Happy National Bundt Day! (Featuring Pumpkin-Oatmeal Bundt)

Today is National Bundt Day.  If you didn't read my post from earlier this week, go back and read it to discover my history with this day. (You don't have to read it really, there's no history - Bundt cake is just a really good idea, and I wanted cake on Bundt Day 2010.  But I've celebrated each Bundt Day since then.  Because I like cake, y'all.)

Last week, my friend Ruhama (who started me on this Bundt Day broo-ha-ha) put a reminder on Facebook that Bundt Day was coming up.  A good idea on her part, really, because Bundt Day doesn't get all the fanfare and promotions of bigger holidays like Halloween or Christmas.  It kind of gets lost in the cracks, and that's just tragic because it's a holiday about cake.  So I started thinking about what kind of Bundt I'd make this year.  Seriously - I didn't procrastinate this year and glob a bunch of things together.  I actually planned ahead and looked through my recipe books.

I settled on a recipe from a cookbook my mom gave me many years ago, Have Breakfast with Us II, a collection of recipes from bed & breakfast owners across Wisconsin.  The recipes are all breakfast recipes, of course, but of the ones that I've tried, they've all been good.  And you've gotta think, these are the recipes for food they serve their guests - it must be good.  So although I've never made this particular recipe before, I figured it'd be pretty good.

The original recipe is called Morning Pumpkin Coffeecake and it is meant to be a Bundt cake.  I'm sure it's a lovely cake to serve with brunch at a Victorian B&B, but I can't get my stuff together early enough in the morning to make a breakfast Bundt.  So this will be dessert tonight.  Cake is cake, after all.  (I think this is Clue #1 why I wouldn't be a good B&B proprietor - "What?  You want me to cook you breakfast?  Before I've had my coffee.  Pfft.  Whatever.  Even my kids know they are on their own for breakfast.  It's every mortal for themselves around here, at least until I've got 2 cups of coffee on board."  I would maybe make a good Supper & Bed proprietor, though.  I'm usually together by then.)

So besides changing the name of the cake, I also modified the ingredients a bit to cut sugar and fat.  The original called for 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine.  I cut the butter in half and subbed Greek yogurt for part of it.  The original also called for 1.5 cups of brown sugar.  I cut the brown sugar in half and subbed in Splenda.  The original called for 6 egg whites and I just used 3 whole eggs (I don't have a problem with whole eggs, nutritionally speaking.  I do have a problem, however, with wasting 6 perfectly good yolks.)  I also didn't have the amount of raisins called for by the original recipe, so I used some dried cranberries, and I also added some chopped walnuts and increased spices.

Okay, let's get ready to rock Bundt Day 2012.

First step, assemble your ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.25 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6 tablespoons butter (or 3/4 of a stick)
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup Splenda
• 1 can 100% 
• pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your Bundt pan with cooking spray.  Mix dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, salt and spices) in a bowl.  In bowl of stand mixer, combine softened butter, Greek yogurt, brown sugar, and Splenda.  

Beat until creamy and light.  Mix in pumpkin and eggs, combine thoroughly.  Gradually add flour mixture by spoonfuls until all of the flour mixture is evenly combined with wet ingredients.  Add in raisins, cranberries, and walnuts, combine. 

Pour cake batter into prepared Bundt.  Bake 60-70 minutes, until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes, then unmold from Bundt pan.  Cake can then be frosted, glazed or dusted with powdered sugar. (I glazed mine with a small amount of a cinnamon-powdered sugar glaze.)

Nutrition: Depending on how big you cut your slices, this cake is fairly decent (calorie-wise) in its unfrosted state: 218 calories for 1/12 of the cake, or 262 for 1/10.  Nutritionally speaking, it's okay.  For 1/12 of the cake, you'll get 10 grams of fat.  Which isn't great, but it's less fat than what you'd get in a traditional boxed cake.  Sugars are only 6.3 grams, so that's not too bad, and total carbs are 29g.  

Verdict: I'll post an update in this spot later tonight, after we've had this cake for dessert.  :)  Check back later.

Updated (10-16-12): Sorry about not posting an update regarding the cake last night.  I've got kids, you know?  Anyhow...it's a good cake recipe.  The flavor is very good, and it's decently moist.  I thought it would have benefited more from cream cheese frosting (as opposed to the glaze), but my husband said it was fine the way it is.  It would definitely be a good choice for a breakfast or brunch spread - I think it was very "muffin-like" and could probably be adapted into outstanding muffins quite easily.  The kids gave it mixed reviews - one kid opted to skip it completely as he's not a huge fan of pumpkin to begin with (and evidently, he's also not a big fan of frosting-less cake).  Middle One ate all of hers and said it was good.  Little One ate parts of hers, which is saying something because when we have cake, she usually eats the frosting and leaves the cake behind.