Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Gingerbread with Hard Sauce (Bundt cake)

PUMPKIN APPLE GINGERBREAD

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter OR margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 can (15 ounces) 100 percent pure pumpkin (puree)
1 cup (1 large) baking apple (such as Granny Smith), peeled and shredded
1/2 cup molasses
Powdered sugar
Hard Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, two at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin, apple and molasses. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared Bundt pan.

Bake in preheated 350-degree oven 55 to 60 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in bread comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; invert onto serving platter.

Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Serve warm with Hard Sauce.

HARD SAUCE

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Beat butter and vanilla in a small mixer bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until fluffy.

Make 1 Bundt cake, 20 servings
Source: Daily News, 1999