Delicious And Wonderfully Aromatic Pumpkin Pie Spice Cake

The fall and winter months herald the pumpkin season, and thus pumpkin desserts begin to appear on our dinner tables especially during. Among them, pumpkin pie spice cake is a favorite all over America. This rich lovely orange cake is a confluence of pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice ingredients; ginger, cinnamon and cloves. This unique double layered cake, when crowned with frosting, is truly a feast. Pumpkin spice cake with brown butter frosting or cream cheese icing are just few of the grand options. Making a pumpkin spice cake used to be a time-consuming and tedious process, but with the advent of good canned pumpkin puree, the task has been made much easier.


Pumpkin Pie Spice Cake with...

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

¼ tsp ground cloves

2½ cups of light brown sugar

½ tsp ginger

4 large eggs

½ tsp cinnamon

2 cups of fresh or canned pure pumpkin

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp baking soda

4 cups sifted cake flour

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup buttermilk at room temperature

1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts/pecans for garnishing

For Cream Cheese Frosting

4 cups of confectioners' icing sugar, sifted

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

4 tbsp pure maple syrup

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Directions

The first step for making this pumpkin spice cake is to preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Grease four 8'' cake pans and dust the pans with flour. Mix the butter and sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer, till they turn light and fluffy. Break one egg at a time into this mixture and mix well after each addition. Pour in the pumpkin puree and vanilla and blend some more. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a separate bowl and sieve. Then, spoon this mixture and buttermilk alternately into the pumpkin batter. Distribute the batter equally between all pans. Place them in the oven and bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Slide a toothpick into the center of each cake to check, and when it comes out clean, your cake is ready. Cool for 10 minutes and then remove the cakes from their pans. They must be completely cool before frosting.

For the frosting, blend the cream cheese and butter in your food processor/mixer till smooth. Add maple syrup and confectioners' sugar and continue to blend. You may need to adjust the amounts to achieve the right consistency. Now, take two of the cakes and coat the top of the cake with a layer of icing. Place the other two cakes upside down over the first ones and then frost the top and sides of each cake. Sprinkle chopped nuts on the cakes. Refrigerate if required but serve at room temperature.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe

Ingredients

1 tsp ground nutmeg

8 tsp powdered cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

4 tsp powdered ginger

For homemade pumpkin pie spice equivalent, mix together the above ingredients and store.
If you really want to make the pumpkin pie recipe from scratch, you can follow the pumpkin pie spice mix recipe and make your own spice mix and also your own homemade puree. While store bought pumpkin puree works well while making a pumpkin pie spice cake, if you want to make it yourself, you must use the smaller pumpkin varieties. To prepare the puree, slice the pumpkin lengthwise, deseed and remove the fibers and then place on a greased baking sheet, cut side down. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 ºF. Baking time may extend to an hour and 15 minutes for a big pumpkin. Take out from oven and allow to cool, then scoop out the pulp and blend in a food processor. For thin pulp, place puree in cheesecloth lined strainer and strain.