These cute little cakes combine two of the holiday season’s most beloved ingredients: pumpkin and eggnog.

“Pumpkin Spice Minis” is from the cookbook, “Cake Simple” (Chronicle Books) by cookbook writer Christie Matheson, of which I received  a review copy.

I took the liberty of swapping out the buttermilk in the cake recipe and the milk in the glaze recipe for eggnog instead.

Eggnog’s inherent richness is even too much for me at times just gulped straight. So, I prefer baking with it instead.

That’s just what I did when I recently received a sample of Organic Valley eggnog. Made with organic eggs and milk, plus fair trade sugar, vanilla and nutmeg, this is a decadent tasting eggnog. A quart is $3.49 at most Whole Foods stores.

These cakes bake up incredibly moist. I’m not sure you can taste the eggnog, necessarily. But it probably does elevate the warm spices already present, lending a tickle to the tongue.

The glaze is quite sweet, so you may not want to use every last spoonful. It just depends on how sugary you like your cake. To add an even more festive touch, I decorated the tops of a few of the mini Bundt cakes with pecan halves.

Baking a batch of these minis for the holidays is surely one way to use your noggin.

Pumpkin Spice Minis

(Serves 6)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus melted butter for greasing the molds

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the molds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

1/2 cup eggnog or buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

Spiced Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush inside of six mini Bundt molds with the melted butter and dust them lightly with flour. (Use a pastry brush to help distribute the flour and tap out any excess.)

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin with the buttermilk and vanilla.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low, add flour mixture (in three increments) alternately with the pumpkin mixture (in two increments), beginning and ending with the flour and beating until the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter evenly among prepared molds, smooth the tops, and bake for about 22 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes, then invert them onto the rack and let them cool completely. When the cakes are completely cool, drizzle them with the glaze. The cakes will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. (The unglazed cakes will keep, wrapped well in a layer of plastic and a layer of foil, in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.)

Spiced Glaze

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1-3 tablespoons eggnog or milk

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the milk, cinnamon and allspice in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth and pourable.

Recipes adapted from “Cake Simple” by Christie Matheson

Another “Cake Simple” Recipe: Cranberry-Creme Fraiche Cake