Hope you had a safe and happy Halloween! We had 17 trick-or-treaters, which was an improvement from last year when we only had 4. Afterwards, we went to a Halloween party - I was a pirate and Jeff was a skeleton. Alas (or fortunately), there are no pictures.
In honor of the holiday and fall in general, here is a simple and delicious recipe for a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting from Paula Deen. I made this for a co-workers birthday and only a couple pieces were left over. This would be the perfect dessert to bring to a Thanksgiving potluck.
Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15 oz. can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Using an electric miser at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 x 10 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.
To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkins bars.
Candy Pumpkins in a Cream Cheese Field
