Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Spice Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes one 9"x13" cake — Adapted from My Sewing Serenity & The Little Big Book of Comfort Food

This is my favorite kind of cake: comforting and homey, easy to make. It's perfect as an after school snack or at teatime, but it's nice enough to serve at a dinner party or Sunday buffet. I like it for breakfast.

4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) organic butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 15-ounce can organic pumpkin
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups organic all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it's fresh!)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspon ground cloves

Heat the oven to 350°. Grease a 9"x13" baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, melted butter, applesauce, pumpkin, and vanilla with a hand held electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; mix on low speed until smooth.

Spread the batter into the greased pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes. Make the frosting while the cake bakes (recipe below).

Let the cake cool completely before spreading on the frosting. (Sometimes I stick the hot cake pan and the wire cooling rack in the freezer for 30 minutes.) This cake keeps several days in the refrigerator or can be frozen.


Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Makes enough to generously frost one 9"x13" cake

I love the subtle hint of orange in this frosting (which becomes more pronounced the next day), but you can up the orange flavor by adding extra orange zest. Heather uses orange juice concentrate instead of orange juice in her version. For thicker frosting, add a little more powdered sugar.

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 ounces) organic butter, softened
3 Tablespoons organic orange juice
2 teaspoons finely chopped or grated organic orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (measure before sifting)

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with a hand held electric mixer on medium high speed until combined. Mix in the orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth, adding more powdered sugar if desired.