Williams Sonoma Spiced Pumpkin Cake

As promised I'm back with the cake recipe that I made on Sunday.  So if you needed a last minute dessert idea, this is perfect.  You can make this as either a sheet cake, cupcakes, or a round layer cake like I did.  The recipe calls for a special "jack o lantern" pan, but I'm not fancy enough to have one of those.  Ok, on with it!

Pumpkin Spice cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Cake:
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour (I used cake flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp., ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
10 Tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 1/4 granulated sugar
3 eggs
2/3 c. milk
1 1/4 c. pumpkin puree
2/3 c. chopped, toasted walnuts (I did not add these to mine)
1/2 c. diced, crystalized ginger (my favorite!)

Frosting: (I doubled this since I was making a layer cake and would need more)
8 oz. cream cheese
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. pumpkin puree (I only added this to 1/4 of the frosting and used it for the filling)

Make sure all your ingredients are room temp. Pre-heat oven to 325. Grease and line preferred cake pans.

To make the cake, combine all the dry ingredients and sift into a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices), and set side

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy and smooth (a couple minutes).  Add in both sugars and continue to beat until fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time and mix well.

Reduce speed and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk (begin and end with flour).  Scrape down the sides as needed.  Beat until just incorporated, then with a spatula fold in the walnuts (optional) and crystallized ginger.

Divide the batter into preferred pans and bake until done (when a toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center, or when you touch the top lightly and it "springs" back).  Set on a rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting/filling. With an electric mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Add in the butter and beat until combined.  Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. 

If making a layer cake, set aside about 1 c. of the plain icing, and add in your pumpkin puree and use that for the filling (see picture below).

Once the cake is cooled, remove from the pan, and frost with your cream cheese icing.

pumpkin cream cheese in the middle, yum!

I also should note, that this recipe made enough for two 6 inch cake pans, and about 9 cupcakes, and since I doubled my frosting, I had plenty for both the cake and cupcakes as well.  Also, despite the long ingredient list, this is actually really easy/simple to make :)


Enjoy!