Pumpkin Cake

Since Audrey shared her birthday with our Very Fake Thanksgiving, I went with a Fall theme & made her a pumpkin shaped & flavored birthday cake. I had seen in Williams Sonoma a few years ago two Bundt pans specially made to be the top & bottom for a pumpkin shaped cake. I already have a Bundt pan & with enough icing, no one would know it didn’t have the molding of vines & pumpkin details under it!

Sadly, I have only used a spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin to make a pumpkin cake. Since it was for Audrey’s first birthday I decided to look for a pumpkin cake recipe made from scratch. This one received rave reviews & I managed to only make a few changes by upping the spices & reducing some calories. The result – the best pumpkin cake I’ve ever tasted! It was flavorful & moist. Most importantly, Audrey loved it!

I found this recipe for cream cheese icing on allrecipes.com. I learned it was featured on Throw Down with Bobby Flay. Well, it certainly was delicious & my new “go to” cream cheese icing recipe. The only problem is it’s really soft. For the orange it was perfect, but for the leaves & vines I added some more powdered sugar to give it more structure.

I used two cake ice cream cones to make the stem. The first I put in the hole of the two cake & the second I dipped in melted chocolate, firmed in the refrigerator, & put upside down in the center. I think it turned out pretty cute & for what it lacked in beauty it made up for in taste!

*Note: It takes 2 recipes of the pumpkin cake to make the tope & bottom of the pumpkin shaped cake.

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil ( I used ½ oil ½ applesauce)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used pumpkin pie spice)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, no nuts for the baby)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 12x18 inch pan( I used a Bundt pan). Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared 12x18 inch pan (or Bundt pan).
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Cream Cheese Icing II.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.
   

Kristin