Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Pumpkin season is here! And to celebrate, besides eating my weight in pumpkin this month, I plan to share a few new recipes I have fallen in love with as well as a few oldies but goodies from my baking files. Now, I will always encourage folks to grow their own pumpkins and for a number of reasons: they are fun to grow, you'll have a good source of carving and baking pumpkins, and it's farm to table. However if you are like me and have had one heck of a ride with 2012, you likely didn't have time to successfully plant pumpkins (we tried a Japanese variety but didn't get any fruit). If you grew your own pumpkins this year, then this recipe will be a good excuse to use up some of that puree you've likely made. If not, grab yourself a can of pumpkin puree from the store and get baking.

I discovered this receipt through Averie Cooks, and damn did it look gooo-ooood upon initial discovery. Pumpkin meets chocolate in a baked good form - who wouldn't love that?!

I made a few changes to the original receipe, such as using non-fat greek yogurt in place of sour cream, omitting the butter extract, using bittersweet chocolate chips, and adding more spices such as pumpkin spice. The end result was delicious! Next time around I may try to slip a little rum into the batter, or possibly a wee bit more into the ganache. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate chip Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from: Averie Cooks 

For the Cake

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree 
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup non-fat greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

For the Chocolate Ganache (microwave-friendly)

• 2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum 
• 1 tsp mocha coffee 

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 12-cup Bundt or tube-cake pan with cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. In a large bowl combine eggs, pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, yogurt, vanilla extract, all the spices and whisk to combine until mixture is smooth and silky.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt and stir until just combined (don’t overmix or the gluten will over-develop and cake will be tougher). Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary and give it a slam on the counter to release any air. Bake for 38 to 42 minutes, or until top has set (it may crackle, this is okay) and is golden or a cake tester, toothpick, or blade of a knife comes out clean (due to the chocolate chips, you may hit some chocolate patches with the insertion test). Allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting and releasing cake from pan and placing it on a rack to finish cooling. While cake cools, make the ganache.

To make the Chocolate Ganache, Place chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 1 minute to soften chocolate; set aside. In a small microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, heat the cream (I used half-and-half) on high power just until it begins to bubble and show signs of boiling, about 1 minute. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let it stand about 1 minute. Whisk vigorously until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth and velvety. Add vanilla, alcohol, coffee, and whisk to combine. Set bowl aside for about 5 minutes, allowing ganache to cool and thicken a bit. Whisk mixture briefly before preparing to drizzle it over the cake. Ganache will set up a bit with time, but remains quite viscous and drippy.

Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Sage, Apple, Cheese Scones for Fall

Fall is upon us! Tomorrow night brings the harvest moon (one of the brightest moons of the year, once important to farmers). And just around the corner is my favorite holiday, Halloween. `Tis the season of corn mazes, haunted houses, and pumpkin flavored everything. Just thinking about autumn gets me all smiley. 

One of the things I adore most about fall are the colors. Playing around with a few new lenses, I have every excuse to be outside enjoying the last of the near-summer weather. Of course one of my trusted four-legged sidekicks makes for great photo material. Such a good boy, all he wants is for me to throw the ball (forever). 

However, he does not get kudos for substituting our hard-shelled buddy here for his ball. A story I shall return to another day. Poor guy, I call him Walter. This is about the 8th time we have had to rescue him from the jaws of death (i.e. Clover the wonder dog). I now have a turtle play pen area I keep sectioned off for when Walter here needs a few minutes to regain his composure in between Clover carrying him around in his mouth. 

Another thing I love about fall is the reminder to use up everything in the garden before frost season sets in. We planted a small pineapple sage bush in our front area (turtle play pen) and it has become a beast of a plant. Needing an excuse to trim it back, I ran across this recipe for scones using sage. Perfect!

In addition to replacing half of the sage with pineapple sage, I used a large gala apple as my apple of choice and had left over shredded cheese blends in the fridge which I opted to use in place of dicing up a block of cheddar. The result yielded a moist scone (perfect for reheating) with a subtle flavor. Next time I think I might opt for the original sage instead or possibly add some honey to the top if I keep the pineapple sage. Mmm, more scones. Enjoy!

Sage, Apple, Cheese Scones
Adapted from: Sage, Apple, & Cheddar Scones

• 4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup very cold butter cut into small pieces
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 apples, finely diced
• 3 teaspoons finely minced sage (half pineapple sage if possible)
• ½ cup diced or shredded cheese (I used an Italian/Mexican blend)

Preheat the oven to 375˚. 

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pulse to mix. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in the apples, cheddar and sage. Place in freezer for 5-10 minutes.

In a small bowl combine the eggs and ¼ cup of the heavy cream. Whisk well to combine.

Add eggs and cream to the flour mixture and stir until dough just comes together. Add additional tablespoons of heavy cream if necessary.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. For mini scones divide the dough into four equal portions. Form each portion into a rough circle 5-6 inches across. Cut each circle into 6-8 wedges. For large scones form two 8-10 inch circles, then cut into wedges.

Place wedges on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.