Falling for Pumpkin

Fall is here! Fall is here! The wind and leaves are rustling outside, and autumn festivals are upon us. The changing of the season is most certainly underway, as are the recipes I have been adding to my to do list. Butternut Squash, pumpkins, apples, and fall leafy greens are dominating my current recipe repertoire.



I was really planning on not baking anything this week as Jack and I are moving apartments, and I needed to use time for packing, rather than baking, butttt the lure of pumpkin and chocolate called my name, and I succumbed to the desire to bake.



My go-to pumpkin recipe is typically pumpkin cookies with brown butter frosting, but I really wanted cake and chocolate, so I found a great, 2 bowl recipe for Pumpkin Cake (easily made into pumpkin chocolate chocolate cake). It was so easy to put together, and only took 25 minutes to bake. To make a sweet cake even sweeter, I added cinnamon sugar topping to it, and the cinnamon really enhanced the flavor of the pumpkin. If you have some canned, or real, pumpkin around, be sure to give this recipe a chance!



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
adapted from "The Bake-Off Flunkie"

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/4 cup milk (I use 1%)
1/4 cup applesauce (I use no-sugar added)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used 1.5 teaspoons)

I also added in a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice to the batter for extra pumpkin flavor.

Heat your oven to 350, and spray the sides and bottom of a 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick spray. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl, and mix to combine. In a separate medium bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a rubber spatula until well combined.Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares or bars.

Cinnamon Sugar Topping
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 c sugar
1 tbsp of butter

Combine cinnamon and sugar and stir until incorporated. Melt butter and pour over cake, immediately followed by cinnamon sugar mixture.