harvest pumpkin cake

or you could call it a dump cake, since it is SOOO very easy! and just in time for thanksgiving...

we've been pumpkin crazy lately, making pies and cakes and cookies galore. it helps to have a little baker in the house.  lillie does everything except measuring the sugar and flour. it's so much fun to cook with her. the original recipe called for a cup of oil...now, i can do butter quite easily, but oil sort of grosses me out. so, we cooked up some gala apples and ground them up in the food grinder, and voila - fresh applesauce! just substitute the applesauce for the oil.

 here's our yummy pumpkin cake, adapted from penzey's. if you're not familiar with penzey's spices, go to penzeys.com and get their free catalog! fun recipes, excellent herbs and spices. if you're lucky enough to live by one of their stores, plan on devoting a whole shelf in the freezer to their lovely stuff...

cake:
4 eggs
1 2/3 c sugar
1 small can pumpkin (abt 2 cups)
1 c fresh applesauce
 3-4 t penzey's pumpkin pie spice, OR 3-4 t total of your taste of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves mixed together. we always look at the libby's pumpkin pie recipe and just double the spices.
2 t vanilla
2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c roughly chopped nuts, i love walnuts here.

frosting:
you could not frost it, or frost it with a powdered sugar and milk glaze, or try this cream cheese frosting...
3 or 4 oz light cream cheese
2 sticks of butter
1 to 1.5 cups powdered sugar
BIG slotch of vanilla

you COULD add some grand marnier, if you had also added some orange peel to the cake. yum! 

preheat oven to 350, get a 9x13 pan (don't need to grease it) ready.

beat eggs til frothy. dump in everything else. mix gently until blended. pour into cake pan, bake for 30-40 minutes. let cool for a while. if you hurry it up, the warm cake will melt the frosting (disaster!).

frosting: beat all ingredients together til creamy. spread on cake.

here's a photo. i just couldn't resist taking a bite. sorry....