Pumpkin Cake

I was searching for something for dinner that was buried deep in my freezer when I stumbled across a package of my frozen pumpkin! Not what I was looking for, but a great idea spark for the cake I'm baking to share at God's Gathering. Last fall, I cooked our Halloween pumpkin. Please note, we hadn't carved that pumpkin, but drew the Jack-o-lantern's face on it so I could spin it around and leave it out through Thanksgiving. Don't you just love to decorate for the seasons? I sure do! Anyway, I peeled, and cooked that pumpkin then froze it in one-cup portions.  I do love to bake treats and hide that vegetable nutrition from carrots, zucchini, or pumpkin inside! So here's another tasty treat you can bake up yourself! Or stop by my house...I bake requests you know! I could ship this to you, but you would have frost it when it arrives. I'm not sure butter cream frosting would survive in a box! Let me know what you think of this spicy, nutty, cranberry, pumpkin cake.

PUMPKIN CAKE　
　
1 2/3 cups flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup cooking oil
½ cup chopped nuts
½ cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cloves. Beat eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Mix in dry ingredients and beat on medium speed for two minutes. Stir in nuts and cranberries. Spread batter evenly in an ungreased 9x13-baking pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Spread with cream cheese frosting or butter cream frosting.

QUICK YUMMY TREAT!

This won’t heat up the kitchen too much so this is a great treat to make in the summer time. Plus, it stirs up quick on the stove top so it doesn’t take long to make.  I made these for God's Gathering last week and they seemed to be a big hit. So I'm making them again!

First, I like to get all the ingredients in order, and I pre-measure everything so I can just mix it up step by step. Now that my memory seems to be playing tricks on me, I double check myself so I don’t skip any steps.  Surely that has nothing to do with my age? Don't you sometimes have a few little distractions in your life and forget what's next?



I like to grease and sugar (not flour) the pans I use when I make sweet treats so that’s what I did this time too. I actually sprayed the pan with Pam and then sprinkled just enough sugar to cover. I made a couple of adjustments to the original recipe that my Dahling Daughter Dayna shared with me, so here is my version:

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CRISPY RICE CEREAL BARSIngredients:
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (10.5 ounce) package mini marshmallows
6 cups crispy rice cereal
TOPPING
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons CriscoDirections:Pour the rice cereal and crunchy peanut butter in a large bowl; set aside.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan combine the light corn syrup and white sugar; bring to a boil; continue to boil for 1 minute.
Reduce heat to low and stir in butter or margarine, peanut butter and vanilla until melted and smooth.
Add in mini marshmallows and stir until blended.

Pour the marshmallow mixture into the rice cereal and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Press the mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan, flatten with the back of a buttered spoon. (Sometimes I use a piece of wax paper that I lightly coat with butter to press down these Rice Krispy Treats.)

In a microwave-safe bowl microwave the chocolate chips with shortening on HIGH until melted, removing once to stir. This took less than one minute and I stirred it at 30 seconds. Immediately spread the hot chocolate mixture evenly over the bars; chill to harden the chocolate.

Then, cut into desired size bars.

It's easy to clean up especially if you have a Cookie Monster to pre-wash the spoons and bowls.

This is something from Peg's Pantry that I could easily ship to you (for a fee of course). If you don’t have time to mix these up yourself, let me know…make me an offer I can’t refuse…beg, plead, ask nicely even…and I’ll make the next batch of these for YOU!

CHOCOLATE!

Dinner at God’s Gathering last Wednesday was an over-the-top salad bar with ice cream for dessert – that’s where the chocolate part comes in. Be patient and I’ll tell you about that, later. Now, when you think of salad you may just think of green stuff and you would be partially correct. But did you read the part about "over-the-top"? There were so many toppings – yes including bacon, ham, cheese, eggs, shredded zucchini, etc. Red skin potato with bacon, rice peas and cheese, broccoli, macaroni, tropical fruit…do you get the idea? There were lots of restaurant quality, home made salads! Then as if the salads weren’t enough, Kathy had us make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and baked potatoes! Many people required two plates! Then she had trays of pre-scooped ice cream and an assortment of toppings. Now it’s time for the chocolate part! I melted chocolate almond bark and some milk chocolate bars in my little crock-pot. Who knew it would make a wonderful chocolate air freshener as well as a delicious ice-cream topping! It was hard to stop testing every time I stirred it down! I’m thankful for my dishwasher and the large supply of spoons this recipe required. ;-D If you want the recipe here it is:

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
Almond bark
Milk chocolate bars
Spoons

Directions: Melt as much chocolate as you wish in a crock pot, a double broiler, or even in the microwave following the directions on the package.  Stir often and taste as necessary, using a new spoon each time.  If the chocolate hardens on the spoon, melt it by stirring in a cup of coffee. This sauce is great on ice cream, or you can dip pretzels, strawberries, marshmallows...

Enjoy!

Sweet…spicy…a little nutty…Cake!

Reminds me of me! We are blessed to have the opportunity to serve others through God’s Gathering dinners at Bolivar United Methodist Church. This gives me the chance to try out new recipes! We were invited to bring cakes to help with this Wednesday’s meal so I searched for something interesting and new to me. I found this spice cake recipe and tweaked it a bit. Then I chose to top it with a broiled topping another something I’ve never tried before. The directions said to spread the topping evenly over the cake, but that wasn’t working too well. I put it under the broiler for about a minute – watching as the directions said. As soon as it started to melt a bit, I took it out smoothed it evenly then returned it to continue cooking. I pulled it out about every 30 seconds after two minutes to see if it was burning or what. The bubbles were changing consistency and then I discovered how lovely a broiled topping is! It changed to a darker caramel color and there was that smell! Wow! If I could pack this up and bring it to you, I would. You should have seen it, but I don’t know how to post pictures without my Dayna Bug here to do it for me! Also wish I had that great scratch and stiff app for my computer too. So instead, as soon as it was cool I put it in my car. It made a great air freshener and a delicious dessert when I delivered to church. Try this, it’s good!
Sweet, Spicy, Nutty Cake
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. allspice
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. ginger
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
½ cup shortening
3 eggs
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13x9x2 inches. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend ½ minute on low speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until wooded pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. While still warm top with
Butterscotch Broiled Topping
¼ cup soft butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped nuts
2 tablespoons milk
Mix thoroughly butter, brown sugar and nuts. Stir in milk. Spread mixture evenly over warm cake. Set oven control at broil and/or 550 degrees. Place cake 5 inches from heat; broil about 3 minutes or until topping bubbles and browns slightly. (Watch carefully – mixture burns easily.)

CARROT CAKE

I enjoy baking and especially if there is someone else who would enjoy what I create. Today, before it gets too warm it's time to bake! And by the way, how crazy is it to think about it getting "too warm" in March!!! Anyway, this evening is God's Gathering at church and I like to bring something to the table.  This Carrot Cake looked delicious, so I chopped up some pecans I had in the freezer, peeled and shredded the rest of my stash of carrots and mixed it all up.  Does this count as healthy eating because it has carrots and nuts? The smell is making me drool! Can you smell it? If you'd like I can package some (without frosting) and ship it to you to enjoy - for a fee of course. Or take me to your kitchen and I'll make your house smell good too!
EASY CARROT CAKE
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. baking soda
3 cups finely shredded carrots
1 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting6 oz cream cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla
Approx. 4 cups powdered sugar.
Beat cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well until of spreading consistency.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan. In large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add finely shredded carrots, cooking oil, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer just until combined. Stir in chopped pecans. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan. Spread Cream Cheese Frosting over cake. Cover and store in refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Cake

I decided to bake a from scratch cake for God's Gathering Dinner tonight. I went through some old recipes and found this quick and delicious one. I mixed it up in just a few minutes because I keep the dried buttermilk in my refrigerator so it's ready to go any time I am in the mood to bake. This is a lot like the Scotch Chocolate Cake from Grandma Schroeder. I'm thinking this is one I'll make again. The ladies in the kitchen set aside pieces to take home, so I took that as a compliment. Since there were no left overs, I can't mail you any of this cake, but you can make it yourself if you want.  Or...for a fee, I'll ship myself to you and bake it fresh from your oven!

PEANUT BUTTER SHEET CAKE
Mix:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. Soda
½ tsp. salt
Bring to boil:
1 stick margarine
½ cup peanut butter
1 cup water
Pour over dry ingredients. Add:
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix well and pour into a greased cookie sheet with 1 inch sides. Bake 350 for 20- 25 minutes until done and lightly browned
Icing
Bring to boil:
½ cup peanut butter
1 stick margarine
2 tsp. vanilla
Add
1 pound powdered sugar and 1 cup nuts (optional). Beat until smooth. Spread on cake while it is hot.