Still Savouring Fall

October is over but I’m not quite finished with pumpkin flavours this fall (I am enjoying a pumpkin spice latte as I type this…). I had some leftover pumpkin puree in the freezer so I decided to try my hand at making a pumpkin cake from scratch.

To make this dessert, I put my own twist on this “Pumpkin-Nut Upside Down Cake” recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. The full recipe can be found here: https://www.bhg.com/recipe/pumpkin-nut-upside-down-cake/.

I did not use the “upside down” method, rather, I skipped the butter and brown sugar and stirred ½ C pecans straight into the batter. Other than that, I kept all proportions the same and it came out beautifully moist and flavourful.

For this recipe, I used canned pumpkin puree. In the past, we have roasted small “sweet” pumpkins and pureed them in a food processor. The main difference that I have found is in the flavour and colour—canned puree tends to be much darker with a stronger flavour, while the roasting method results in more yellow, fresh-tasting pumpkin.

Once the cake was completely cool, I topped it with a simple cream cheese frosting:

1/8 C shortening

1/8 C margarine

½ of an 8oz package cream cheese

2 ½ to 3 cups icing sugar

A splash of milk (if needed to make spreadable)

I have not made very many recipes with pumpkin, but I was very impressed with how easily this cake came together and the result. I’m not sure I will be able to go back to the boxed pumpkin spice loaf mix that we have depended on all these years…

Clarissa

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