Pumpkin Cake with Maple Icing for #Halloween by Lucy Burdette

This was my darling Tonka in his hot dog outfit, which he did not really enjoy. 

LUCY BURDETTE: I was assigned to bring finger food to a church coffee hour, and I searched and searched for something easy with pumpkin. Sally's Baking addiction had a pumpkin coffee cake with crumb topping. I decided to leave off the crumbs and add maple frosting to come up with pumpkin cake with maple icing. You absolutely need the best maple syrup you can afford because it shines! I was suspicious of a cake with no butter or eggs, but this worked. I'm not sure I would make the cake without the frosting though--eater beware!

Ingredients for the cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

1/2 teaspoon salt.

One a half teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

One cup pumpkin purée

1/2 cup brown sugar packed, light or dark

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla (my addition)

Optional nuts

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter, a 9 in.² pan well. Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In another, whisk the pumpkin, brown sugar, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and milk together until combined pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix lightly.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Here you can stud the batter with pecans or other nuts if you choose.

Bake the cake about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze.

Melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small pan. Stir in 1/3 cup maple syrup. Sift in one cup confectioners sugar and beat until it’s smooth.

When the cake is cool, pour the glaze over the top. Happy Halloween!

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This cozy mystery expertly balances personal stakes with a fast-paced plot in a consistent Burdette fashion. It’s a suspenseful, heart-filled addition to the series that proves Hayley is just as effective at solving crimes as she is at critiquing menus. Netgalley reviewer

Book 15 in the Key West series, paperback edition of THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores now!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.