Holiday Pumpkin Cake with Rum-Cream Cheese Glaze

This cake is a huge hit with my family during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It's very moist and just melts in your mouth. It's a yummy alternative to traditional pumpkin pie. This cake is good as is, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. It is especially tasty with a good glaze drizzled on top. The glaze that my family likes best is made with cream cheese and a little bit of rum.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 45 mins
• Calories: 492 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• ¼ cup melted butter
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 cups unsweetened canned pumpkin puree

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Step 2

Sift the self-rising flour and pumpkin pie spice together into a bowl. In another mixing bowl, beat the white and brown sugars, vegetable oil, melted butter, applesauce, vanilla, pumpkin, and eggs together until smooth.

Step 3

Gradually beat the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until completely smooth and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

Step 4

Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes. Cover cake with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning, and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for about half an hour.

Step 5

To unmold the cake, tap the bottom of the Bundt pan on the counter or work surface to help release it. Invert the cake on a serving plate and allow it to cool completely before glazing.

Step 6

To make the glaze, mix the cream cheese with the butter, confectioners' sugar, rum extract, and milk in a bowl. Heat in a microwave oven for 15 seconds. Drizzle spoonfuls over the cooled cake. Keep cake refrigerated after serving.