Pumpkin-Orange Cake

I never really intended to put recipes on my blog, but I've been cooking and baking a lot lately and Weston loves to help, so here we are. This cake, however, I made by myself while he napped because, well...let's be honest, it's easier that way!

But I do love that cooking and baking ingredients are a familiar part of his vocabulary and it's fun to talk with him as we add things to the bowl. A few days ago he was helping me make lasagna for dinner and I was talking with him about the day and how I had gone to the doctor that morning. After mentioning "the doctor" several times, he looked up at me and said "No mo monkeys jumpin' on a bed." Yep, that is exactly what the doctor said!

I digress, so here is the recipe for this VERY yummy Pumpkin-Orange Cake. I am giving you the recipe as the "light" version, because it is from Cooking Light, but I will tell you that I tend to use the real deal ingredients. Sometimes life seems a little too short for low fat dessert...



1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softned
1 can pumpkin
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cup cake flour (I've always adhered to this, but next time I'm going to use whole wheat pastry flour and see what happens...)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
(but feel free to spice things up a bit more!)
12 oz. can fat-free evaporated milk

Frosting:

3 cups sifted powdered sugar (sifted shmifted)
3/4 cup (6 oz.) 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 tsp.grated orange rind (imperative...do not leave out)
2 cups mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained
1 cup pomegranate seeds

1. Beat sugar and butter. Add pumpkin. Add egg and vanilla. Beat the heck out of it.
2. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients. Add flour mixture alternately with evaporated milk to the butter mixture. Pour batter into two 9 inch cake pans (coated with cooking spray, of course)
3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
4. Beat 1 cup of powdered sugar with cream cheese. Add rest of powdered sugar and orange rind. Beat until fluffy.
5. Spread 2/3 of frosting in between cakes and the rest on top. Arrange mandarin slices and pomegranate seeds all pretty on the top :)

This is a great recipe for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas. In fact, I had the ingredients for it because I was supposed to bring it for Christmas. But I was recovering from stomach virus 2009, so my mama let me off the hook. I made it later, but then it's hard because you have a whole cake just sitting in your house with not as many people to eat it. And then your husband starts making comments about how quickly it's disappearing...hey, it takes A LOT of energy to sustain life in the womb...many pieces of cake are needed (especially when baby is seemingly getting old enough to eat cake herself!). With that said, I don't know what I'm going to post about next, so this little girl better get a move on!