Election Cake with Pumpkin Pie Spice Glaze
Pumpkin pie spice is the key flavoring for pumpkin pie and other autumnal delicacies, since pumpkin doesn’t have much taste on its own. (Which is why it’s interesting that people panicked about not being able to find canned pumpkin during the pandemic, when One Pie or another canned squash would have done just as well.) You can buy it on any supermarket shelf, but you already have the ingredients in your pantry so why not make your own pumpkin pie spice?
According to McCormick, the “warm taste” and “spicy-sweet flavor” of their product are due to four ingredients (in order of their quantity in the mix); cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Simply Organic has the first three ingredients in the same order then substitute ground cloves for allspice as does Frontier.
When we got home after inspecting jars at the store, we looked up a few recipes to make your own pumpkin pie spice. Taste of Home has a recipe with 4 t ground cinnamon, 2 t ground dried ginger (which by the way is a very different product than fresh ginger), 1 t ground cloves and ½ t nutmeg. We liked that ratio and reduced it mightily to make a pumpkin pie spice glaze for our Election Cake, which we wanted to make extra festive for the very special election this year.
Our recipe was 1 c sifted powdered sugar, 1 t cinnamon, ½ t ginger and a pinch each of grated nutmeg and allspice, mixed with 2 T milk. Milk amount is variable; we added just enough to create a consistency which was pourable but would cling to the cake rather than just dripping down to the plate. It worked out very nicely as you can see in the photo above.
Now, go forth and make your own pumpkin pie spice. And enjoy it, maybe with some mulled cider or hot buttered rum, while you wait for the election results to come in.
