I missed blogging during my week off, but I definitely kept busy in the kitchen. We had fun with vacation cooking at the beach - always spaghetti for first night, and since we’ve been home, the porch has thrown it’s usual number of impromptu parties. A prediction of frost caused a flurry of harvesting green tomatoes and bell peppers for more pickles and jelly. That’s why I spent yesterday afternoon in the kitchen and ended up with 16 more jars of pepper jelly and 9 jars of pickled green tomatoes. Here would be the time to mention that there actually was no frost - why do I continue to believe Nashville weather forecasters?
The afternoon may have been productive, but the morning was much more fun. One of my favorite people in the world, who is also one of the busiest, took a little time to come over and bake cakes. Her daughter is applying to college(s) and she needed a sympathetic ear and some college advise, which I’ll happily provide anytime I can get a good friend to come play in the kitchen. She has a dynamite recipe for a pumpkin cake and that’s what we made. The recipe came from a cookbook I didn’t own so I whined about it until she gave it to me. I’m not much for whining, but this time it was worth it. We drank copious amounts of fruit tea and gossiped away while the kitchen smelled better every minute.
After the cakes were done I added a quick powdered sugar glaze then we raided the garden for a little fall cake decorating. Channeling the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, we put a vase with marigolds in the middle of the bundt cake. The other one got a Mexican sunflower. In the process we solved all the problems of the world. You know, if the powers that be in Washington would just get together and bake some cakes, they could probably come a long way toward finding some answers. Maybe you should pass this along to your congressperson!
Ingredients
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3½ tsp cinnamon
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1½ c canola oil
16 oz can of pumpkin
1 c chopped walnuts, optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients, except sugar, together in a large bowl.
In a mixing bowl beat eggs at high speed, gradually adding sugar until the mixture is thick and lemon colored. Continue beating while adding oil.
Beating on low speed, alternate adding pumpkin and dry ingredients.
Bake in a bundt pan sprayed with baking spray for 50 to 60 minutes.
Cool and add a glaze if desired.
Glaze: mix 1 c of confectioners sugar with 3 Tbsp heavy cream. Add more if necessary to get desired consistency.
Don’t forget a vase of flowers for the middle!
