BAKE | my favorite PUMPKIN CAKE

So I made this cake for Thanksgiving, and it was so good that when Anney requested pumpkin cake for her birthday this past weekend I knew I had to bake this cake again. This time I made a quick cream cheese frosting, per her request, but the brown butter icing and caramelized pecans on my Thanksgiving cake were super yummy too.

My favorite thing about this cake is that it travels so well and can be made the day before and still be super moist and delicious. I wrapped my cake in plastic wrap and sealed it in a gallon sized Ziploc bag, and it rode in the back seat all the way to San Diego. Granted, I probably should have placed it on some sort of plate or cardboard. But we carried it around downtown San Diego in my plastic Ziploc and I frosted it when I got to the restaurant. It looks super simple and it's super simple to make. But it tastes so good.

Adapted from Shutterbean
Ingredients:
CAKE

• 8 TBS (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) milk

FROSTING*

• 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese 
• 1/2 cup store bought vanilla frosting

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment, and butter the parchment. Coat pan with flour, and tap out any excess.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
3. In another bowl, use an electric mixer to beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, and beat until combined. Add pumpkin puree and milk; beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture; beat on low speed until just combined.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool. Let cake rest 20 minutes.
5. Unmold cake. Using an offset spatula, spread icing over top of cake.

*For Thanksgiving I used the brown butter icing recipe from the original recipe and this recipe for the caramelized pecans. But for Anney's birthday she requested cream cheese frosting. This recipe was a quick fix for the time crunch I was in, but you can surely use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe as well.

Before dinner we took the free shuttles to December nights in Balboa Park. It's a holiday festival held once a year for a weekend in December. I wish we could have stayed longer but we got to snap a few pictures before we left! Even though Thanksgiving is over and we are well into December, it's not too late to bake this pumpkin cake!

xoxo, allison
p.s. We ate the leftover pieces with our hands the next morning after brunch. Don't judge us until you've baked this cake.
p.p.s. I forgot to take better pictures of the cake before we devoured it. But, check out Shutterbean's amazing pictures.