Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Cake:
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
2 lrg eggs
1 12oz bag semisweet choc chips

Frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Position rack in cener of oven. Butter a 9" square baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. (I used an 8"pan and it was ok)
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger into medium bowl and set aside.
In a lrg bowl, using and electric mixer on med speed, beat the pumpkin, sugar, and oil until smooth, about a minute. Scrape side of bowl as necessary. Mix in the eggs one at a time until blended. On low speed, add the flour mix, mixing just until incoorporated. Mix in chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Scrape the batter into the pan. Bake just until the top feels firm and toothpick inserted comes out clean, approx 40 min. (Mine took 36) Transfer cake to wire rack to cool for at least 20 min.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto the wire rack. Remove the paper liner and let cake cool completely.

Make frosting:
Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until thoroughly blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the powdered sugar, mixing until smooth, about 1 min, then beat on medium speed for about a minute to lighten it up.
Frost the top of the cake. I garnished the top with shaved chocolate.
The cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days, just let stand at room temp an hour before serving.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Well, my first individual baking project was a success. The pumpkin chocolate chip cake was not only delicious, but it was a huge hit with the rest of the family at Thanksgiving. And if anyone is looking for a quick, easy, and tasty cake to whip up in no time, I highly recommend this cake, especially in the fall/winter season.

I’m not too familiar with baking terminology, or frankly writing about cakes at all, but I’ll try my best. I thought the cake was very moist, especially in the middle, and the chocolate chips were plentiful and not too overpowering. I was disappointed in some things, however. The first time my friends and I made this cake, about a month ago, the chocolate chips almost formed a thick layer of chocolate in the middle; it was delicious, especially served warm. But this time, the chips mainly stayed solid, and the cake had to be served at room temp and not warm, because we didn’t want to melt the cream cheese frosting. So that was a bummer, but not too big of a deal. Secondly, I really wish I could’ve served the cake warm! But that would have been extremely difficult with the cream cheese frosting, so we had to compromise.

My favorite part about this cake, other than being extremely simple and quick (which is saying something, considering I am not an experienced baker) is the cream cheese frosting. It goes really well with the slight taste of pumpkin, the decadent chocolate chips, and the dense cake itself. I don’t think any other frosting would do.

When I was making the cake at my parents’ house, my mom said beforehand she didn’t want to help me. And she didn’t! I was so proud of her. But she did warn me that I should level the ingredients in the measuring cups, make sure the oven was ready to go, etc. And she got the ingredients for me, so I was extremely grateful.

Overall, I thought the process was a great experience. I am going to continue to look out for other simple and quick cakes, just like this one, and hopefully I can continue learning from the Cake Queen herself.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Guest Blogger

Happy Thanksgiving Cake Fans!
Tomorrow afternoon my son, HJ, comes home from college for the holiday. He is a big cake fan from way back. (my fault) He has informed me that he intends on baking a cake in my kitchen tomorrow! Yay! He has graciously accepted my invitation to blog about his cake and his experience! Watch for the "guest blogger" post!
PS. He has never singlehandedly baked a cake before.

Recipe Hazelnut Cheesecake

Ingredients
Cake
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted (direction to follow)
2 lbs cream cheese, room temperature
1 3/4 Cup sugar
4 eggs

Chocolate Crust
1 pkg Nabisco chocolate wafers
1 cube butter, melted

Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup water
1 1/4 Cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9inch springform pan, 3 inches deep. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread hazelnuts on shallow baking sheet and bake for 15 min. After removing from oven rub them while warm in a dish towel and the skins will come right off. They don't all have to be off. Grind them in a food processor. It doesn't matter if they are not evenly ground. Set aside.
For the crust:
Break up cookies and put in food processor. Add melted butter. Mix a few seconds til ground. Press on sides first then on bottom of pan. Bake for 10 min. Remove and cool.
For filling:
Put cheese in bowl of electric mixer. Mix on medium speed until absolutely smooth. Add sugar. Stop occasionally and scrape sides of bowl with spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, being careful not to beat any more than necessary to thoroughly mix all the ingredients. Stir in the nuts with a rubber spatula.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and then cover the outside of the pan with foil to prevent leakage. Place the pan inside another larger pan, so that the cake pan does not touch the sides, but no more than 3 inches deep. A roasting pan is perfect. Pour 1 1/2 inches of hot water in the roasting pan, place it in the oven and bake 1 1/2 hrs, or until the top is golden brown and feels dry to the touch. It should still wiggle a little. Mine took 1 hr and 25 min. Place baked cheesecake on a rack to cool. Do not cool in the refrigerator. When cool, remove sides carefully and refrigerate.

Caramel Sauce
Mix the water and sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. cook over low heat for 5 to 10 min, until the sugar dissolves. Do not stir. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown, about 5 to 7 min, gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful, the mixture is extremely hot! Watch very carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. Don't worry the cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify.
Simmer over low heat stirring constantly until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool to room temp, about 4 hrs. It will thicken as it sits.

To serve:
Put a little caramel sauce on the plate, set the slice of cheesecake on top. Put a little dollop of whipped cream on top and one hazelnut on the cream. Gorgeous!

Hazelnut Cheesecake with Chocolate Cookie Crust and Caramel Sauce

Happy Holidays Everyone!

So, I am not much of a pumpkin person. I am also not much of a pie person. (Hence, I DO have a cake blog) I am always looking for some dessert for Thanksgiving that is festive and has a fall-type flavor. I pulled out an old cheesecake recipe from about 20 yrs ago and changed it up a bit. Hazelnuts are a delicious nut and add incredible flavor to this cheesecake. The original recipe has no crust at all. What could be better than a chocolate cookie crust! And, just to top it off, I added a caramel sauce. A little caramel sauce on the plate, place cheesecake on top, and a dollop of whipped cream. There you go, the perfect Thanksgiving dessert!