Here’s the recipe from the Wellington on a Plate Bake Club extravaganza for the Vegetable Cake challenge. This is a Pumpkin Pie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, all the tastes of autumn in one cake!
Pumpkin Pie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe makes enough for a 3 layer 9″-10″ cake, or if you only use 2/3 of the recipe, a 6 layer 6″ cake. However, still use the whole frosting recipe even for the 6″ cake.
Ingredients
2 2/3 cups flour
2 tspn baking soda
2 tspn baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 recipe pumpkin pie filling (below)
Pumpkin Pie Filling
800g pumpkin pieces (any type, or a pumpkin that weighs around 800g)
65g butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tspn nutmeg
1 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
400g cream cheese
160g butter
3 1/4 cups icing sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line two or three cake tins (6”, 9” or 10”).
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing just until incorporated.
- Once incorporated, pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins. Fill the cake tins evenly so that they all cook evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until the cakes are golden and a skewer inserted into the middle only has a few moist crumbs.
- Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes, then remove from the tins.
- Prepare the frosting recipe below to use once the cakes are completely cooled.
- When the cakes are cool, slice them into 2-3 layers each, depending on what height you want your cake.
- Then go layer by layer, put the bottom layer down on the counter (or cake turntable, these are very helpful for frosting cakes!) and put a dollop of icing in the centre and smooth this out to the edges, being careful not to pick up and crumbs.
- Repeat with the remaining layers including the top layer, being extra careful with this one.
- Then, I find it easiest to crumb coat the sides to frost these. So have a small amount of frosting on your spatula/frosting implement and smooth this as close to the sides as possible. Do this until the whole cake is covered in a thin layer of frosting.
- Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes and then you should be able to frost the sides without too much worry of getting crumbs throughout the frosting.
Pumpkin Pie Filling
- Preheat the oven to 190°C. Line a tray with sides with baking paper.
- If not using pumpkin pieces, then cut off the top of the pumpkin in a circle and quarter them from the top down. Then scoop out the seeds and tendrils.
- Cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces, either halves or thirds.
- Smear the inner surfaces of the pumpkin with the butter. Rub with brown sugar and spices and salt. Use your hands to make sure they well-seasoned.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until you can easily stab through the middle with a fork. Let stand and cool (or if you’re impatient like me, just let it stand for a minute) then pull/cut the skin away from the flesh.
- Put the pumpkin pieces in a bowl and mash until very liquidy, or whizz them in the food processor, also until pureed.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cube the butter and the cream cheese and soften them together for around 30 seconds in the microwave.
- Put them in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer but it’s a bit more difficult) and gradually mix together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Start on the lowest setting and work your way up to the second or third from the top setting.
- Add the icing sugar gradually and continue mixing until thick and creamy. The consistency should not be sloppy, but still easily fall off a spoon. If you’re worried that it won’t work, try putting it in the fridge for half an hour to firm it up a bit.
