Calling All Pumpkin Addicts: Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Most of us love pumpkin be it in pie form, a flavoring of coffee, a scented candle, or otherwise.  I am an avid Food Network and Paula Deen fan (what can I say...her sons are cute too!) and have enjoyed the majority of her recipes.  But, this one in particular is my all time favorite.  I’m not really a pumpkin pie fan (maybe it is something about the texture…who knows?), but I love just about everything else pumpkin.  I was first introduced to this recipe by my beautiful mother who made it for my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding rehearsal dinner when they got married in 2004.  This is a perfect fall dessert for any occasion.

Overall, I’d say this recipe is similar to a simple cheesecake with a delicious crust, and the best part is that it takes a fraction of the time to prepare it compared to cheesecake.  So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake!

Ingredients

Cake:

1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 egg

8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (15-ounce) can Pumpkin

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

As always, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Next, it’s time for the crust: combine the cake mix, egg (make sure all of your eggs have come to room temperature), and butter and mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13”x 9” baking pan.

The filling is just as simple: in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until it is smooth (you may see some lumps, but that is completely fine). Next, add the eggs (remember: room temperature!), vanilla, and butter, and beat together for about one minute. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well until it is smooth. Take the pumpkin mixture and spread it over the crust that you have already pressed into the pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. (NOTE: Make sure not to overbake! The center should be a little gooey.)

My coworkers at my office came up to me all day long taking about how great they thought this cake was and even suggested I submit it to our agency’s newsletter (I did, of course!).  I love this recipe because it really does seem like it is complicated and you have to really know what you are doing, but in reality, you only have to mix things up and put it in a pan and try not to overbake it.  I think that this is a great substitute for those individuals who love pumpkin pie, so I challenge all of you to serve this at your Thanksgiving meals instead and watch the compliments roll in.

Happy 50th Birthday Peace Corps! This Cupcake is for you!

At 2:00 a.m. on October 14, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy addressed students on the steps of the University of Michigan Union. In his speech, he challenged the students to give two years of their lives to help people in countries of the developing world. As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer myself, it is a very exciting time to be part of the Peace Corps community. So, in honor of the 200,000+ volunteers who have served or are currently serving, this recipe is for you!

It is autumn in NYC…finally. The leaves are falling from the trees, the air has that cool, crisp bite to it, and you can see pumpkins being sold at all of the markets and kiosks around the city. With this in mind, I am making a Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcake with a Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting for my coworkers tomorrow. This cupcake is a perfect balance of all things delicious, and a great way to honor Peace Corps!

Pumpkin Peace Cupcakes

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or you can buy this in the spice aisle not fresh)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

Start of by preheating your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line muffin tins with paper liners. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown. Once the butter is brown, skim the foam from the top, and remove from heat. So not to burn the butter, next pour it into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind and let cool (I recommend using a strainer of some sort to get rid of any burnt sediment that may have been left).

In one bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves until thoroughly combined. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and brown-butter mixture. Add the dry mixture, and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full and put them in the oven. While baking, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes depending on the oven. Transfer the tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, frost cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (see below for recipe).

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

First, beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes and reduce the speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then cinnamon and vanilla. Keep mixing until smooth.

This cupcake smells absolutely amazing when it is baking. The spices mix together and it is all you can do to not eat them right out of the oven (not that doing that would be a bad thing....). Enjoy the smells AND the taste!!