Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites
Take one old fashioned pound cake. Cut it into bites and then toss it in classic Autumn spices. Oh yeah, these Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites are quite tasty!
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Laura and I used to make wine. That’s right, wine. We got into the hobby back when we lived in Atlanta, and Laura’s labmate in grad school was a big wine maker. He convinced us to give it a shot, and I’ve gotta say that making wine is pretty fun! Now, to be fair, we don’t go all old school and stomp grapes in a tub in the backyard. We start with concentrated grape juice that we buy at a homebrew store. In fact, the grape juice comes as a part of a kit with other necessarily ingredients like yeast and oak chips (we happen to enjoy a good oak-y chardonnay). But making wine is pretty much just following a recipe, and it’s pretty darned cool to see the process!
Of course, our wine making days are quite limited lately thanks to a certain toddler who wants to “help” with everything. I’m pretty sure having Robbie help us make wine would take us out of the running for Parents of the Year. Hah! Oh, and a batch of wine makes ~30 bottles. It takes several months to make the wine, and then several more months for the wine to age in the bottles…so it’s a process. But it’s a process that yields 30 bottles of wine, so that’s kinda fun! In addition to our basement being a man cave, my photography studio, our storage room and my office…it’s also a wine cellar! By wine cellar, I mean a place to store our crazy amount of wine. (I’ve always wanted a legit wine cellar, though. How cool would that be!?)
So while our wine making activities have been quite limited lately, I haven’t let fall baking go by the wayside. In fact, I just call Robbie into duty! (Baking Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites is an acceptable activity for our Parents of the Year application, right?) A while back, I stumbled across a Pinterest recipe for Pound Cake Bites. I mean, how creative of an idea is that? I happen to love pound cake, and it’s right up there with banana bread as one of the first things that I ever learned how to bake. Julie used a store-bought pound cake for her version, but I decided to go with my mom’s tried and true vanilla pound cake. That cake alone is amazing, but then you go saute pieces of it in butter and then toss in pumpkin spice? Bring on the Fall!
I don’t often keep spice mixes in my pantry, but I do always have the individual spices. So to replicate a pumpkin spice flavor, I just combined cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Now make no mistake about it here: this is a “cheat day” recipe. I mean a pound cake gets it’s name from the fact that the original recipes used a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour. So take that as a base and then saute it in butter before tossing it in sugar? Yeah, cheat day recipe for sure! But that’s ok, sometimes you need a good dessert, right? Plus, I took these bad boys with me down the street to my friend’s place one night. More mouths means less Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites for my mouth…and I’m ok with that. (After all, I do have the recipe right here if I ever want more!) Robbie also contributed his share to the “eat all the pound cake bites” mission. (And on a side note, Laura thought these were Pumpkin Spice doughnuts…they seriously taste like cake doughnuts after they get sauteed and tossed in sugar!)
Are you into Fall Baking mode, yet? We’ve had silly record high temperatures here in upstate New York lately, but it look like Fall weather is coming at the end of the week. And Fall weather means Fall baking. It also means it’s time for chilies, stews and all sorts of fun slow cooker creations. So grab that sweater from the closet and enjoy the season, my friends! And make sure to save some Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites for me…and Robbie. Cheers!
Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites
Ingredients
For the Pound Cake
- 1½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
For the Pumpkin Spice Coating
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice see note
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
For the Pound Cake
- Grease and flour (or spray with nonstick spray) a standard bundt pan; set pan aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Using a countertop or handheld mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (~3-4 minutes on medium speed).
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Add the flour, salt, milk and vanilla; mix on low speed for 3-4 minutes, or until well combined. (Tip: Don’t forget to scrape sides of the bowl!)
- Transfer batter into prepared bundt pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 75-80 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out mostly clean.
- Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Transfer cake to a cooling rack until completely cool.
For the Pumpkin Spice Coating
- Slice the cooled pound cake into 1” cubes.
- Using a medium bowl, add the sugar and pumpkin pie spice; mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Using a large skillet, add 2 Tbsp of butter and place over medium heat. Once melted, add half of pound cake cubes. Cook, rotating as needed, until cubes have browned on all sides. Remove toasted cubes from skillet and toss in sugar-pumpkin spice mixture. Repeat process with remaining butter and pound cake cubes.
Notes
That is so cool! I’ve never made wine, but it definitely sounds fun and a legit wine cellar would be pretty awesome! I love all the comfort food and pumpkin spice everything that fall brings. These little bites are adorable…though, dangerous cause I’m sure I’d eat a whole bunch and not even realize how much I’ve eaten, lol. Have a great week 🙂
Wine is really fun to make, Dawn! It requires a bit of stuff (like 30+ wine bottles…haha), but we’ve had fun with it. Give it a shot sometime! Oh, and you are SO right about these bites being addictive. I’m really glad our friend was having a party so I had a way to share these with other people. 🙂 Hope you’re doing well, my friend!
Oh, making wine sounds like a lot of fun. David, I know you’ve picked lots if apples recently so my question is can you make apple cider as well? If yes, I’m volunteering to sample it (like few gallons). These pumpkin spice bites sound and look amazing. They somehow remind me french toasts (It’s actually a great idea to make pumpkin spice toasts). But wait. PUMPKIN SPICE? (Sorry for shouting). Have you moved from apples to pumpkins (not real pumpkins yet but anyway)? Hold on, David! If you’re that fast, by the time I share my first apple recipe, you’ll have done with the Thanksgiving revipes or probably even with the Christmas ones:) Have a great week!
You know…that’s a great question about apple cider, Ben! I bet I could make a non-alcoholic version fairly easily, but I don’t know how to go about making hard cider. I might just have to look into that! (It would be a great way to use all of these apples…haha!) You know, that’s a good point about the comparison to French toast. That’s kinda what these are in a way…just using pound cake as the starter! And, yes, believe it or not, time is marching on, my friend. October is almost here, and that means pumpkin season! 🙂 Hope your week is off to a great start!
These are super cool! And having a wine cave would be beyond cool! But back to these bites….they are kind of like the best part of a salad – the croutons! These are a perfect nibbling sweet crouton! And really the best part is I don’t have to limit myself to just one! 🙂
Oh, I would love to have a wine cave in my house! Maybe even one with a secret door? 🙂 Oh, I like your comparison of these bites to salad croutons. That’s kinda what these are! Dessert croutons! And they are WAY too easy to nibble on. Fortunately, our friend was having a party, so I had a way to share these with a bunch of other folks. Thanks, Kathy! I hope your week is off to a great start!
True story: my dad used to make wine when I was really young. For some reason, he once left a pitcher of the homemade stuff in the fridge and my babysitter thought it was grape juice. . .you can probably see where this is going. It took me years to understand how anyone could voluntarily drink that stuff, haha! These pound cake bites are GENIUS! Pound cake is one of my favorite treats, and with pumpkin spices it just got a whole lot better. Happy Monday, David!
OH NO! I can totally see why the babysitter would get confused as wine isn’t often left in pitchers. But after making wine here, I can totally see how you’d end up with a leftover pitcher in the fridge, too. I’m thinking this story explains a lot, Kelsie. 😉 Oh, and these pound cake bites? Perfectly poppable Fall treats!
Hi David! Cooler weather is headed our way and I am currently in apple everything mode. However, I love pound cake and you have definitely kicked it up a notch! These are perfect for the dessert table at Thanksgiving. Or the appetizer table or for the cook who is slaving away in the kitchen!
Oh, I am definitely ready for the cooler weather, Dorothy! We set record highs here the past 2 days, and today looks set for the same. In fact, my Dad was up visiting from Texas this past weekend…and it was hotter here on Sunday than it was in south-central Texas! Umph. But, yes, apple and pumpkin baking season is here (regardless of the weather), and these pound cake bites are a fun twist on a classic! But beware…they’re WAY too easy to eat! Haha. Thanks so much, my friend!!
You guys make WINE!! What all you don’t make :P. You and Laura are such creative cooks! And, I am sure Robbie is following your footsteps, while eating those delicious looking pound cake bites :D. I love pound cakes, the crumb is so buttery and yummy! Rolling them in butter and the pumpkin spice is an amazing idea..I always love bite sized treats..They are so fun to eat and serve at get togethers and family dinners.. I have bookmarked this for the cooler weather :).
Haha…I can’t say that we make wine all that often (especially now that Robbie is here), but yes we do indeed make wine. We still buy wine in the store, too, though. The wine making is just a fun little hobby on the side! So Robbie loved these pound cake bites. I actually had to hide them from him on the counter as he would start crying if he saw them and we didn’t let him eat ’em. So this one is definitely something that needs to come around when the weather gets cooler over there, Deepika! The flavors are amazing, and these bites really do taste like cake donuts after they’ve been cooked up in butter and tossed with the cinnamon sugar. I hope you and your family enjoy these!! (I know your Dad isn’t a cake guy, but maybe he’ll still like these?) 🙂
What a delicious snack David! I would have never thought of cutting my cake into cubes! So fun!
Same here, Manali! When I saw the idea on Pinterest, I knew I needed to give it a shot right away. And of course, pumpkin spice anything is a winner in my book! I love the spices in that mix. 🙂
These look so yummy – my poundcake recipe is one that is baked in a Bundt pan, so there are always leftovers, this would be perfect. I don’t know about “cheat day”, you did call them “bites”. So,…yeah… thanks for the recipe!
Well, if one bite turns into two bites turns into 20 bites…then these become a cheat day recipe, Laura! Haha! But, yes, I bake my pound cake in a bundt pan, too. I just baked it up and then cut it into cubes. Nice and easy, and really fun to eat, too!
What are you doing to me, David? Pound cake bites?? Pumpkin spice pound cake bites… I will take 50, please. I’ve never made wine but living so close to wine country I would love to try it out. I didn’t realize making wine was such an easy process. My Mom incorporated me in her baking plans at a very early age, I was a master pan greaser and flour(er) before I graduated to anything else. Thanks for this tasty pound cake recipe, it totally reminds me of my GrandMother.
Yeah, I think I ate about 50 of these bites while I was taking these photos, Mary! “Hmmm…that bite doesn’t look quite right there. I should eat it.” That totally happened. A lot. Haha! So making wine is a fun process for sure, but you live so close to wine country that it’s hardly worth making wine out there! I visited Napa last year, and I can’t wait to get back there sometime! Oh, and great idea about the pan greaser and flour(er)…I might just have to recruit Robbie into that job in another year or two! 🙂
My sister and brother-in-law used to make wine years ago. It was good stuff. The pumpkin spice pound cake bites is a brilliant idea. They sound delicious with all of that sugar and spice. Such a fun way to eat cake.
Making wine certainly is a fun hobby! We haven’t done it in a while due to Robbie, but we might have to make a batch sometime this winter. Thanks so much, Dawn! 🙂
Yes, who would guess that something with pounds of butter and sugar would benefit from more buttress and more sugar, but it does!
I totally agree! More butter, more good. More sugar, more good. Haha!
That’s so cool that you and Laura know how to make wine! You two are pretty adventurous with you hobbies!
Love these idea of these spice coated pound cake bites! Great party fare too.
I guess we’re kinda adventurous with our hobbies, but I’ve never thought about it like that. It’s more like, “hmmm…that sounds like fun. I want to learn how to make that!” 🙂 That’s kinda how I got into baking, too. I wanted to learn how to make delicious treats! And these Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake Bites are definitely delicious! Thanks, Marissa!
love that you made this idea fall-ready! this is definitely parent/child activity worthy (; though making wine sounds really cool (i’m also betting that you’re downplaying how much of a process it is, aka i’m not sure i’d do it more than once!).
So I’m waiting for the day when Robbie can legitimately become my sous chef in the kitchen! Right now, he just stands there and looks at me and says “Daddy’s cookin’.” Haha! So winemaking is indeed a process (I mean it takes months!), but it’s also quite fun. Of course, those days where we had unlimited free time to do things like make wine are on the backburner for now while we chase a toddler around! 🙂 Thanks, Heather…I hope you have a great weekend!
I never would have thought to cut up a cake and then saute it in butter, but these pound cake bites look and sound alarmingly delicious!! Bring on the cheat day noms 😉
Oh man, I would never have thought about this little trick either, Mara…but it’s SO good. I swear those bites tasted exactly like cake donuts from the bakery. 🙂 It’s definitely a cheat day recipe, so make sure to have plenty of friends around to help polish this one off! But it’s so, so, so good!
These are like a perfect bite of fall life! Fantastic.
Why thank you very much! These bites really are perfect for chilly Fall days! 🙂
You used to make wine!!?? That is soo legit. I really want to try doing that too and that sounds like AWESOME holiday gifts for people as well.
Anyways these pumpkin bites sound like a freakin dream! Perfect for a fall coffee in the morning
You should totally try making wine! It isn’t that hard at all since we used a kit from a winemaking/homebrewing store. All you have to do is follow directions. It kinda reminds me of doing science projects as a kid…except you end up with a bunch (like 30 bottles) of wine. Each batch we’ve done is better than the last, but we haven’t done one in a while. Maybe this winter!
Also, these pumpkin pound cake bites would be PERFECT with a mug of coffee on a chilly Fall morning. I might just need to make these again as that sounds like an awesome treat. 🙂 Thanks so much, Cara!
My husband and I made our own wine too once! We still have all the equipment, but haven’t tried it again. We did a red last time, so I’d like to do a riesling or chardonnay next – if we ever get around to doing it again! I actually find the process a little tough since I don’t have A/C and can only control the temperature in my house so much with ceiling fans & windows open. As you know, having the wine ferment in the ideal temp is important! On another note, I like the idea of pound cake bites… the only problem is I think I could easily eat a ton of these in one sitting! 🙂
Yes! I totally know what you mean about the wine equipment, Nicole. We’ve probably made 3-4 batches, but that equipment has been sitting in our basement for a while now. I’m thinking we might need to pull it out on a cold winter day this year. We found that the wine kits were always a little weaker than we liked, so we picked bolder flavors and then didn’t add quite as much water as they recommended. But that’s just us!
I’m thinking you should invite friends over to make wine and eat pumpkin spice pound cake bites this Fall! 🙂 Oh, and for temperature, we ended up putting ours at the bottom of our coat closet and covered it with an old blanket. Laura’s ex-labmate (who makes a ton of wine) shared that trick, and it worked for us!
Nice Article
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