Pumpkin Dream Cake with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

For how much I love all things pumpkin, I have little interest in Halloween. The décor is tacky (you won’t find skulls or spiders in the West Elm catalog), the menu is limited and commercial (Kit Kat or Butterfinger? Take ONE), and the outfits are impractical and misleading (Oh, so you’re not a prostitute? Then why are you dressed like one?) To my luck, my friend Theresa happens to have her birthday right before Halloween, so I’ll tie those two celebrations together in my own way: Pumpkin birthday cake, here we come!

Theresa’s lovely sister, Michaela came over to assist with the baking. Naturally, we had dinner first. I made goat cheese and mushroom mac & cheese (recipe coming soon!) and she brought a salad. It’s important to not bake on an empty stomach to avoid the mishap of eating all of the batter before the cake gets in the oven.

Beware… the number of times you taste as you go can add up and make you feel pretty terrible at the end. Whoops!

The recipe didn’t call for any spices, so we added about 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Since this recipe actually calls for (3) 8” cake pans but I only had (2) 9” pans, we made a few “taste testers.”

So moist, so flavorful, so fall.

We ended up with a ton of leftover icing, which means I need to find another creative use for it….

Since both of us had chevron iPhone cases, we decided to attempt a chevron cake. With the help of our homemade stencil and Dutch chocolate sprinkles, it actually turned out pretty fabulous.

 

Pumpkin Dream Cake
(Recipe from The Novice Chef)

3 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease 3, 8-inch round cake pans. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl/stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla, pumpkin and vegetable oil. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk.

Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and immediately place in freezer for 45 minutes. (This keeps the cake moist by immediately stopping the baking so the cake does not continue to bake when you remove it form the oven.)

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Add confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth.

Assemble the 3 layers with a thick layer of frosting in between each layer. Then apply a thin crumb coat on the top and sides. Pop back in the freezer to harden the crumb coat for about 10 minutes.

Apply one final thick and even layer around the outside of the cake. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Strawberry Nutella Crepe Cake

Happy Valentine’s Day! I was more excited for this day than usual this year, and it’s probably because I got to try a new recipe I’ve been eyeing for a while: The Crepe Cake. Quin and I hosted a couple girls over for a “Galentine’s Day” dinner (is that the worst thing you’ve ever heard?) Quin was in charge of making a chicken, artichoke and spinach lasagna-eque entre, I made dessert, Melissa brought wine and Kat brought a spinach salad. I made the crepes the night before and it took over an hour and a half to make about 30 crepes. I wanted this thing to be tall.

When I got home I made the vanilla whipped cream, covered and let it chill, while I cleaned up the house - and myself. Then the fun part, assembling: crepe, nutella, crepe, whipped cream, crepe, nutella with sliced strawberries... Isn’t she pretty?

Dinner was wonderful, and topped off with a glass of champagne. Recipe for the chicken, artichoke and spinach lasagna coming tomorrow…

Nutella Strawberry Crepe Cake

3 cups flour|
6 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
1 ½ cups water
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

1 carton heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Nutella
Strawberries, sliced

Blend ingredients thoroughly with beaters or in blender until very smooth. Ladle approximately ¼ cup mixture into nonstick skillet, and swirl until batter covers bottom of pan in one thin layer. Cook until light brown on the bottom, and flip. Repeat until all the batter is used. If making ahead, cover and chill in refrigerator overnight. (Though I don’t recommend, the crepes are not as fresh)

Using beaters, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Chill until ready to use. Lay crepe on base of cake pedestal or plate, spread with layer of nutella, top with crepe, spread with whipped cream, add crepe, layer of nutella with sliced strawberries, and so on. Chill until ready to serve.

Melissa’s Birthday Dinner

My birthday gift to Melissa, (besides a hand-me-down novel) was dinner and a cake. I made her my favorite chocolate cake recipe from Ina Garden’s cookbook, since after all she has been my best friend since sophomore year of high school - even though we’re as different as night and day.

The last time I made this recipe I put the chocolate chips inside the cake batter, but this time I forgot!! So I dumped them on top of a still warm cake and topped it with the other, making a chocolate chip-chocolate cake sandwich.

Though I still think I prefer them in the cake, this method was very delicious. Per Melissa’s request, I made cream cheese frosting.

cream cheese frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


I made a light dinner of tortellini salad and fresh fruit. Thank goodness it was light, because my house was literally 85 degrees. The hardships of living without central AC!

The tortellini salad was comprised of:
1 box cheese tortellini (Trader Joes)
1 tomato, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 ear of white corn, cut off the cob
handful fresh basil, chopped
few mint sprigs, chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper and lemon juice

Banana Cake

Print this recipe (here)
The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was grab my Tartine cookbook and climb back into bed. The first recipe of the book is a five page, two day, step by step instructions on how to make croissants. I’ve decided I have to attempt them!

Reading Tartine got me in the mood for baking our banana cake that we’re serving for dessert tonight. This recipe we found online, titled “the best ever banana cake with cream cheese frosting.” They convinced me.
First, prep all ingredients, which includes mashing four ripe bananas.

Mix together the batter, alternate with buttermilk and flour mixture.

Add in mashed banana mixture.

Pour into two round cake pans and bake for an hour at 275 degrees.

After the cakes come out of the oven, put them directly into the freezer for 45 minutes to retain moisture. Meanwhile, mix together the cream cheese frosting.

We added toasted pecans instead of walnuts, because they’re just better.

Frost the cake.

Finally, pat nuts onto the side of the cake.

Tasted very similar to banana bread with delicious icing. Why did I make this the day before I leave?