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The temperatures have finally dropped enough to give me that “autumn” feeling.  It’s still a little steamy midday, but the mornings and evenings are quite pleasant, which puts me in the mood to bake!  This Spiced Pecan Pumpkin Pound Cake is an adaptation of my mother’s infamous pound cake recipe.  My mother is a wonderful baker and everyone looks forward to her treats at family gatherings.  She is also a 14 year breast cancer survivor!  Since this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I’m dedicating this post to my mother, whose baking I can only hope to live up to!

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The Ingredients

Most of the ingredients are pretty easy to find at the local super market.  The spice blend I used, garam masala, may or may not be in the spice aisle.  It’s a blend of coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon that’s usually used in traditional Indian cooking.  It’s also a great way to add a spicy kick to sweets!  You can use pumpkin pie spice if you prefer, but I think the garam masala gives this cake extra punch.  I cut my mother’s original recipe in half, so I could have a smaller cake!

ingredients

I used a standard bundt cake pan for this because of the depth.  Go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and oil & flour your cake pan .  This is how my mother did it when I was younger, except she used Crisco.  She discovered a spray called Baker’s Joy and has never looked back!  I like the more hands on approach and the coconut oil doubles as a hand moisturizer.

floured-pan

Separate the eggs and be sure to keep the yolks!  I got this egg separator at a Pampered Chef party many years ago.  (The link is for a similar one.)

egg-separator2

I like to combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in separate bowls so they are easier to add to the mixer.  So, combine the flour, pudding mix, and garam masala in one bowl and the egg yolks, pumpkin puree, yogurt, and vanilla in another bowl.

mixtures

Mixing Up the Batter

Add egg whites to mixer and whip them until soft peaks form and set aside.  It is very important that only the egg whites are in the mixer or they won’t get fluffy!

beaten-egg-whites

Add the unsalted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and white sugar to mixer.

butter-and-sugar

Beat until creamy or well combined.

creamed-butter-and-sugar2

Add 1/2 the wet mixture and 1/2 the dry mixture to the mixing bowl.  Keep adding each back and forth until everything is well combined.  It will be pretty thick at this point.  Keeping the mixer on at about medium speed, slowly add the milk.  Add it a little at a time until the mixture is thick but smooth.  The first picture is before the milk was added and the second is just right!  I used coconut milk, but regular milk works too.

too-thick

Just right!

just-right

Pecan Mixture

Chop the pecan halves into little bits.  You can use a food processor, but that’s no fun!

chopped-pecans

Combine the pecans, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 tsp garam masala, and the melted salted butter.

pecan-mixture

Combining it All

Add the whipped egg whites to the batter and gently fold them together.  No fast mixing here, you don’t want to loose the fluffy!

fold-in-egg-whites

Put half of the batter into the bundt cake pan.

1st-layer

Top with half of the pecan mixture, then repeat with the remaining batter and pecan mixture.

2nd-layer

Put it in the oven for about 30-45 minutes.  When you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, it’s done!  Your house is gonna smell amazing!

fresh-out-of-the-oven

Hey, where’s the missing piece?

cut-a-slice

It’s going in my belly!

sliced-up

Yum!

delicious

The only thing that would make this better (besides a cup of coffee) is a cream cheese glaze!  Unfortunately, I have no cream cheese at the moment, but that’s just a reason to make another one – soon!  Don’t worry Mom, I saved some for you (and Dad)!

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