Streusel in the middle Pumpkin Bundt (with caramel icing)

I went in search of a good pumpkin bundt cake, and was dismayed to find that most of them started with a mix or used a pudding packet. Not quite what I was looking for. But then allrecipes.com came to my rescue with this little gem. I made a different icing on a whim, but I'm sure that the original one would be just as delicious. I also made some minor modifications to the spices. The best part of this cake, hands down, is the gooey sugary cinnamony ribbon of filling running through the middle. The batter is quite thick, so it was easy to create a little canyon to sprinkle the sugar mixture in. You want to make sure that it is completely encased in batter - no leaking out against the pan allowed.

Cover it all over, put it in the oven, walk away for nearly an hour...

...and voila! Cake! The instructions said to let it cool in the pan for 30 minutes before flipping it out onto the rack. I was skeptical, but it proved to work perfectly. It was initially a little bit stuck, but once it sat and steamed a bit in it's own heat, it popped right out.

Puddles of caramely glaze -yum!

Streusel in the middle Pumpkin Bundt (with caramel icing)

Streusel:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 T. butter (softened)

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. allspice

pinch of cloves

Cake:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 T. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

1/2 t. each cloves, cardamom and nutmeg

2 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup butter, softened

4 large eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

8 ounces sour cream

2 t. vanilla

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 T. butter

1/3 cup cream

2 T. milk

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan by spraying generously with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix the struesel ingredients together until well combined.

In a medium bowl combine the dry cake ingredients and set aside. In another medium bowl, beat the sugar and butter until creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla, then gradually beat in the dry ingredient mixture.

Spread 1/2 of the batter mixture evenly around the bottom of the bundt pan, creating a "canyon" in it. Sprinkle the struesel in the canyon, evenly distributed, making sure that the sugar mixture doesn't run into the wall of the pan. Then spread the rest of the batter around the top of the sugar mixture.

Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to rest on a wire rack for 30 minutes before removing from pan.

To make the glaze: in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the brown sugar and cream. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-5 minutes, until the sugar is well dissolved. Remove from heat and whisk in the milk and powdered sugar. Immediately drizzle over the cake.