Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Cake

Halloween is just around the corner and stores are bursting with frightening displays and crates of pumpkins.

Pumpkin is one of my favorite items to cook with because it's so versatile and it's synonymous with the season, so to get in the spirit, I made a delicious pumpkin spice bundt cake with a brown sugar glaze.

Halloween causes quite a stir in my family, and it's a holiday we embrace wholeheartedly, none more vigorously than my middle school son. We decorate the front lawn with pithy tombstones and watch my neighbor, Charlie, scare the bejezzus out of unsuspecting trick or treaters. Ah, good times.

Unfortunately, this year, my son will have to miss Halloween. It seems that some wise soul thought it would be a great idea to schedule the annual 7th grade field trip to Catalina Island on Halloween. It just won't be the same without the ritual of chasing my son around the front lawn, trying to wrestle the scary mask off his head or watching him ambush his sister with rubber tarantulas.

He is so disappointed that he seriously considered not going on the trip. But that's when the serious negotiations began in our household. Apparently, he is bargaining hard to get his high school-aged sister to trick or treat on his behalf... kind of like the Unicef bid for change, only she would be asking for candy for a child who is on an academic hiatus.  

Offers and counter offers have been made and the best deal he has been able to secure thus far is an offer for her to give him the candy that she doesn't like that's in her bag.

He has even attempted to convince me that the family dog should trick or treat on his behalf. Our dog, Fritz, is a very good sport and has been subjected to a number of attempts at "dress up."  

They say dogs look like their owners. Well, if my son were a dog, he'd be a Goldendoodle, friendly, energetic, and outgoing with a mass of floppy curls. My daughter would be a Greyhound, long, leggy and athletic and the only dog I can think of that wears a softball face mask. And my husband? Well, no good can come of my comparing my husband to a dog.

I suppose then that the dog looks like me–short, chesty and with his hair in a bit of a mess. He loves to sleep on the couch and has a perpetual slightly rumpled look about him. Yup, sounds like me. But I digress.

The only issue now is whether or not Fritz dresses up as "Ima Bee" in homage to his favorite rap group, the Black Eyed Peas, as retro 80s dog or a Volturi in a nod to his favorite vampire.

So if you see a short, stocky someone at your door on Halloween asking for candy, I swear it's not me, it's the dog.

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix

• 1 package instant butterscotch pudding mix

• 4 eggs

• 1/3 cup water

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1 cup canned pumpkin

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and beat in a large bowl on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing, invert onto a plate and cool completely before glazing.

 Brown Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons milk

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Directions:

While the cake is cooling, bring butter, brown sugar and milk to a full boil in a saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth, with no lumps. Add more milk if needed to thin. Drizzle over bundt cake.