Pumpkin Butter Tea Cakes With Orange Glaze

Pumpkin Butter Tea Cakes With Orange Glaze
  • Yield:makes 5 mini cakes
  • Active time:20 minutes
  • Total time:50 minutes

[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

These little loaves have a light and springy crumb because there's no butter or oil in the recipe. The pumpkin flavor and warm fall spices are made more decadent with an orange glaze, but feel free to omit it for a light breakfast sweet.

Note: Pumpkin butters typically come spiced and sweetened and thus will vary by brand. I used Williams Sonoma's version, which is well spiced, medium sweet, and light in texture, though it tastes as much of pumpkin as of spices. If you're using a different brand, taste for sweetness and spices and adjust the spices here accordingly.

About the author: Carrie Vasios is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • Pinch allspice
  • 1/2 cup 2% or full fat Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin butter (see note)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • For Glaze
  • 1 2/3 cup confectioners sugar
  • 4 tablespoons orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon water

Directions

  1. 1.

    Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease mini loaf cups with butter.

  2. 2.

    In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice;set aside.

  3. 3.

    In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, pumpkin butter, and sugar until well combined. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir together just until batter is well combined. Fill each prepared cup 2/3 full with batter. Bake until puffed and golden at the edges and a cake tester inserted into the middle of a loaf comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

  4. 4.

    For Glaze: If serving cakes with glaze, whisk together confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and water until smooth. Spread the top of each cooled cake with glaze. Let stand 20 minutes or until set before moving.