Kris' Fresh Pumpkin Cake for Cakelets

Fresh Pumpkin Cakelets

I made treats for my Sunday school class...and several wanted the recipe so I'll post it for their use.

Kris’Fresh Pumpkin Cake—use in “cakelets”

16 oz freshly baked and pureed pumpkin

    (Or 1 16 oz can pumpkin—not pumpkin pie mixture)

½ C Sugar

4 eggs

½ canola oil

Beat oil and sugar together, add eggs, add oil, add pumpkin and beat till smooth.

2 C flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1 t ginger

½ t salt

sift these dry items together and then add to pumpkin mixture...mix only until combined.

Pour batter into and bake in a lined and greased 15" X 10" X 1" baking pan.  (I use a silicone non stick baking mat) at 350^ for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes and invert onto wire rack if you want to cut the cake into shapes.  I did not invert, but kept cake in pan.  I used a round cutter and got 80 cakelets from one cake.  I frosted them with a dob of buttercream-cream cheese frosting...I added homemade caramel to the frosting for extra flavor and a seasonal taste.  Top with garnish of choice.  I also sprinkled a little cinnamon on top.  I used regular size cupcake papers...the mini size is too small for my cutouts.

Mix-ins can be added to cake batter before baking such as: chocolate chips, craisons, nuts, white chips, etc.  But most of these mix-ins make small shapes hard to cut out...dividing the cake into a layer cake...or just using as a sheet cake would be good with mix-ins.

This cake is pretty if left to cool for 5 min, inverted on a wire rack to finish cooling, cut into thirds and made into a rectangle shape layer cake with a buttercream frosting made wtih maple syrup, caramel, or you flavoring choice and generously added between each layer and on top.  Also works well for other shapes using the deep, at least 1" cookie cutters...try pumpkin shape, etc.

I doubled the recipe, which all fits in my mixer bowl, and got 160 cakelets, enough for my class and for my family.

Enjoy.

THESE CAKE CUTOUTS ARE QUICKER AND EASIER THAN CUPCAKES....MADE 160 IN LESS THAN 1 HOUR...PLUS TIME TO BAKE THE PUMPKIN

Baked Sunday Mornings: Boston Cream Pie Cake

TONIGHT, BUDDY, No 1 SON'S 6 MONTH OLD "BABY" IS READY FOR DINNER--SHE IS BETTER LOOKING THAN MY BOSTON CREAM PIE CAKE---SO, SHE CAN HEAD MY POST

I'M DISAPPOINTED IN THIS PIE/CAKE

It is 1:40 am Sunday morning; soon time to post.  I just finished baking and tasting the Baked Boston Cream Pie Cake.  Before baking this cake I  baked 100 mini pumpkin cakes and topped them with caramel cream cheese frosting and a Thanksgiving garnish for my adult Sunday school class...in just a few hours.  Hubby was watching the exciting ASU vs U of A football game and then caught up on current event news...I think he was waiting for his tastes especially when he saw the chocolate parts of the Boston cake coming together.
                            

Our office building, exactly 2 miles from our home,  is located in the Heritage District of Downtown Gilbert.  We rebuilt an old building that is  on Gilbert Road and across the road from a large empty lot where our annual Gilbert Days is happening. 

Gilbert Days always includes rodeos, a parade, a carnival, the farmer’s market, crafts, foods, and fun.  The news announcer for the parade sits directly across the road from our building where we and our friends have front row seats.  This morning we enjoyed all the school bands and dancers and beauty queens who perform their best for local TV.  The carnival with all the lights and screaming girls on wild rides is right outside our front windows.  And all the junk food one would expect at a carnival or state fair are right there too.    Yum if you like belly aches as it ist really junky food.

This year’s parade included some firsts.  Featured were the first garbage trucks I’ve ever seen in our parade...all washed and smelling good.  And Santa came this year...isn’t it kinda early?  High school football teams were throwing their balls and dancing down the street as part of the parade.  We had the air force jets which are a usual, but also had three restored flying-overhead airplanes...yellow...that looked like something  Wilber Wright would have flown and spewing clouds of smoke out their tails.  They were flown by the Army who also included vintage tanks and trucks in the parade.

We all enjoyed the Dancing Grandmas...have them every year...they have great dancer legs enhanced by their shimmering panty hose and mini skirts.  My friend sitting next to me wants to join them in the future but her husband says he’ll divorce her if she does...but she’s a dancer and is serious.  We had Sheriff Joe Arpio who is an Arizona hero to many and hated by others...he makes national news often and once asked Hubby to be one of his deputies.  I’m glad Hubby did not go that route...Sheriff Joe does dangerous work.

There were lots of high school bands; some of them were really good.  And because we are Gilbert, AZ, there were lots of horses and cowboys and girls, and rodeo queens, and horse poop and poop scoopers.

It is 60^ out right now, and was about 80^ earlier.  This week should linger between 70 and 80 depending on the storm systems up North.  This morning I saw some colored leaves on a few trees as I drove down the road...guess Fall is arriving early this year...usually comes mid-December.  The reds and yellows are beautiful...I guess it’s our change of seasons.

I had been ambitious and made the pie/cake recipe a few days ago, cupcake size, and I was disappointed not in the taste, but in the sinking middles.  I decided this recipe was not meant for cupcakes, which I had planned to cut in half, fill with pastry creams, and top with the ganache with fruit on top as part of my dessert table for my baby shower for a friend.  But...with the sinking middles, I filled the dips with  freshly whipped cream and added strawberries on top.  They were tasty and pretty but I knew I would need to re-do this recipe.

So tonight I did.  I got out my 8" cake pans, made the recipe as written, and one cake fell badly in the middle. UGGGG!  I noticed when portioning out the batter to each pan that the 2nd pan, getting the batter from the bottom half of the bowl, had more of the butter mixture which seemed to sink to the bottom after being folded in as the final addition to the batter.  I had noticed the same thing happened to my cupcakes.  One pan actually turned out OK, but the second pan, the pan getting batter from the bottom half of the bowl, had the sinking cupcakes.  The butter seems to separate after being folded in and even though I don’t let the batter rest and I portion it out quickly, I find buttery batter at the bowl bottom.  I don't think I should have to beat the batter into the mixture...I did fold it in well...at least I thought I did.

I had been skeptical of the sponge cake part of the recipe from the first time I read it.  My typical sponge cake recipes...my favorites are from my grandma who lived on a farm and had lots of eggs to use and often made sponge cakes, and the other I like is from William-Sonoma, both have me whip the yolk mixture and then the whites separately to fairly stiff peaks...and then fold the whites into the yolk mixture and it works perfectly every time.  But this recipe without separated eggs and with the butter/milk added at the end does not work well for me.

THE BOTTOM LAYER IS ABOUT THE RIGHT SIZE AFTER PEELING OFF THE BUTTERY BOTTOM PART...THE REMAINDER LOOKED LIKE GOOD SPONGE CAKE

I watched a how-to video of a similar Boston Cream Pie on a Joy of Cooking video.  That cake was made how I make my sponge cakes, with the separated eggs whipped and then folded into each other.  They also have the milk/butter mixture which is also added at the end, but the consistency using the separated eggs is different and the cake bakes differently.

When I dumped my cakes out of the pans there was a layer on the bottom of the most sunken cake (the butter seemed to sink worse to the cake bottom) that actually separated from the rest of the cake...a more buttery layer which I removed and threw away...so I did not cut that layer in ½.  The remaining layer, the one that got the batter from the top portion of the bowl, baked better so I cut that one in half.

But I was disappointed and just threw the rest of this cake together, just to get it done.

SEE THE GOOD PART, THE PUDDING, OOZING OUT BETWEEN THE LAYERS?--I KEEP MOVING THIS CAKE TO A DIFFERENT SPOT IN THE KITCHEN HOPING IT WILL LOOK BETTER...BUT, NO

The pastry creams were good and ganache is always good.  I put the cake all together and without letting it set up a little...well, it was almost 1 am at this point...I cut the cake and Hubby and I tried a piece.  Hubby announced that it was good, and I announced that it was ugly and not what I was after....I announced this part to myself...I’ll let Hubby think it is good.

I put the cake in the fridge where if can set up and be ready for Sunday dinner.  I’m sure some of my family will come and enjoy my mess and I’m hoping I have a few of my pumpkin cakes left over because I will be proud of those.

Oh well, kitchen fun does produce failures on occasion.  But I am determined to make this recipe again, but using my sponge cake instead of Baked’s, and I’ll let you all know how that turns out.

I’m interested to see how this worked out for my Baked friends.  Hope you all had much better luck with your pie/cakes.

THE PIECE HUBBY AND I SHARED BEFORE I SENT HIM TO BED...I DID NOT WAIT TO LET THE LAYERS SET UP, BUT IT WAS GOOEY AND GOOD

MY BABY SHOWER DESSERT TABLE

I made Caramel-Apple-Pecan-Date Cake, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Chocolate Cheesecake, Baby Feet Sugar Cookies, Sugar and Spice Nuts, Caramel Popcorn, etc mix, pumpkin cakelets, and my Frolicking Night Owl daughter made chocolate cupcakes.....and do you see the failed sponge cake cupcakes with the strawberries and cream to hide them?  I cut that part out of the pic and here it is......

HERE THEY ARE

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!  AND STAY WARM.

French Friday with Dorie: Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup

USED BUTTERNUT SQUASH FOR THIS FLAVORFUL SOUP

Catching up on Spiced Squash, Fennel, and Pear Soup

It’s been a crazy month and getting crazier.  I suppose that it will be Run-Run-Run until the end of January.

The economy in AZ is horrible, as I suppose it is in much of the country and even the world, but for the past couple of years the Phoenix area has ranked in the bottom...pretty consistently ranked the 2nd worst state in the nation for unemployment, home foreclosures, rising medical care, etc.  And right now our public schools are ranked in the bottom 5.  We all struggle to keep going, but thankful we are still hanging on.  But another year like this one and we are finished.  Not complaining, just the facts.

But some indicators show that we are on the mend in some areas.  The Mexican economy, in the better areas, is now stronger than Arizona, so many of the illegals are going home leaving more jobs for us.  Even though home prices  continue to decline, people are once again moving to AZ because they can find good deals, and businesses are coming in due to a great employer market.

But it means we must work harder and longer to survive.  We are in the commercial real estate appraisal business and that market is dead right now, so we do what we can, but it is hard.

We have a house down the street that we purchased as an investment about 10 years ago when the market was great.  We used it as a place for our older children to live while in college and  in early marriage years, and now we rent it out.  But our last tenants trashed the house...$30,000+ in damages, so I’ve been working hard to get repairs done and get it rent-ready.  So many have lost their homes in this bad economy that I have many requests from families who want to live in the house, so my goal is to have it ready by the end of the month.

And, I dropped by camera last week...no longer works, but I found an old point-and-shoot down at the office that I’m trying to figure out...just need a couple of photos for my posts.

This week our main business computer got a bad virus which split into 8 more viruses, so business was shut down for a few days while restoring files, etc.  Thank goodness for No. 1 Son who can fix these problems and who was willing to stay up for a couple of days/niights with no sleep, working non-stop to get the computer up and running.  The back up system was also affected meaning that the past 2 years of work would have been lost.  Our computer guy wanted to restore the hard drive, meaning wiping it clean and starting over...losing all our files which we are required by law to keep for 7-10 years.  Not good.

I know this all sounds like a downer...and I’ll add that our roof leaks as of the last rain and that fix estimate is $25,000...but I want to remember some of these things because these things cause me to feel so much gratitude, and this is a giving thanks time of year.

I’m thankful that we are healthy and have lots of energy to work hard.  I’m thankful that we still have our home and a wonderful big family who continues to fill it up almost every day even though only Hubby and I live here.  I’m thankful for great friends and neighbors.  I’m thankful for my Frolicking Night Owl daughter who homeschools her children...and her oldest, Penguin, at the age of 8 is finishing 5th grade, and is the top student in her cyber-school program...so it does not matter to these treasured children that the AZ schools are so bad.   

I’m thankful that next week 10-12 of us will travel to Great Grandma and Grandpa’s home for Thanksgiving ...they live near Salt Lake City, are in their mid-80's, and we expect to spend the holiday with about 40 extended family members.   And my North-Eastern Idaho university daughter and family will be with us. 

I’m thankful that Stephy-Wephy lets me have her precious Honey every Wednesday and together we have turned this day into our cooking/baking day.  I’m thankful that all my citrus will begin to ripen this month; I love that Hubby makes fresh squeezed OJ every morning for 6-7 months of every year.  I’m thankful for the AZ heat!  I’m addicted.

And my list goes on and on and on.

And right now, as I type up this post, I’m thankful for the fun food experiences I’ve had over the past year plus with the FFwD group.  I look forward to reading your posts, to learning new things from you, and for enjoying your cyber friendships, which are real to me.   I feel badly and feel like I’m missing out whenever I skip a week...and this month has been my worst yet. I think that I’ve only missed 2 projects before this November...and I’ll most likely miss next week too.

But Honey and I did enjoy making the Squash Soup.  We went shopping and found all the needed ingredients, made the recipe as written except for adding a couple of sweet potatoes.  We found  ripe-enough oranges out in the back yard...the first we’ve used of the new crop which will become sweeter and more juicy as the nights get colder.  (The new favorite food on Honey’s list is Pumpkin Seeds...so she was excited we put those on our soup.)

And for munching while the soup cooked, we decided to make “green’ salsa to use up fridge items...gotta get ready to leave town for a week...and Honey loves Mexican foods.

Our salsa is delicious and fresh...here’s what we did.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SALSAS

Tomatillos...enough to make a quart of puree
1 large onion
1-2 jalapenos
juice from 2 limes
1/4 C agave as a sweetener (can use honey or sugar)
1-2 T salt—to taste

We put all the above in a blender and after making our puree we  added  12 thinly sliced scallions...wanted a bit of chunky texture.

YUM!

And it is great!  We don’t cook our tomatillos, as recommended in many recipes.

This salsa would also be great added to black beans, as a topping spooned over roasting chicken or pork or enchiladas, added to rice, etc....or added to ranch dressing to use with a salad.

Most likely, I’ll not have computer access over the next week, but I’ll “see” you all at the beginning of December.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!!!

Baked Sunday Mornings: Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

LOOK AT THAT MELTED CHEESE--HOT OUT OF THE OVEN

JUST OUT OF THE OVEN

I LOVE good, moist muffins, in all their wonderful varieties, and I really LOVE pumpkin...especially during October and November.  I usually choose versions of both muffins and pumpkin that are on the sweet side and I love lots of good flavor.  Even though the Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins have brown sugar, it is not pronounced, making this variety a nice change for me...I immediately ate 4 right out of the oven, before they had a chance to cool even slightly.

THESE PUMPKIN CHEDDAR MUFFINS ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER

HOT AND DELICIOUS WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND TRADITIONAL PUMPKIN SPICES

Just to compare, and because I had made fresh pumpkin puree (and because I expect company to help eat them) which gave me about 4 cups of pumpkin for today’s baking, I decided to double the recipe and to also make a double batch of my usual pumpkin with chocolate chips muffins...LOVE pumpkin and chocolate together; it’s happiness.

There was nothing unusual about the pumpkin cheddar recipe except for a pretty before-baking garnish of grated cheese, which browned nicely and is an appealing touch.

I baked my muffins...and I got 18 per batch...for 18 minutes and they were perfect with nicely browned bottoms and a perfectly browned top.

MY USUAL VARIETY

Next time, I’ll use pepper jack cheese for a more spicy flavor; my taste buds in my brain tell me it would be really good in this recipe.

My Usual Moist Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 C Flour
2 t Baking Powder
2 t Cinnamon
½ t Nutmeg
½ t Ginger
½ t Salt

Sift above together.

In a mixer bowl, whisk together:
½ C sugar
1 C pumpkin
4 T Butter, room temperature
½ C Evaporated Milk
1 Egg
1 ½ t Vanilla

Remove bowl from mixer, add dry ingredients and fold together just until combined.

Makes 12 muffins.  Bake 400^ for 18-20 minutes in the middle of oven.  For no mess, use cupcake papers.

(For a different variety, use golden raisins instead of chocolate chips)

MY MUFFIN--COULDN'T WAIT FOR IT TO COOL, BUT LOVE THAT GOOEY MELTED CHOCOLATE

Hope you are all keeping warm!  Phoenix went from 110 a month ago to 60 today...I think I may need to go into hibernation...I'm not ready for this!  But it does actually really feel like November.

I had planned to add pumpkin seeds to the top of my Pumpkin Cheddar Muffin, however, someone cute ate them all...but these are good enough to bake again, so next time I'll add them.