Tuesday was a day for Pumpkin Cake

A break in the rain today left the mountains looking like some one's quilt batting was dragged across the peaks.  So pretty.  Just minutes after this shot was taken, the mountain was again swallowed up in clouds.   I can see why ancient people thought the mountain had its own spirit.  It's always changing its mood.  Kinda like me some days...

 

Living in Hawaii, it's hard to tell when the seasons are changing.  It used to be that I'd watch what people were wearing on TV commercials.  When they broke out the sweaters and started advertising cold remedies, I knew fall had come.  We don't have the changing leaves or the daylight savings.  But today, the weather was definitely cooler.   The rain came through in waves making me want to snuggle up with a book.  Unfortunately, Tuesdays are not good snuggle-up days at my house.  There's school work and chores to be done.  I did manage to grab a cup of coffee and a piece of my favorite pumpkin cake.  I'll have to share the recipe.  This cake is so moist and delicious, I didn't even make frosting for it.  The recipe calls for cream cheese frosting.  I love it, but then the cake is so rich you can't eat too much.  I like it plain or with a dusting of powdered sugar.

 

This recipe has been adapted to be Sulfite free.  I've found that I can't tolerate baking powder, which makes baking rather interesting.  In most recipes, I substitute an extra teaspoon of baking soda plus half a cup of yogurt for every teaspoon of baking powder the recipe calls for.  This works best for quick breads.  I have a tortilla recipe that only called for 1/8th teaspoon of baking powder, so I just omit it.  The tortillas turn out fine.

Back to the pumpkin cake:

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups organic non-enriched flour

1 tsp. each: cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger, nutmeg

3 tsp. baking soda 

1 tsp. salt

1 cup butter

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup yogurt

one 15 oz. can pumpkin

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Sift together dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
• In a large bowl, place butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time to the wet ingredients.  Stir in the vanilla and yogurt.
• Stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, then 1/2 the can of pumpkin.  Follow that with 1/3 flour mixture, then the rest of the pumpkin and then the remaining flour mixture.
• Spray the cake pans with nonstick spray.  You can use either two round 9-inch pans or one bundt pan.
• Bake the two round pans for 30 minutes or the bunt pan for 45-55 minutes - or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for a minute and then turn out the cakes onto wire racks.  Let cool completely.
• To finish, frost with cream cheese frosting or sprinkle with powdered sugar - or each plain.

 To learn more about sulfite intollerance, see this great website.