Pumpkin Cake

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I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday last week! Did you eat good? I didn't eat as much as I expected to. The food was great, of course, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood for stuffing myself.

For dessert, my mom baked her traditional walnut cherry cheese delight (which is basically a yummy cheesecake), and I baked something new. Pumpkin cake! Well, pumpkin bars, depending on how you slice it. I call it cake because it wasn't dense enough to be a bar, and it was so moist and delicious, it's pretty much like a cake!

©2007 Yuzu Eats

The recipe for the cake/bar portion is courtesy of Food Network, with minor tweaking by yours truly. The frosting recipe is for my most favorite cream cheese frosting in the world. Try it — it's easy!

Pumpkin Cake
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined, and batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 x 9" baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.


Frosting:
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/8 tsp. salt
3¾ cups sifted confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream the butter, cheese and salt with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually until smooth. Add vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Spread onto cooled cake.