Pumpkin Spice Bundt with Buttermilk Icing

I made this cake for my hair dresser this weekend. I've never made it before, and I wanted to taste it just to see what it was like. But I didn't want to cut into it because it was so pretty. I had to pat myself on the back for coming up with this idea of tasting it without having to slice it. I simply made one cupcake out of the batter. Genius, right!?! The cake tasted like Fall. All of the warm flavors of the pumpkin and the spices came together well, and the coolness of the icing was the perfect touch.


Ingredients:

Cake
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs

Icing
2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons well-shaken buttermilk
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar


Directions:

Make the cake
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350-degrees. Butter bundt pan generously, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla in other bowl.

Beat butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and re-invert cake onto rack (I just inverted the cake onto the round cardboard circle/cake stand). Cool 10 minutes more (I cooled completely).

Make icing
While cake is cooling, whisk together buttermilk and confectioners sugar until smooth. Drizzle icing over warm cake, then cool cake completely. Icing will harden slightly.

Note: This can be made 3 days in advance and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.

Source: The Food Librarian