Skip to main content

Just Desserts: Pumpkin Spice Cake

This week: Pumpkin Spice Cake

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin (about 1/2 of a 15 ounce can)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups sifted cake flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
Cream Cheese Frosting:
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (preferably Grade A dark amber)
  • 2 cups confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 cup toasted and chopped walnuts or pecans


Preheat the oven to 350°F and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour two - 8 inch cake pans.

Cake:
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the pumpkin batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Divide the batter in half and then pour the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then invert and remove the cakes from their pans. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of your food processor (or use a hand mixer) and pulse until smooth. Add the maple syrup and confectioners' sugar and process to combine. Adjust syrup or sugar until you have the right consistency.

Assemble:
Place one of the cake layers, top side down, on a serving plate. Frost with a layer of icing. Place the second cake, top side down, onto the first layer and frost the top and sides of the cake. Garnish with chopped nuts, if desired. Refrigerate but bring to room temperature before serving.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just Desserts: Double Peanut Butter Bars

This recipe takes the simple peanut butter cookie and "raises the bar"... with three layers: Peanut Butter Cookie on the bottom Rich peanut butter icing in the middle Topped with a chocolate shell Delicious and decadent! For the cookie base: Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish. 1 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon dark molasses 1/2 cup creamy peanut buter 1/4 cup shortening 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 egg 1 1/4 cups flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt Prepare peanut butter cookie dough (per normal recipe)  but do not refrigerate.  Instead, spread dough evenly on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for about 15-18 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.  For the middle layer: 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 1 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups powdered sugar In a small bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, milk, vanilla...
5 comments
Read more

60 Minutes & Chevron

I don't normally post stuff about work, but after watching the drivel on 60 Minutes last night about the "Ecuadorian" lawsuit against Chevron, I had to relay this: Images are of Petroecuador sites and are not Texaco-remediated sites: The images of oil pits, and oil operations in general, that “60 Minutes” used are of locations that are the sole responsibility of Petroecuador, Texaco Petroleum’s partner from the days of the consortium. “60 Minutes” knew this fact, but chose to ignore it in its reporting. No responsibility was placed on Petroecuador: Petroecuador has been the sole operator of oil fields in Ecuador since 1992 and has compiled a well-documented record of environmental mismanagement. In addition, Petroecuador has repeatedly stated that it is responsible for the remaining cleanup work that is required in the Ecuadorian Amazon and it readily admits that it has not cleaned up the sites allocated to them under the remediation action plan 15 years ago. Again, “60 M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Promise? What Promise?

from the NYT " The Caucus " blog... "A gaggle of sign-waving protestors milled around outside The Beverly Hilton, the sprawling hotel on Wilshire Boulevard. They must have caught the president’s eye when he arrived at the hotel from an earlier stop in Las Vegas because he relayed one of their messages to the crowd. 'One of them said, “Obama keep your promise,’ the president said. 'I thought that’s fair. I don’t know which promise he was talking about.' The people in the audience – who paid $30,400 per couple to attend – laughed as they ate a dinner of roasted tenderloin, grilled organic chicken and sun choke rosemary mashed potatoes." Feel free to take this image and put it on your blog -- or even on a poster or t-shirt. Just do me the favor of linking back here and/or putting a link to your blog (or a picture of the graphic in action) in the comments. Thanks!
2 comments
Read more