Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
With Thanksgiving less than one week away, I finally popped open a can of pumpkin to make a tasty holiday treat. After some deliberation, I decided on Pumpkin Cake with Homemade Cheese Cream Frosting. What a heavenly combo….pumpkin and cream cheese. This cake is VERY moist (with one cup of oil, I would expect it to be). The only variation I made to the recipe, which is from Better Homes and Gardens, is in the cream cheese frosting. Originally, the recipe called for:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
I’m not sure why all of that powdered sugar and butter would be necessary, so I lightened things up a bit. Here is my cream cheese frosting recipe:
- 8 oz. Neufchatel cream cheese
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
And let me tell you…people were pretty happy with it. So if you’re looking for a twist on the usual pumpkin pie, try pumpkin cake instead!
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs, beaten
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. Neufchatel cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl stir togeth flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Stir in the eggs, pumpkin, and oil until well combined. Pour batter into an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
2. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 2 hours before spreading with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Have extra canned pumpkin piling up? Here are a few creative uses for surplus pumpkin!
- Mix pumpkin with greek yogurt and drizzle honey on top.
- Stir in a couple tablespoons of pumpkin into oatmeal and top with cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Make pumpkin butter by heating canned pumpkin, a bit of applesauce and apple juice, and cinnamon and nutmeg over medium heat.
Happy pumpkin-eating! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving too:)
