Brown Butter Spice Cake

This cardamom-kissed, brown sugar crusted, squash-battered spice cake nearly didn't happen. My oven has been on a slow, temperamental decline for months. It has always been a bit slow out of the gate, taking it's time to heat up, but generally I didn't think much of it. Fussy oven, end of story. Recently though, it has been taking the better part of an hour to get to 350F. Then, there were the times it would turn off on a whim. Poof. As if it was simply done baking for the day. And the moments when it felt compelled to belch gas. Just the sort of thing to send me into a panic. At any rate, I found myself standing in front it, promising to call the repair shop, if it would just finish up this last unassuming loaf cake without issue. And it did. And the cake was near perfect. As promised, a call was made, a part replaced, and now she hits 350F in under ten minutes.

The inspiration for this cake was a bowl of leftover roasted winter squash. I was going to make pan-fried dumpling with this squash, but at the last minute opted to make a loaf cake instead. I'd puree the squash until it was smooth and creamy, then fold it into the batter for flavor, depth, and a moist crumb. And while I call it a cake, it's not hyper sweet. It's more like a cake-like bread - in the way banana bread, or zucchini bread is cake-like.

The spices here are assertive, I didn't skimp. In turn, it might be the most wonderfully fragrant cake I've baked to date. I chose a garam masala spice blend, paired with a good amount of cinnamon, to deliver a bit of a twist as far as warming spices go. The garam masala brings the cardamom, but also a nice hit of black pepper. If you give the cake a go, let me know if you make any tweaks to the spice list. There's a lot of latitude to experiment here.

We're thinking about skipping town with the cameras at some point in the next week to visit Yosemite. I'm embarrassed to say, although I've lived within a four hour drive nearly my entire life, I've yet to visit in the winter. Thoughts, tips, things I shouldn't miss en route? -h

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