14.7.11

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread (or is it cake?)

Wow! My daughter and I just enjoyed this late night snack- a first try and adaptation of a new recipe is a success and will be repeated.
I was inspired by this recipe at Lick The Bowl Good, but changed their recipe just a bit.




filling:


Cream Cheese Rippled Pumpkin Bread
original recipe was from Joy of Baking
Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature (Mine was cold so I removed the outer paper wrapper and placed the foil package inside the preheating oven to soften.)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Pumpkin Bread
3 1/2 cups wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (My newest spice, I'm adding it to everything. This is completely optional but smells so wonderful.)
4 large eggs
2 cups succanat (the original recipe calls for white sugar)
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I melt butter in the bread pan- dual purpose, it keeps the bread from sticking to the pan later. I also used it hot and it still worked well.)
2 cups pureed pumpkin (I freeze this every fall- so much better than canned.)
1/2 cup  water (I left this out- see more about this in the chocolate section.)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three bread pans. 
For the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese just until smooth in a stand mixer or food processor. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. Set aside.
For the Pumpkin Bread: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs until lightly beaten. Whisk in the sugar and melted butter, then stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and (optionally) nuts.
Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, being careful not to overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine. Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it between the three pans. (If you want one pan chocolate, reserve 1/3 of the pumpkin mixture and the filling.) Pour one third of the cream cheese filling into each pan, then top with the remaining half of batter. Smooth the tops and bake an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I had the great thought that chocolate would mix well with this and my oldest daughter would really like it, so I added 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the last 1/3 of pumpkin batter. The first 2 pans were already in the oven. I had left out the water, but it didn't spread out super easy, so I added about 1/8 cup coconut milk to the cocoa batter and then layered it as above. I found out though that my first impression was right and that extra liquid wasn't necessary. The chocolate version, though delicious, completely fell apart.

Cool pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool loaves to room temperature. (We ate it immediately, maybe that chocolate loaf will slice better after it cools.)
Jennifer

4 comments:

  1. I'm drooling. I love Pumpkin, which you can't get over here in England;(.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You see Jennifer, the thing that makes this possible for you is the way you changed the recipe on the fly. That's a cook!!!! I want some to btw - if you put it in the freezer and mailed it overnight on monday I'd get it tuesday!! :) This made me smile - you wrote about pumpkin cake and it made me smile - that's some good writing. God Bless you and all of yours Jennifer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My adventurer friend, no pumpkin there?! Can you get sweet potatoes? That or even applesauce could be substituted. Bananas would give the same texture but a completely different taste; that would probably taste good with the chocolate.

    Craig, I don't measure exact and I change almost every recipe that I try. My girls are compiling books of their favorite recipes so I am trying to be more precise as I cook with them while teaching them how to adapt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fall/Winter is the perfect time for this recipe with the abundance of pumpkins!

    ReplyDelete

comments from friends: