a great year for me:

- Food Snob and I had a baby!

- I quit my full-time job and started my own business.

- We traveled to Switzerland.

- I helped plan Food Media Forum with a group of great bloggers.

Plus lots of other little adventures here and there.  I’ve got a lot to be grateful for this year, and so I’m more than happy to celebrate all the blessings that 28 has brought and that 29 will hopefully bring.  The motto for this year is “29 and doing fine!”

Every birthday needs a birthday cake.  This might not be a traditional birthday cake, per se, but it is a great cake for the fall season.  No, I didn’t make this cake for my birthday (my niece actually made me a chocolate ganache cake that was to die for).  I made this to take over to some friends’ house and watch the Cardinals game.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted from Joy the Baker Cookbook)

For bundt cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup melted butter

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups, (one 15-ounce can) pumpkin puree

4 large eggs

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 8-ounce block of cream cheese at room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour bundt pan – set aside.

2 In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices – set aside.  In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients for cake except for eggs.  Once ingredients are well-blended, whisk in eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.

3. Pour the pumpkin mixture all at once into the flour mixture and fold it together.

4. Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes before inverting the pan to release the cake.

5.  To make cream cheese frosting, beat cream cheese, cinnamon and 1/2 of the sugar.  After 1-2 minutes, add the milk and rest of sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Be sure to scrape down sides to make sure it is all beaten together well.  Pour over completely cooled cake, allowing icing to drip down the sides.

I don’t make a lot of bundt cake. This was actually the first time I had used my bundt pan since we got one at a wedding shower almost five years ago!  What I appreciate about a bundt cake though is that it is much easier to frost than a traditional layer cake.  The sweet, creamy icing just melts down the sides of the cake, almost like lava from a volcano.  It easily finds all the nooks and crannies that I don’t have the patience to smooth over with a spatula.

The warm fall flavors of pumpkin and spice are paired perfectly with the sweet, rich cream cheese frosting.  This is truly a great treat to celebrate the season!