Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cake

This year was my first Thanksgiving in Washington since 1999. Nuts. And, to top it off, it snowed ALOT two days before Thanksgiving so if was white, cold and gorgeous!

Both sides of my family were doing dinners that day, about an hour apart from each other. I was supposed to bring dessert to both, but unfortunately it didn't pan out. With the snow and the treacherous roads (and my complete lack of prior snow driving experience!), I wasn't able to make it out to my second celebration for dessert. So we got double goodies at the first dinner.

I made a pumpkin cheesecake, and for the first time in all my cheesecake making attempts, I mastered it. There was one tiny 1 1/2 crack near one side, and that was IT! No giant crevices mussing up the perfect creamy landscape. Sadly...I didn't get a picture! But it was glorious, to say the least.

Even though in the end, things didn't work out for my second family celebration, my dessert was still prepared, so I can at least share it here! Since I was put in charge on both sides, and since I hate  pumpkin pie, I simply chose to avoid it. So instead I made a four-layer pumpkin spice cake smothered in cream cheese frosting. Oh yeah, baby...

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cake

Pumpkin Cake
From Martha Stewart

2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and eggs until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla. Slowly add 1/3 of the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk until combined.

Divide batter between two greased and floured 8 in. pans. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in pans for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen cakes, and invert onto cooling rack until room temperature.


Cream Cheese Frosting
From Paula Deen

2 pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar (more may be necessary)

Combine cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add vanilla, and slowly add in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Once all powdered sugar has been added, you may need to assess the consistency and add more until the frosting begins to hold its shape-you don't want it dripping all off your cake!

To assemble, begin by cutting both cakes in half. Place bottom layer on a plate, and cover with 1/4 in. frosting. Place next cake layer on top, and repeat until all layers are assembled. Cover the cake in a thin layer to keep all the crumbs in place. After the crumb coat is in place, you can frost the cake to your desired thickness, without the mess of getting orange cake crumbs all over your finished product-magical!

I even used my special garage sale steal heart shaped Wilton pans to make this cake a little more special. Unfortunately I came home to find that pieces of this cake were literally just being shaved off, rather than figuring out the best way to cut even slices, haha. It looked cute in the beginning, though!