Burnt Butter Pumpkin Pound Cakes

We had many inquiries about the burnt butter pound cakes that we created for our Thanksgiving dessert buffet. We used one of the last recipes from the wonderful Gourmet Magazine. It is a good old fashioned pound cake recipe, and we spiced it up by baking them in mini pumpkin pans and adding tinted vanilla glaze.


* 2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
* 2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 4 large eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 325°F with rack in middle. Butter and lightly flour these mini pumpkin pans.

Heat butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over medium heat until milk solids on bottom are a dark chocolate brown. Transfer to a shallow bowl and chill in freezer until just congealed, about 15 minutes.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Beat together brown butter and sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just incorporated.

Transfer batter to mini pumpkin pan, smoothing top, then rap pan on counter to settle batter. Bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 45 minutes - 1 hour. Cool in pan 30 minutes, then invert cake onto a rack and cool completely, right side up, 1 hour.

When completely cool, place two pumpkin halves together to create one pumpkin.

Glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. butter, melted
3-4 tbsp. milk or heavy cream

In bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla, butter and milk until mixture has the consistency of a glaze. Tint with orange and green food gel. Pour glaze over mini pumpkins.