Every year, we pick out a sugar pie pumpkin to make a new pumpkin recipe every year. This year, we decided to make a moist pumpkin cake inspired by Food 52's recipe post by Sarah Jampel with an adapted version of "Mom's" special and super easy cream cheese frosting. This recipe is intended for a 9-inch cake, but we decided to create mini bunt cakes and cupcakes. Unfortunately, we didn't keep count of how many we really made...they were gone pretty quick!
The Deets:
For one 9-inch Pumpkin Cake:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of oat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp + 1tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup + 2 tbsp fresh pumpkin puree (can puree would probably work too-9 oz)
1 cup canola oil
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
3 large eggs -yolks and whites separated
a pinch of salt
Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz softened cream cheese . We used neufchatel cheese- which is the French version that is a bit more moist and has a lower fat content.
1/2 stick of softened butter
1/2 box confectioner sugar (or about 1+1/2 cups- but always measure to taste!)
1-2tbsp of honey (all about those tastebuds)
a lovely pinch of cinnamon
a drop of vanilla extract
Directions:
CAKE
1. Butter your cake pan and/or molds. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a bowl and set aside
3. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, oil, sugars and salt with a whisk.
4. Add in one egg yolk at a time into the pumpkin mixture . Make sure each yolk is fully incorporated before adding the next yolk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix until all the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
6. In another bowl, whisk up the three egg whites until they are frothy and white. Gently fold them into the batter using a rubber spatula until full incorporated. Do not over fold/mix.
7. Pour batter into cake pan/ molds to about 3/4 of the way. If you bake the 9" cake, check the cake after 40 minutes by inserting a toothpick or thin knife into the center of the cake. When it comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven, and let cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, or until the cake is pulling away from the pan. If you are baking in smaller molds, check the cake after about 20 minutes (depending on the size of your molds/baking pans).
FROSTING
Combine all ingredients together and whip using a whip attachment on a mixer( a beater will work too...but the consistency will not be as fluffy). Finish mixing and scraping down the bowl with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Done!
You can also drizzle some honey for a little extra specialness.:)
All the best,
Salt and Cinny