Pumpkin Spice Loaf Cake

I love this time of year. Clear and sunny, cold and crisp air, and the sunlight is just golden everywhere it shines. And the flavours of Fall are my favourite, too; creamy soups, steamy cups of tea, and lovely spicy cakes and cookies.

I wanted to make a nice, easy cake that would suit the weather, and when I stumbled on this recipe I knew it fit the bill. It looks like a quickbread, but trust me - this puppy is a cake. I'm afraid you can't fool yourself into thinking this is anything but dessert. The pumpkin makes it moist without adding any additional flavouring, because the real stars of this show are cinnamon and allspice. And oh lordy, you should smell the place when this cake is baking...it's like living in a gingerbread house! Mmmmmm, edible housing.

It couldn't be simpler to make, either. The whole assembly probably took me about 10 minutes from start to finish. All you do is cream together some butter and sugar, throw in an egg, spicy flour, and pumpkin puree. I was feeling lazy when I made this, so the loaf cake part of it really appealed to me - no arseing around with icing cakes, because it looks just fine without it. I had it with Betty Crocker's French Vanilla icing (I was lazy, I told you), but it would be great with cream cheese icing or even chocolate. Any way you slice it, this cake is just tangible coziness, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

PUMPKIN SPICE LOAF CAKE

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional - I hate nuts)

2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy.

2. In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. You really need to sift the cake flour, or it will be lumpy.

3. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in milk. Add remaining dry ingredients alternately with the pumpkin puree.

4. Pour batter into pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.

TWD - Perfect Party Cake

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I'm sure many of you are experiencing "summer", which is something I have heard about but have yet to actually experience yet this year. Rain, rain, rain, ain't it great? I tell you what it's not good for - taking pictures. Inspiration. Wanting to cook! Moving enough to take a deep breath is enough to make you sweaty as a warthog's backside, so actually cooking is not something I've been doing a lot of. Scrambled eggs, sandwiches, and ice cream are my main fair these days. (And frogurt - that will definitely be posted soon!)

So with that in mind, I wasn't looking too forward to baking a damn cake this week for TWD, but I am so glad I did! Carol of mix, mix, stir, stir chose Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, and oh god, what a cake. I had made this one already for Obama's Inauguration and took it to work, and I thought then it was one of the best cakes I've ever made. This cake is light and springy, with a refreshing lemony, tangy taste.


You bake two 8 inch cakes, and then when cooled, cut them in two to give four layers total. I just used a long serrated breadknife. My layers weren't perfect, but they were kinda even. The crumb is amazing; it's like pulling apart cotton balls. See all the little holes in there? That's exactly what you're going for. The cake is moist and springy without being too delicate - holds up great to syrups, fruit, whipped cream, etc. Or hey, all three if you're really going for it, and really, why not?

Since I made this cake before, I wanted to play around with it a bit. Our strawberries are just coming into season, so instead of raspberry jam I spread sliced strawberries on the layers. Also, I found Dorie's icing to be WAY buttery (and a little fussy to make). I wanted to keep the icing white and pretty, so I used her cream cheese icing instead.


And there she is. It looks like a hot mess, I know, but I swear it tastes great. A cake decorator I'm not. I was taking it to my auntie's house, so I had to get on the road and go. Halfway there, when the top part slide RIGHT FRICKIN' OFF, I realized I should have chilled it first. Ah well. Anybody who turns down free cake, even if it half fell apart, is no friend of mine.

This cake is really straight forward, so I don't have a lot to say about it. I used more lemon zest than called for, as I didn't have lemon extract. I skipped the coconut, too, cuz I just don't like it. Also, I saw some people had problems with not having enough buttercream; I think the main problem with that is you really need to let the egg whites heat up so they'll increase in volume.


See that? I saved that piece for me. Mmmmmm. It really set up well in the fridge, and since it was so damn sticky out, it was super. Mmmmm. Cake for supper. The pleasures of being an adult, eh? Mmmmmmmm.

TWD - Cinnamon Squares

I had been thinking of starting a food blog for awhile now, but Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) was the catalyst. This post will be my first time baking with the group, and WOW was it ever worth it. Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures choose this week's recipe, Cinnamon Squares. You can find the recipe on her blog. I had my eye on these squares for weeks, and never got around to making them; I can see that TWD will quickly become my most favourite reason for baking decadence.