Looking for different topping other than cream cheese for pumpkin cake

what about a  fruit based glaze of some sort?...apple-caramel, ginger, lemon, vanilla, orange...that sort of thing

joey

 pomegranate, star anise?

Finish with a maple and pecan nut glaze -- same as for an Alligator (link here).  If you like, you can soak the cake with bourbon, a bourbon syrup, or ginger liqueur (Canton).

BDL

a friend use to make a rum cake that she 'pokied' every day adding more rum to get er drunk..it weighed a ton after a week, but holy moly, was that good..not being a dessert eater, i still loved it...just had some tuaca...do you know the italian liquer? nuances of oranges and vanilla..i think it would be most perfect as a simple syrupy kind of thing for your pumpkin...and yes, if you have never had 'canton' the vietamese baby ginger liqueur, you must try that as well..its quite addictive!

joey

sorry, just thinking a really top shelf pear or spiced rum liqueur would be great as well..look at the fruit liqueur shelf in your local liquor shack...lots of interesting choices...passionfruit...

sorry again, i know that i've edited this a gazillion times.......did i miss something along the way? are you making these for resale or gifts...ho, ho,ho? or for home? although i like bourbon in other cakes, i.e fruitcakes, i think it might be a wee bit heavy for the subtleness of a pumpkin cake with all the different spices, but is there a bourbon liqueur? bet this time of year there might just be a special pumpkin spiced  something out there...

are you slicing and serving this?...what about some sort of sorbet to go alongside?..of course to me a ginger ice cream would be the 'cat's meow'...i'm sure there is a substitute  soy based product at your health food store that you could add ginger and canton to...or maybe a dairy free spumante or rum raisin soy based ice cream...some of those health food things are just plain foul, but some are really good...can't remember the brand name of the soy based ice cream, but i remember there was one that was really good...expensive, but good.....as for the carrot cake, i can't even imagine carrot cake without a cream cheese/butter cream icing, but i would suggest the same thing with again looking in your health food store for dairy free or soy based cream cheese or whipping cream.....another suggestion might just be a simple fruit compote...pineapple, raisin, booze.....liquor goes with everything!...again, a sorbet or a dulce de leche dairy free product would be great, but that's probably not going to happen. if the person is lactose intolerant, maybe an different dessert altogether would be better...pumpkin pie, pumpkin tiramisu(marscapone might be a challenge), ....oooo, just thought of maybe making a pumpkin butter for the bundt cake....that might work...just not as thick maybe...bdl...why is the cake called alligator?

joey

depends on how anal you are...the long way home is to make a lemon curd and then thin it with simple syrup...maybe add some lavender or chamomile flowers....i can pm you the recipe if you like...easy way...buy a GOOD jar of lemon curd and thin it yourself...either with simple syrup or a little liqueur of your choice,alsoadding a bit more lemon zest...either way, it will be good....too bad about the dairy thingy as i think a vanilla sauce(creme anglaise) would be DYNOMITE! 

joey

An alligator is a danish, coffee cake.  The originator, Viktor Benes, presumably called it an alligator because the pecans and glaze make the surface of the cake look like alligator leather.

While not quite shoes and a bag, it does dress up a cafetiere nicely.

I suggested using it as a glaze not only because the maple/pecan glaze is so good on the Alligator, but because I make pumpkin pie with maple, pecans and bourbon and think everyone should have to eat those things to better reflect the wonder that is BDL, not that I'm in the slightest narcissistic; besides they work spectacularly well together.  Also, it's easy to make pareve. 

BDL

kitchenwizard, 

thinking of a few more workable topping(non dairy) ideas for your pumpkin cakes....how about some sort of apple butter? if you could somehow make it work, i think it would be a nice complement to the pumpkin or you didn't mention that chocolate was out ( god, how chocolate ever be out),so perhaps an organic white chocolate, dark chocolate or better yet, a combo drizzle...drizzle one, then drizzle the other...there is such a fantastic variety of flavors in organic chocolates these days...lavender,white chocolate with madagascar vanilla, orange/currant(which is one of my favorites), gianduja etc...lots to choose from to help make that pumpkin 'pop'..hope these help...

joey

 meant to mention when you make your lemon glaze to add a splash or two of lemoncello, the italian liqueur...wonderful stuff...there is also orangecello

We use a brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream on some of our spice and pumpkin cakes. For pumpkin, you can even add a dab of cinnamon or ginger (just a tiny bit) to give it some more spice. The brown sugar meringues have almost a 'smokey' flavor to them. Here is one: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/brown-sugar-swiss-meringue-buttercream