My Little Pumpkin Cake: Easy, Stir-Together #DairyFree Snack Cake from @CleoCoyle

 

From Cleo Coyle: Our readers may remember this great little snack cake from our 14th Coffeehouse Mystery Once Upon a Grind, in which our amateur sleuth bring her shop's coffee truck to New York's Fairy Tale Fall Festival and discovers the body of a "Sleeping Beauty" in the Ramble, the oldest and spookiest section of Central Park. From there, the adventure begins. Meanwhile...

The writing adventure continues for Marc and I as we finish up our 20th Coffeehouse Mystery, coming next fall. As for this fall, we hope you're all enjoying our latest Haunted Bookshop Mystery, The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, which was just named "A Best Read of 2022" by the beloved review blog Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book. Thank you to Lori Caswell and all the readers and reviewers who are helping us celebrate the release of our newest Haunted Bookshop entry...

To learn more, click here or the image above to visit
Jack & Pen in our online Haunted Bookshop.

   

Now let's get our fall baking on...

Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery

 series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

☕ A Recipe Note from Cleo 

This is a great little snack cake to serve at this time of year. It's insanely easy to stir together, bakes up moist and delicious, and the pumpkin on the ingredient list adds nutrition and fiber. I make it every Thanksgiving season, when pumpkin is plentiful in the market. I even buy extra canned pumpkin, so I can keep the joy going and continue my pumpkin cake noshing all winter long.

Is bigger better for you? While I like to bake my small version in an 8-inch square pan, you can easily double the recipe for a festive 9 x 13-inch sheet cake.

This pumpkin cake recipe is also dairy free. To finish the recipe in a dairy-free fashion, you can dust it with powdered sugar, or use Dairy-Free Whipped Cream (aka whipped coconut milk). To see that recipe, click here (this link will open a free PDF document).

On the other end of the dairy-eating spectrum, my husband Marc (who is also my partner in crime-writing), absolutely loves cream cheese frosting on his pumpkin and spice cakes. So I'm sharing that option with you today, as well. 

May you eat (and read) with joy! 

~ Cleo

To download this recipe in a PDF

document that you can print,

save, or share, click here.

Click here for Cleo's Free Recipe PDF.

🎃 Cleo Coyle’s

Little Pumpkin Cake

(Dairy-Free)

Servings: I use an 8-inch square pan and cut the cake into 16 petite servings. For larger servings, simply cut the cake into 9 squares. For a 9 x 13-inch sheet cake, double the recipe for both the cake (and the frosting) and you’re all set.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (*see my end note to make your own )

1/4 teaspoon table salt (or 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt)

Wet Ingredients:

2 large eggs

½ cup vegetable, canola, or coconut oil

1 cup cooked and pureed pumpkin (If using canned, be sure to use 100% pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling)

Step 1—Prep-oven and pan: First preheat the oven to 325° F. Make a parchment paper sling for your pan by allowing paper to hang over two edges. With non-stick cooking spray, lightly coat the paper as well as the pan sides without paper. Now mix up your batter.

Step 2—One bowl mixing method: Measure dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk them together. Make a well in the center. Break your two large eggs into the well, whisk to blend. Add oil and blend again. Add pumpkin puree. Switch to a large spoon or rubber spatula. Gently stir and fold until the dry mixture is completely blended into a smooth batter—but be careful not to over-mix the batter or you will develop the gluten in the flour and your cake will be tough instead of tender.

Step 3—Bake: Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bang the filled pan on a flat surface to release any bubbles and even out the batter. Bake in a well preheated 325° F. oven for approximately 35 to 45 minutes. The time will depend on your oven. The cake is done when the center is no longer jiggling and springs back when lightly touched. To be absolutely sure, stick a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean (with no batter clinging to it), the cake is done. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, then run a butter knife along the sides of the pan that are not papered (to loosen if sticking). Gently lift the cake out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. When completely cool, dust with powdered sugar OR try one of my frosting options below...

*HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PIE SPICE: Spice mixes like this (and apple pie spice) are good to keep in mind when looking for economical shortcuts to your holiday baking. If you would rather not use pumpkin pie spice (or run out of it on occasion, like I do!) here is how you can make your own: 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice = 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon ginger + 1/8 teaspoon allspice or cloves + 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Dairy-Free Frosting

My pumpkin cake recipe is dairy-free. If you’d like a dairy-free option for the frosting, try using “Dairy-Free Whipped Cream,” a wonderful option for creating delicious whipped cream. It’s incredibly easy to make using a single can of full-fat coconut milk. To get that recipe, click here for a downloadable PDF of the recipe, which you can print, save, or share.

OR

(If dairy is not a problem for you, try...)

Cleo Coyle's

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients: 

4 ounces cream cheese (half of a typical 8-ounce block)

2 teaspoons whole milk

1/2 to 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (to your taste)

2-1/4 cups confectioners’ (powdered aka icing) sugar

Directions: Place the cream cheese into a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until creamy. Add milk and vanilla and beat again until blended. Add about half of the confectioners’ (aka powdered or icing) sugar and beat until fully incorporated. Add the remaining sugar to finish. If you find the frosting too loose, add more confectioners’ sugar. If you find it too dry, add a tiny bit more milk. Frost the cake. I use a tablespoon to dollop the frosting onto the cake, then I use the back of the spoon to smooth and swirl the frosting.

Eat (and read) with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author

of The Coffeehouse Mysteries and

Haunted Bookshop Mysteries

Cleo (Alice) with her husband Marc

Visit Cleo's online coffeehouse here.

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Tastes of Fall

Nyakers Pepparkakor (Gingersnaps) in Their Pretty Tin

Oh, friends ... it finally happened!

After a record-breaking summer of unearthly heat and drought, the weather in north Texas has finally turned.  As I type this, I'm gazing out the window at a skim of platinum clouds, a blanket over my lap and a cat nestled against my side.

[Okay, technically the blanket is overkill.  It's 67 outside, not exactly freezing.  But compared to Monday's 107, this feels absolutely awesome.]


With the first breath of autumn in the air, my mind has turned to flavors of fall:  butternut squash, crisp apples, barley soups, crusty bread, Shepherd's pie ... I can't wait to share autumnal recipes with you all over the coming months.  These are the flavors and foods I love the most, hearty and comforting.

Today, though, I'm sharing an unusual fall recipe I picked up when I was checking out of a World Market a few years ago.  It's a recipe for pumpkin dip created by Nyakers (a Swedish company that makes the most intensely flavored, delicately textured gingersnaps).  It's a wonderful addition to any fall potluck or party:  it's an unusual vehicle for the familiar flavors of pumpkin pie, and it gives people the ability to have just a tiny portion of dessert (if, for some reason, they want to skimp on dessert ... personally, that kind of restraint is utterly foreign to me).

While this creamy, sweetly spiced dip goes beautifully with Nyakers pepparkakor (and the Nyakers tins look so fancy when you present them to a hostess), any gingersnaps will do.  You can also serve the dip with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or (if you're being virtuous) slices of apple and pear.

Nyakers Pumpkin Pie Dip

15 oz. pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 1/2 Tbs. orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until creamy and smooth.  (Or, in the alternative, mix all ingredients with a hand mixer.)

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.

Pumpkin Pie!

What would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie?

Well... for me it would be just fine. Give me the turkey, the stuffing, more stuffing, some veggies, more stuffing, potatoes, and top it all off with stuffing and I'm a happy (and well-fed) camper.

As far as I'm concerned, you can keep the pumpkin pie. (But I'll have an extra helping of whipped cream, please.)

I would take a permanent pass on pumpkin pie ... except it's tradition. Not only that, but the rest of my family loves it. So today I'm presenting a mostly home made pumpkin pie. I say "mostly" because I'm cheating and using a store-bought crust. Hey, they're lucky I agreed to make one at all, right? :::grin:::

This recipe came to me from my sister-in-law years ago. My husband always adored his sister's recipe and I'm lucky she was willing to share. Umm... make that my *family* is lucky she was willing to share.

I really want to like this particular treat, but I just can't. A combination of taste and texture perhaps. Who knows? But I am crazy about the smell. Right now, as I write this, the pie is baking. My home is awash in delectable scents. It's intense Thanksgiving, and cinnamon, and nutmeg, and Christmas, and home all wrapped in one. Just gorgeous, amazing smells around here.

So even if you don't like pumpkin pie, you may want to make this anyway, just to make your house smell great. Pumpkin pies make awesome gifts!

PUMPKIN PIE

1 10-inch prepared pie shell (deep, or extra deep)

1 16 ounce can of pumpkin (drained)

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 eggs

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 425.

The directions on the recipe I have says: Mix all, adding milk last.

But I mixed my dry ingredients first, then added the eggs one at a time, then the rest. I messed up and added the milk before the pumpkin. Oops. No real harm done, as far as I can tell.

The recipe goes on to instruct:

Bake at 425 for ten minutes.

Reduce heat to 325 for two hours, or until it turns custardy and splits (at least one hour)

Really? Two hours versus one hour? That's quite a spread.

I found the best time to be just short of two hours. But just over an hour and a half. The top splits beautifully and the pie is completely baked through.

NOTES:

When I poured the mixture into the pie shell I learned a valuable lesson. This is a *very* soupy mixture. Very. I should have placed the pie shell on a baking sheet *before* I filled it. Ever try to move an overfilled liquidy thing? Slosh, slop. Yep, you get the picture.

As it turned out, I had more mix than I had room for, so I placed the excess in a small baking bowl and set it next to the pie on the baking sheet. This had an extra benefit. I could see through the glass to gauge the done-ness of my pie. Sure helped with that one hour versus two hour question. Perfect!

Have fun and make your home smell marvelous!

Enjoy,

Julie

PS - check out my new updated website (and a peek at the cover for Grace Interrupted!)

www.juliehyzy.com

* * * * * * *

Remember to enter Krista's Christmas Cookie Contest!

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Cookie Contest!

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She's holding a delicious contest! Send Krista your favorite cookie recipe
at Krista at KristaDavis dot com and you might win!
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