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Monday, October 06, 2008

Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Icing

I thought my Dad deserved a home-baked birthday cake this year (well, every year), especially since his chemo-affected tastebuds seem to work best with sweet foods. He loves pumpkin pie and caramel and dried fruits and nuts, so I decided to use the recipe that my friend Kate used for my 40th birthday cake: Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Icing.

It involves making home-made caramel enriched with not only heavy cream but also cream cheese.  I substituted dried cherries for the raisins in the recipe (Dad likes raisins, but neither MinxBro, Mr Minx, nor the Minx herself is very fond of the cucaracha-esque nasties), and because MinxBro has very specific nut allergies, I used a combination of chopped hazelnuts and almond slivers in place of the walnuts.

It was gooooood.  The cake is moist and airy, the caramel is rich and gooey, and with a leetle beet of vanilla ice cream, it's a perfect dessert.  

Dad enjoyed it. :)

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:58 PM

    That is a GORGEOUS cake! It also sounds delicious. Yum! (And happy birthday to your dad too!)

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  2. Anonymous9:59 AM

    That looks delicious and I love pumpkin anything. I share your dad's birthday as well. Happy Birthday to him. I'm going to make this for myself (I'll share, of course). Happy birthday to me.

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  3. Something like that might be a great alternative to pumpkin pie! For a lighter alternative, what do you think of pumpkin souffle? I may have to do some experimenting.

    BTW, happy anniversary to you and Neal. :)

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