Pumpkin Spice Cake with Zesty Cream Cheese Frosting
I like to mix things up with this recipe. It’s equally good as a sheet cake or as mini-cupcakes.
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Zesty Cream Cheese Frosting and Candied Lemon Peel
Cake:
4 eggs
3/4 cup cooking oil
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups unsifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Grease 9 X 13 baking pan or muffin cups. Beat together eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin. Combine flour, baking powder, baking sodam salt and spices. Slowly add to pumpkin mixture. Beat until blended. Pour batter into pan or tins, and bake for 35 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven. Test for doneness.
Once cool, frosting the cake or cupcakes with the Zesty Cream Cheese Frosting. Top with Candied Lemon Peel. (Recipes below.)
Zesty Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup (4 oz) light cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture, beat until blended.
Candied Lemon Peel:
3 lemons
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
Wash lemons. Cut off the stem and blossom ends and score the lemons from top to bottom into four segments. Remove the pieces of peel, including the white pith.
Place the peel in a large saucepan, covered with cold water. Simmer the peel, covered, for 15 minutes. Drain peel in a colander, return to pan and coverage again with water. Simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Drain in a colander and cut into strips.
Combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water in a heavy saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add peel, reduce heat and summer until syrup has almost disappeared, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat and transfer strips of peel to wire rack to cool.
Place the remaining granulated sugar in a bowl. Roll the strips of peel in sugar and return to wire rack to dry.
Cut into small pieces to top the cupcake, or leave in long strips to decorate the sheet cake.