Pumpkin Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Dressing (A White House Recipe)

This pumpkin cake recipe is straight out of the White House Pastry Kitchen - how lucky am I?  This dessert followed the Beef Bourguinon I made for dinner on Christmas Day.  I can only hope that Barack, Michelle, Sasha, and Malia were enjoying this cake while on their Christmas vacation in Hawaii.

Anyway, as you can imagine, this cake is legit and might become a family tradition for years to come.  If you decide to make it, I'd recommend checking the cake while it cooks to ensure it's not over cooking.  While the recipe calls for baking for an hour at 340 degrees, mine was a bit over cooked.  I'm sure it has to do with the oven, and of course it still tasted wonderful, but I think it can be improved over time.

Pumpkin Cake with Orange Cream Dressing

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
7 ounces of pumpkin puree
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed

Preheat the oven to 340 degrees

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda, nutmeg, and ground cloves into a large bowl.  Put this aside.  Whisk together brown sugar and eggs with a mixer.  Beat in the vegetable oil and then the pumpkin puree.  Add the dry ingredients mixture alternating with the whole milk in three parts.

Mix well and scrap the sides and bottom of bowl between each part.

Grease and flour bundt pan.

Bake four about one hour.  Let the cake cool in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack.  For the finishing touch, pour the orange cream cheese icing over the top of the cooled bundt cake.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces butter, softened
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
pinch of salt
1/2 fresh squeezed orange juice, strained

Place cream cheese and confectioners sugar in bowl and use a mixer until it becomes a smooth cream.  If you are using a standing mixer, use the paddle attachment for the best results.  Add the softened butter to the bowl.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a plastic spatula and then add the orange zest, vanilla extract, heavy cream, pinch of salt and orange juice.  Set the frosting aside until you are ready to pour over cake.