Pumpkin cake, or a genuinely easy holiday dessert

[wshaffer]

Inspired by orichalcum's linking to a NYT article on "easy" holiday desserts that are not all that easy, I would like to present a genuinely easy holiday recipe: my mother's recipe for pumpkin cake.

This recipe is not only easy, it is idiot proof. I know it's idiot proof, because the first time I made it, I used a 28 oz. can of pumpkin, instead of a 15 oz. can of pumpkin. The cake needed a little longer baking, and was *very* moist, but still delicious.

I usually leave out the raisins, because I'm usually baking for folks who are a bit dubious about little bits of fruit in their cake.

Pumpkin Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon EACH, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
½ teaspoon EACH, salt and ground cloves
1 cup oil
2 cups pumpkin( I use Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin. It is actually 15 oz. and about 1 ¾ cups but it works great.)
4 eggs
½ cup raisins
Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9x13 baking pan. To make cake combine all ingredients except raisins and beat on low until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium and stir in raisins. Pour into greased pan and bake 45-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.
For frosting combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost cake. I double frosting.

Comments

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That does look yummy and easy. Have you ever noticed that Libby's comes either in 15 oz or 32 oz sizes? Very frustrating, even though the last ounce doesn't usually make a diff.

In such recipes, I have found that replacing half the oil with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter has delicious and healthy results, fyi. :)