I love the fall and everything that goes along with it…including the beer selection. And I will be the first one to admit that I count the seconds until brewers release their fall offerings, especially the pumpkin ones. But it turns out that those so called pumpkin beers aren’t really pumpkin flavored….at all. Usually, they are ales loaded with tons of wonderful holiday spices that closely mimic grandma’s beloved pumpkin pie.
In 2011, Scott Smith, Owner and Head Brewer of EEBC finally conceded to brewing a pumpkin..ish beer after years and years of relentless requests from Pittsburgh craft beer drinkers. Now Scott is a pretty witty guy (to say the least), and he certainly does not like to be wasteful. He’s also a well seasoned brewer who knows that pumpkins have an extremely subtle and delicate flavor profile, which is no match for the strong flavor profiles of traditional malts and hops. So Scott abandoned this rather absurd practice of including pumpkins in pumpkin spiced beer and focused on concocting a masterful blend of spices that taste just like the pie…but without any of the unnecessary pumpkin additives. Therefore, his pumpkin beer was dubbed Nunkin Ale so all those who enjoy it know that “no pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, squash, or gourds of any type were senselessly slaughtered” to brew this magnificent beer.
This whole pumpkin beer thing seems pretty ironic, so we decided to be festive and stay with this theme. Since Scott won’t put pumpkin in Nunkin…..we made Nunkin into a Pumpkin….cake. Although pumpkins are not big flavor contributors to our wildly popular so-called pumpkin beers, they sure do come in handy when baking a pumpkin cake. This cake is moist, decadent, and spiced just right. Only with this recipe will the combination of Nunkin and pumpkins ever make perfect sense.
Pumpkin Beer Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Pumpkin Beer Cake Ingredients
- 4 cups white sugar
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup Nunkin Ale by East End Brewing Co.
- 4 cups pumpkin (not the pie filling)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tsp cinnamon
Pumpkin Beer Cake Directions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Combine all ingredients in a extra large bowl
- Divide and pour the batter equally into 2 greased bundt pans
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean
Pumpkin Beer Cake Icing Ingredients
- 1 stick of salted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla
- red & yellow food coloring (follow box’s directions to make orange)
- 1 package of whole pecans
Icing Directions
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, blend butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and food coloring until well incorporated (save pecans for decoration)
Assembly of Pumpkin Beer Cake
- After cakes have cooled, trim the top part of each cake (just enough to make it a flat surface)
- Flip one cake upside down and spread cream cheese icing on the top
- Set second cake on top (now it should look like a pumpkin!)
- Spread icing on the outside of cake
- Place pecans on cake to look like ridges on pumpkin
- Squeeze a Grolsch bottle (or any green beer bottle) in the middle
- Serve and enjoy with friends!
Cheers N’at
D&T
Pennies, Pints, Pittsburgh
We are a husband & wife blogging team who loves beer, food, and Pittsburgh. We were both born and raised in the City of Bridges and now are proudly raising our own family here. Pittsburgh is going through a tremendous craft beer boom and we are beyond thrilled to be a part of it. We enjoy blogging about the local craft beer scene and also enjoy the challenge of effectively incorporating those local beers into some of our favorite recipes.
