Pumpkin Pecan Spice Bread by Foodie’s Chef Laura Brennan

      

November 13, 2022

This is a ‘quick’ bread; so named because it’s chemically leavened with baking soda and/or baking powder instead of yeast or a sourdough starter. ‘Quick’ breads include biscuits, muffins and loaf breads like banana, zucchini and this pumpkin bread. It comes together very quickly; the dry ingredients are combined with the wet ingredients. Add toasted nuts if you like (I used pecans, but walnuts would work as well.) Bake the batter in a prepared (buttered & floured) loaf pan and drizzle with a confectioner’s glaze when the loaf has cooled a bit.

  • Prep: 20 mins
  • Cook: 1 hrs 30 mins
  • Yields: 9-12 slices.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon softened butter

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice (or substitute ¼ teaspoon ground cloves)

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar, packed

½ can (15 ounce can) unsweetened pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup water

1 cup pecans halves, toasted and coarsely chopped by hand (see below)

Glaze: 1 cup confectioner’s (powdered) sugar, sifted, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees to toast pecans, raise heat to 350 to bake the quick bread.

Toast and chop the pecans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread the nuts out on a sheet pan and roast for 10-12 minutes, stirring once or twice. The nuts will become fragrant but not very browned. Remove tray from oven and let cool. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop the nuts by hand (on a cutting board with a chef’s knife). Chopping the nuts in the food processor will render the pieces too small and ‘dusty’. Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Lightly coatthe bottom and sides of a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with softened butter. Dust the

bottom and sides with flour and tap out the excess flour. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the four (4) ground

spices. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the vegetable oil, the eggs, both sugars, the pumpkin puree, the vanilla extract and the water. Use the paddle attachment and mix on low speed to combine. Turn off the machine and add the bowl of dry ingredients. Paddle gently to just combine. Don’t over-mix. Scrape off the paddle and fold in the chopped pecans by hand. Mix thoroughly into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees in the middle of the oven for 60-80 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Note: Turn the cake around in the oven after 35 minutes. Test cake for doneness at 55 minutes to judge how much more cooking time is needed. When done remove cake from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan. Continue to cool on the rack while you prepare the glaze.

Prepare the glaze. Sift the 1 cup of confectioner’s/powdered sugar into a bowl. Melt the

butter and the milk together over low heat (or in the microwave). Pour over the sifted sugar

and stir to combine. It will be fairly thick. Brush or spoon this glaze on the still warm cake.

Let cake sit for at least 30-40 minutes more before slicing.

PS- This recipe uses only half the can of pumpkin puree. Feel free to double the recipe and make two loaves. (I only own one loaf pan, so I only made one!) Freeze the leftover puree and add to your Thanksgiving pies, squash dishes, next-day turkey soup or pasta and polenta side dishes.

close full screen
00:00