Holiday Pumpkin Cake with Rum-Cream Cheese Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 cups white sugar
• 0.5 cups light brown sugar , packed
• 0.5 cups vegetable oil
• 0.25 cups melted butter
• 0.5 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups unsweetened canned pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs , lightly beaten

Instructions

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

2. 2

   Sift the self-rising flour and pumpkin pie spice together into a bowl. In another mixing bowl, beat the white and brown sugars, vegetable oil, melted butter, applesauce, vanilla, pumpkin, and eggs together until smooth.

3. 3

   Gradually beat the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until completely smooth and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

4. 4

   Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes. Cover cake with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning, and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for about half an hour.

5. 5

   To unmold the cake, tap the bottom of the Bundt pan on the counter or work surface to help release it. Invert the cake on a serving plate and allow it to cool completely before glazing.

6. 6

   To make the glaze, mix the cream cheese with the butter, confectioners' sugar, rum extract, and milk in a bowl. Heat in a microwave oven for 15 seconds. Drizzle spoonfuls over the cooled cake. Keep cake refrigerated after serving.