MoRe StUfF wItH pUmPkIn

So I've been feeling the urge to try all things punkin! Aside from the pumpkin cookies I made last week, here is another of my other experiments!

I found a recipe for this in the Food Network Magazine and thought it looked amazing. I haven't been able to find a link to the recipe or the picture, but here's my version!

* 3/4 cup flour

* 1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

* 1 tsp baking powder

* 1/4 tsp. salt

* 3 eggs

* 3/4 cup granulated sugar

* 1/4 cup brown sugar (the original recipe didn't call for brown sugar, but I love the flavor it adds, so I substituted 1/4 cup regular sugar for brown)

* 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375. Spray 2- 8 1/2 inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.

In another bowl, beat eggs and both sugars together until the mixture thickens a bit, then mix in the pumpkin puree. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat with electric mixer until combined.

Bake for 16-20 minutes, until completely baked through. Cool on wire racks.

The recipe I found calls for a chocolate ganache icing, but I didn't have the chocolate chips needed, so I made my own whipped cream:

* 2 cups heavy whipping cream

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

* 1 tbs brown sugar, pushed through a sifter to remove chunks

Beat all 3 ingredients in a chilled glass bowl until stiff.

When the cakes had cooled, I placed one cake on a decorative plate and slathered on some chocolate frosting that I always keep on hand. ( I guess I could have used the whipped cream, but I love the taste of chocolate with pumpkin) Then, I placed the 2nd cake on top and spread the whipped cream all over the cake. To make it look a bit snazzy, I sifted some unsweetened cocoa powder on top.

The layers were kinda thin, so next time, depending on how adventurous I want to be, I might double the recipe and make a 4 layer cake!

And here's the final result!