Great pumpkin pound cake, but the glaze could use some help...

Hmm, have you ever started the finishing touches to whatever you may be making and then wished you could flash back 5 minutes and stop yourself? That happened to me today when I was trying to finish this Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze.

I was quite happy how the cake looked when it was done and proceeded with the recipe to make the glaze to drizzle over the top. I've never made a cooked glaze quite like this one, but it sounded like the flavor would tie in well with the recipe. This glaze is a mixture of buttermilk, granulated sugar and a couple pats of butter that are combined with cornstarch and cooked until it had thickened. This part was no problem - it came together well and it tasted great - however, it had this weird cloudy appearance and the texture was kind of like melted jelly. It looked like it would pour okay, but as soon as it hit the cake it just looked so odd - not milky-white like one would expect a glaze to be.

Oh well, since it was just for us I went ahead and finished glazing as it did taste good! The cake itself is pretty dense as one might expect with a pound cake, but it was not too heavy - the mashed pumpkin is drained over a couple layers of paper towels to help achieve a light texture. I fussed with the spices; rather than using a prepared pumpkin pie spice as called for, I tossed together a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, fresh grated nutmeg and clove. This made for quite the fragrant aroma as the cake baked - Jeff and I both commented on how well we enjoyed the alluring depth the cardamom added. The buttermilk in both the cake and glaze did bring a nice twang to the background - maybe just using a simple confectioners' sugar glaze to make it a little more appealing next time. When we were about halfway through our pieces and almost at the same time, we both said "it's just like pumpkin pie, but it cake form!".

We're still working on our apple supply and I've been keeping my eye out for savory recipes that we could enjoy their flavor in. I'm glad I came across a recipe for Muenster, Turkey and Apple Quesadillas as it really hit the spot tonight.

In between two flour tortillas (I used a honey wheat flavored tortilla), layers of semi-soft shredded Muenster, chopped cooked turkey and thinly sliced granny smith apple are given a sweet and savory boost with a few dribbles of honey mixed with sharp Dijon mustard. Usually we just cook quesadillas in a skillet, but this time we did them in the oven - we preheated the baking sheets while we were assembling the quesadillas so the bottom tortillas could get a head start on getting crispy. This method also allowed us to do several at once (for leftovers to re-toast tomorrow at lunch!), rather than one or two on top of the stove. Our Muenster was aged a bit giving us a more robust contrast, but if you've never used it before, you may want to opt for the non-aged for a more mild cheese. The apples had just enough time to soften, yet not so long they turned to mush - it was a pleasant contrast to the crunchy toasted tortillas.

Recipes
Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze
Muenster, Turkey and Apple Quesadillas