Pumpkin Cake

  A few months ago, I decided to try  find serveral different pumpkin recipes to make during the fall and winter months. I found pumpkin recipes for cookies, pumpkin chip granola bars, a pumpkin roll cake ,muffins and many more that I still haven't tried yet.
I'm a pumpkin addict, I admit it.
 
  A family friend who travels for work recently came home for a short vacation. Dennis (the friend) has a huge sweet tooth- I think that is one reason we get along so well. Well I decided that if we were going to visit them, then I would want to make Dennis a treat. From my search of recipes involving pumpkin, I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Bars with a Cream Cheese Frosting from Sweet Pea's Kitchen. This recipe is called Pumpkin Bars, but it is more of a pumpkin cake than anything else. No matter the name, this recipe is a winner! The batter took only minutes to make and the frosting is addictive without being tooth-rotting sweet like some frostings. Plus, if you make the frosting by hand (which is what I did) it makes wanting another peice of cake less of a bad thing.

I added some orange, red, & yellow sugar sprinkles to make it look pretty

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from : Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Cake:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cp sugar

1 cp vegetable oil

15 ounces of pumpkin

2 cps all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cp butter, softened

2 cps confectioners' sugar

1  tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.
4. Hand mix the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just combined. Spread the batter into the prepared 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

> I made the cake in 2 8x8 pans which took about 22-25 minutes to bake.