If we can cook it, you can cook it!

Thanksgiving 101 – Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake

Spread the love
The Comfort Family’s Farm on Lumber Lane in Bridgehampton. A great place to get your pumpkin if you are lucky enough to live on the East End.  
           Beyond Roast Turkey and Stuffing, there’s nothing that says Thanksgiving more than pumpkin.  But this year, instead of pumpkin pie, how about a phenomenally delicious Pumpkin cake?  This one, with it’s brown butter frosting and pecan topping, really does take the cake.  
        For Thanksgiving, Andrew is always bitten by the pumpkin bug…well, not literally, but he goes into high pumpkin mode.  With help from Fine Cooking, the magazine we really think would make a terrific addition to your kitchen, he made this  remarkable cake:  

 Two layers of spiced pumpkin cake frosted with brown butter and cream cheese icing, layered with gingery glazed nuts and for good measure completely topped with even more nuts—including pepitas or pumpkin seeds.  Now what’s also remarkable about this cake is that until very recently, Andrew wouldn’t touch pumpkin.  We can’t quite get to the bottom of why pumpkin was off the menu for so many years.  Andrew’s sister Lauren was also a pumpkin-phobe.  He believes this family aversion likely came from an encounter with a particularly unappealing pumpkin pie at an early age.   All I can say is thank god that’s over.  It’s another example of some dim bad food taste that, once our palates have grown up, it might be time to give another chance.   Because this cake was the hit of last year’s Thanksgiving  dinner party.  And the true test of its success was that it was eaten by at least one person who never touches dessert.  Oh, and, by the way, Lauren called to say she made Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf this weekend.
     Since I am not the family baker, I’m always astonished at the length Andrew goes to when baking.  Take the pumpkin puree here.  The purist may want to go to the trouble of making it, but, I am happy to say, Andrew opted for pure pumpkin puree in a can.  But don’t mistake this for Pumpkin Pie filling. They are decidedly not the same thing.  



4 thoughts on “Thanksgiving 101 – Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake”

  • Wow – I knew this was an "Andrew" as soon as I saw the photo. Gorgeous and so mouthwatering. I love that you gave us the freedom of canned Pumpkin puree – I give you Thanks, tis the season after all. C: Pepitas, I would have never guessed, but love it. Thank you both!!

  • Ana, you are are number one fan and we love you for it. This cake is outrageously good. Hope you'll have an opportunity to try it. And the happiest of Thanksgivings to you and yours. XOXO Monte

  • This cake looks great. I love pumpkin now but am surprised how many people don't even want to try it. BTW, the chocolate pumpkin loaf from Baked is one of the easiest and most delicious desserts ever. It is now my fall tradition.

    I love your Thanksgiving blogs.

  • So normally my sister gets all the kudos for the deserts at the holiday meals…BUT…thanks to this recipe…THIS YEAR…I was the talk of the table. Thanks so much for all the hard work.

Leave a Reply to Monte Mathews Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.