Pumpkin Pecan Ripple Cake

It seems as though I've spent more time in the kitchen over the past two weeks then I have the entire summer. This is likely because I had a partner in crime (see below), but suffice to say, fall is my favorite time to cook. This may be partially because the idea of a warm oven grows more appealing in the colder weather. It might also be because historically there are many events this time of year that draw far flung friends and family into the kitchen and then around the dining room table. But I primarily chalk it up to the squash. Squash is both delicious and extremely versatile in its taste and cooking possibilities. It is filling, creamy, nutritious. I love the stuff.

A friend of mine, whose creativity and skill at cooking squash I can only aspire to, visited this weekend. We cooked a great deal, and of our desserts and other delicacies, about half involved squash. During her weeklong stay, two cakes, lasagna, ravioli, and a couple items I'm probably missing appeared on the counter (and, impressively, disappeared soon thereafter).

 

We made a few adjustments to the original recipe, adding in greek yogurt and swapping in pecans for crystallized ginger, in order to use what was readily available in the kitchen. It's a recipe that favors from having more than one cook in the kitchen, with two batters and a potentially tricky tube pan. Despite fears that the ribbon would either mingle into obscurity with the cake batter or dribble into the wrong pattern, it came out beautifully, the deep pumpkin brown sandwiching the smooth, pecan-pebbled filling. The cake would taste rather delicious sans the ripple, with its spicy, warm flavor. But here your fork digs up both creamy, tangy filling and springy cake. The effect is almost like an inside-out frosted cake.

Adapted from Fine Cooking's Pecan-Ginger Tunnel Cake
Pumpkin-Pecan Ripple Cake
Ingredients:
For filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 5-oz. container plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 roughly chopped pecans, toasted
For cake batter:
2 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 TBSP ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 15-oz. can pure pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
--To Make filling: In a small bowl or 2-cup measuring cup, mix together cream cheese, yogurt and sugar until smooth. Mix in ground ginger and salt. Add eggs and vanilla and stir until well incorporated. Stir in pecans.
--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt or tube pan.
--Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar and oil until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
--Pour half of the cake batter into the pan. Drag a spoon through the center of the batter to create a trench, pouring the filling into it as you go. Don't worry if the filling spills out and over to the edges of the pan. Pour on the remaining cake batter and smooth with a spatula, covering up as much of the filling as possible.
--Bake 40-50 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 to 15 minutes before inverting onto a plate and removing cake pan.