pumpkin cake

My little baked treat.

When I saw this recipe in Woman's Day magazine, I just had to try it. Nothing is better than a spicy carrot cake with a sweet cream cheese frosting to top it all off. Not only does it taste delicious, but it is in the shape of a pumpkin. The perfect dessert for fall. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup canola oil, plus more for the pan
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
• 1 T bsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 15-oz can pure pumpkin
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 medium carrots, coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 4 8-oz pkgs cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
• Orange and green gel or paste food color
• 1 flat-bottom wafer ice cream cone

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 12-cup (10-in.) bundt pan, then dust with flour. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, sugars, pumpkin, milk and vanilla. Add the egg-oil mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until fully incorporated. Mix in the carrots and walnuts.
3. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until a wooden pick inserted in the cake comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Rinse out the pan and repeat to make the second cake.
4. After the second cake has cooled, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5. Cut each cake in half horizontally. Spread 3/4 cup frosting on the bottom half of each cake and sandwich with the tops. Transfer 1/2 cup frosting to a small bowl and tint green. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a writing tip (we used a #3) and set aside.
6. Tint the remaining frosting orange. Place one cake, rounded side down, onto a serving platter. Spread the top with 1/2 cup orange frosting and sandwich with the remaining cake, rounded side up.
7. Frost the entire cake with the remaining orange frosting. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, using the green frosting, pipe lines vertically over all sides of the wafer cone to cover; refrigerate until ready to use. Crumple a piece of foil into a loose ball, insert it into the center of the cake, and place the frosted cone slightly at an angle on top to resemble a stem.

If you can't finish a huge cake or you want to give your cakes away as little gifts, you can do what I did. I bought a 6-cup mini-bundt cake pan. Pour the batter into the lightly oiled pan and cook for about 22 minutes. Let the cakes cool for 15 minutes. I cut the bottoms of each cake, added some frosting, and sandwiched two cakes together. All in all, you get three mini cakes. Follow the same directions for frosting as the original recipe. Also, instead of using an ice cream cone (which I didn't have), I cut out stems from the left-over cake bottoms and tinted them green. Stick them on top of your cakes!