Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

For the past few years I’ve been trying to replicate a delicious and beautiful pumpkin chocolate cake with two distinct layers of pumpkin and chocolate. Unfortunately every time I ended up with one of the two layers being too dry. Recently I was able to track down the original recipe thanks to the person who introduced me to it in the first place. The big thing missing in my attempts in replicating the recipe was that I only mixed pumpkin puree in the pumpkin batter. This recipe made things simpler by mixing the puree in a big batch of batter and then adding cacao powder to only half the batter. The addition of cacao powder in the chocolate batter was balanced by the moisture of the pumpkin puree, and the result was two deliciously moist cakes fused together! With just a couple modifications to the recipe, I baked this cake for Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter at room temperature (1.5 sticks)

1¼ cup white granulated sugar

½ cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ - ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 325 F. Grease two 6” pans and dust with flour (or line with parchment paper).  

 

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and continue to beat.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the dry mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin.

Divide the batter in half. Mix in cocoa powder in half the batter and beat until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips in the chocolate batter.

Add half of the chocolate batter to each pan. Top each one with half of the pumpkin batter. Smoothen out the top and bake for ~60 minutes, checking for doneness after ~45 minutes. If using a larger pan, the baking time will be reduced as the cake height will be lower  and it will bake faster.

Let the cake cool down for 15-20 minutes before removing from the pan. Sift a mixture of cocoa and powdered sugar on top. I made two little maple leaf cutouts and put them on the cake before adding the cocoa and sugar. Then lifted them up and piped an outline with melted chocolate. Alternately, top with dark chocolate ganache (Click here for ganache recipe).
 

~Gayatri

Note: To get a flat cake top instead of a dome, follow these instructions.

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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Monday, December 14, 2015

Pumpkin Pie Puffs

A few weeks ago, we had a Fall Dessert Day at work for everyone to bring in their favorite fall treats. Of course, Gayatri and I had to make something...but wanted it to be more interesting than traditional pumpkin or apple pie. Gayatri made a delectable orange-pumpkin cake with orange-zest cream cheese frosting. My first thought was to make a batch of apple pie roll-ups with Crescent rolls instead of pie crust (which I did end up making), and then I wondered if I could make something similar with pumpkin pie filling instead. Just rolling a blob of pumpkin pie filling in a Crescent roll might leave the whole thing a limp soggy mess, though, so I turned to trusty Google to get some ideas. Marshmallows were the key! Crescent rolls + marshmallows = beautiful pastry puffs, which I could then stuff with tasty pumpkin pie filling. 

Ingredients: (makes 16 puffs)

For the puffs

2 can Pillsbury crescent rolls

16 large marshmallows

16 mini marshmallows

~2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

½ cup butter, melted

For the filling

1 can (~15oz) pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

8oz cream cheese

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ cup powdered sugar

*Pumpkin Pie spice (makes about ¼ cup)

⅛ cup ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp ground ginger

½ TBSP ground allspice

Making the puffs

Separate and spread out the crescent roll dough. Dip a large marshmallow in the melted butter, then roll in the pumpkin pie spice mix. Place it in the middle toward the wide end of a crescent roll wedge and put a mini marshmallow on top of it, then bring up the sides of the crescent roll to wrap around the marshmallow, forming a satchel or pouch (similar to these Easter surprise rolls but with the extra mini marshmallow). The mini marshmallow will help keep an opening for the pouch so it can be filled later.

Once the pouch is formed, dip the bottom in melted butter, then place in a muffin pan. Repeat with the remaining marshmallows.

Bake at 375F for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden brown. As the pouches bake, the marshmallows will puff up inside them, then melt, leaving a hollow puff with a pocket for filling. Let the puffs cool before filling.

 

Making the filling

Combine pumpkin puree, cream cheese, and sugar and mix until smooth. Spoon into a large Ziploc bag with a large round icing tip (if you don’t have an icing tip, snip off a corner of the bag).

Once the puffs are cool to the touch, pipe the filling in through the opening left by the mini marshmallow (in case the puff opening collapsed, use a knife to poke through). Each puff should be able to hold about 2 tablespoons of filling - and you can feel the puff expanding a bit in your hand as it is filled.

It's best to wait to fill these until just before serving, otherwise the pastry might get a little soggy.

Happy indulging!

~Karla


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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Thursday, November 5, 2015

Gluten Free Pumpkin & Oat Crepes

Crepes are one of my favorite foods - quick and easy to make, and super versatile. You can change up the filling and easily go from savory to sweet. Or you can change what goes in the batter altogether! This healthy crepe recipe uses pumpkin and oats instead of the typical ingredients like flour and eggs. It’s low carb, gluten free and extremely delicious!

Ingredients (Makes ~6-8 small crepes)

¼ cup pumpkin puree

¼ cup quick oats (old fashioned rolled oats would work too - will need some extra water)

½ Tbsp melted butter

¼-½ cup water or milk (I used water)

Salt, Black pepper, Garlic (powdered or minced) - to taste

Chopped parsley (optional)

Mix all ingredients except water. Add water a couple tablespoons at a time until the batter reaches typical crepe batter consistency - pourable, but not too watery.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a little oil/butter. Pour ~2-3 Tbsp of batter using a ladle and spread it evenly by tilting the pan. Cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes. Since there is no flour in the batter, this is a very delicate crepe. As it cooks, you’ll notice the liquid evaporating, leaving behind a beautiful lacy surface.

Carefully loosen the crepe from the sides using a thin spatula, flip it and cook for another minute. Serve hot!

Serving suggestions:

The crepes are nice and crispy when they’re hot, but they get softer as they cool down (remember, no flour!). When they were hot and crispy, I enjoyed just rolling them up and eating them as a snack.

To make a meal out of it, you can top it with your favorite crepe filling. I served it with an omelette and sauteed mushrooms and broccoli, drizzled with a tangy mustard and yogurt sauce.

~Gayatri

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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Friday, October 9, 2015

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free)

Karla and I love to try making new (and preferably healthy) desserts, and the best way to get feedback is to take them to work and share with our team! One of our colleagues is on a gluten free, low sugar diet so he doesn’t quite indulge in most desserts like the rest of us. So, this time I decided to make a gluten free dessert and keep it low on sugar as well. I’d been planning to make pumpkin cookies for a while and figured I could use gluten free oat flour as a base. There are plenty of gluten free pumpkin cookie recipes online, however I wanted more of a soft cakey cookie. So I ended up approximating the dry ingredients from a handful of recipes that used all purpose flour. I substituted it with oat flour, added some corn starch to make sure the cookies are not dry and crumbly (oat flour has no gluten for binding!), reduced the amount of sugar and added some milk because oat flour absorbs more liquid than wheat flour, which could also leave the cookies dry. These whole grain cookies are like little pillows of pumpkin with a hint of sweetness and spice.

Ingredients: (Makes ~4 dozen small cookies)

2 cups gluten free whole grain oat flour

2 Tbsp corn starch

1½ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 cup brown sugar (or more if you prefer)

1 cup pumpkin puree (if using canned, make sure it is not pie filling)

½ cup of canola/vegetable oil

1 egg

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk (I used fat free)

Optional add-ins

½ cup dark chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 F. 

In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla, milk until well combined. Make sure the sugar doesn’t leave any lumps. In another bowl combine the  oat flour, corn flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips, nuts and mix. 

Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. Drop the batter using a couple teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheet (~2-3 teaspoonfuls per cookie). Use a small ice-cream/cookie scoop if you’d like perfectly round cookies. These don’t spread too much so leaving about an inch or so between the cookies would be enough.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. They will be nice and puffy, and should spring back when gently pressed. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

~Gayatri

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Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Sunday, August 30, 2015