Brown Butter Pumpkin Layer Cake

Yes, that IS snow on the table outside!

Did this recipe deserve the cover of Fine Cooking magazine?  Yeah, I'm pretty sure it did.  Once again, I am behind on posting and I even pushed this one up in the cue because I really liked the picture and I feel like I need to redeem myself from the previous two posts.  I know I've whined about this before, but really Seattle?  You really have to make the sun start setting at 3pm?  When I was sick this last weekend, I didn't even get UP until 3 pm (I was sick!)… let alone try and take pictures of food.

I made this cake for Thanksgiving this year, my first one away from Michigan.  I could tell you a sob story about it (there really wasn't one…), but instead I baked my feelings away during the Snowpocalypse that happened just a few days before T-Day.  To all my Michiganders out there, please feel free to be disgusted, but the whole city of Seattle shutdown for almost two days before of 3 (THREE!) inches of snow.  I couldn't get to work on Monday or Tuesday and to get ingredients for this cake, I had to walk over a mile, half of it up and down a huge ice covered hill, to the Interbay QFC.  I then found out that one of the Thanksgivings I was going to didn't have power (they eventually got it back on in time) over on the Olympic Peninsula.  Say it with me now, SERIOUSLY Seattle?

I brought this over to my first Thanksgiving of the evening, hosted by my neighbors Doug & Elspeth!  I know they read my blog, so I'll only say nice thing about them, but honestly, there are only nice things to say about them!  Soon after moving in they greeted me and invited Rachel and I over for some wine.  We regularly go over to their place and I feel comforted knowing they're my neighbor!  Thanks guys!

Anyways… this cake is delicious!  I mean, actually plate licking delicious.  The cake portion is so moist and soft, but still has a tight enough crumb that frosting it isn't difficult at all.  Topping wise, I couldn't have thought up of a more perfect combination.  The toasted nuts contrast perfectly with the heat of the ginger while the pepitas provide an unexpected but welcome crunch.  To finish it off, the frosting is wonderful but I think the recipe developers were a little skimpy with the ingredients - I barely had just enough frosting.  Next time I'll make a little more.  However, it was nice that there wasn't much sugar in the frosting.

I know the pumpkin season is ending as we move into the non-stop feast on holiday cookies, but I swear this will be worth your while.