Four Layer Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this cake for Thanksgiving last year. Not only is it a real show stopper, it was much easier to make and assemble than I anticipated and could be made a day or two ahead of time.

Since I work in a library, I have an abundance of cooking magazines at my finger tips every day (as well as several I get at home) which I can peruse during my lunch or dinner breaks. This recipe was from the November edition of Bon Appetit, a magazine that has yet to fail me when trying to make any of it's wonderful recipes. This cake caught my eye while I was looking for Thanksgiving recipes. It's one time of year I usually like to pull out all the stops when it comes to the menu. Everything from using the good china to the table decor to the menu. And dessert is where I really like to show what I'm made of. Although I also made a lamb appetizer that was pretty killer but that's another post.
And I think I did a pretty good job of making my cake look nearly as good as the one in the
magazine.

My Cake (left) Bon Appetit Cake (right)
Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder*
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 (15-ounce can) pure pumpkin
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/2 (8-ounce packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1 Tbs finely grated orange peel
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Chopped walnuts or walnut halves, toasted

For cake:
Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Spray two 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2" sides with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment; spray parchment.

Whisk flour and next 4 ingredients in large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until smooth. Beat in brown sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating to blend between additions. Divide batter between pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in pans on rack 15 minutes. Run knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto racks. Remove parchment. Using tart pan bottom as aid, turn cakes over onto racks, top sides up, and cool completely.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap cakes in plastic and store at room temperature.

For frosting:
Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add cream cheese and orange peel; beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until smooth.

Trim rounded tops from cakes. Using long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 cake layer, cut side up, on large platter. Spoon 2/3 cup frosting atop cake in dollops; spread to edges. Repeat 2 more times with cake and frosting; top with remaining cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake (layer will be thin).

DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome; chill. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

Decorate cake with walnuts and serve.

Servings: 16

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderfully quiet day today. Heck I didn't even go out except to walk Sophie. To say the least it was great. We piddled around most of the day, I read and Jim played on the computer. And now that we've had dinner we find ourselves quite relaxed. And for this wonderfully relaxing day I am thankful.
Tonight's dinner was my take on an inside out turkey and stuffing. I took panko bread crumbs, seasoned them with your usual stuffing herbs like sage, thyme, ect. then coated some turkey cutlets in the bread crumbs. We pan fried them til golden brown and served them with some salad and roasted fingerling potatoes. I originally planned southern style green beans but forgot to cook them earlier today so salad took their place. And for dessert, chocolate lava cakes. Again, I planned something different, pumpkin creme brulee. But as I was a bit of a slug today, I forgot to make it. The lava cakes were quick and easy so they were made instead.

And seeing that it's Thanksgiving I thought I would say what am I most thankful for. A terrific husband, the world's cutest dog, and a great family (on both sides). Plus lots of other little things that are too numerous to list.

Check back tomorrow when I post about the infamous No-Knead bread recipe that's been the hit of the blog world lately.

Thanksgiving Menu

Our Thanksgiving plans have changed several times over the past few weeks. First Jim's family was planning to drive up this week and spend Thanksgiving with us. Then that changed to coming up the following week. So now they're now coming up next Wednesday instead.

At first Jim and I thought we'd just go out to one of our favorite places for Thanksgiving. Well that changed too. We decided to just eat at home and have a nice quiet day together. We'vbe both been sorta stressed out from work and a day together with nothing else to do besides relax and fix a nice dinner would be nice. But what to fix? A turkey and all the trimmings for two seems a bit excessive. Then I had a moment of brilliance! Inside out turkey and stuffing.

You may be wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Well, if I take a piece of turkey breast, pound it out to about 1/4 inch and coat it in some panko bread crumbs that have been seasoned with traditional stuffing herbs like thyme and rosemary and such. Viola! Turkey with the stuffing on the outside. A little pan fry action and the main course is done.

So our menu will be as such:
Inside out stuffed turkey breast
Southern style green beans
Roasted fingerling potatoes

And for dessert: Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Now when Jim's family comes up we'll fix what we originally planned for Thanksgiving dinner which will be:
Roasted Cornish Game Hens (that have been brined)
Wild Mushroom Risotto
possibly more Southern Style Green Beans
fresh baked bread, possibly rosemary focaccia

and for dessert: Deep dish Apple Pie

It's a wrap. Thanksgiving dinner, Day 2

This afternoon, I put the barbacoa back in the oven. After cooking it for another 2 hours, it was FINALLY done! Total cooking time: 9 1/2 hours. We tried some for lunch and had more for dinner.

So, was it worth it? The jury is still out on that one. Biscuit Boy would say yes. Biscuit Pup gives it two paws up. Me? It was good, but I know it could be better. And armed with this notion in mind, I'll give it one more try. We'll probably make it again for Christmas, but I'm going to go into negotiations with Biscuit Boy about making something else as well. Perhaps the barbacoa can be a lunch time dish.....hint, hint. That gives me the opportunity to make something I'm more confident in for dinner. Like my family's traditional Christmas lasagna, hint, hint.

This tradition began in 1976 and was our first Christmas in Tennessee after moving from New York. Keep in mind, Tennessee in 1976 did not know of yummy NY foods like bagels, bialy's, REAL pizza (not pizza hut), ect. So when mom realized that she couldn't get her favorite brands of pasta or tomato paste in the local stores, she saved enough of our recently moved from NY stock to make up a big ol' pan of lasagna for Christmas dinner. To us, it was the best meal we could have asked for. Good home cooking. And ever since, it has become our traditional Christmas dinner.

One memorable Christmas Eve, mom just finished making up her lasagna and realized that she didn't have any room in the fridge to store it overnight. Thankfully it was very cold outside, freezing to be exact, so mom wrapped up the pan and set it out in the enclosed deck on the table. The next morning, I woke up before anyone else and being the good daughter, brought in the lasagna and set it in the oven so it could thaw a little before it needed to be cooked. However, I forgot to tell mom what I had done. She wakes up about an hour later, shuffles into the kitchen, let's the dogs out (we had four at the time) and goes about getting coffee started. A few minutes later, we hear a blood curdling scream. It's mom and she's standing outside on the deck frantic because her lasagna is missing! She's yelling at the dogs thinking one of them dragged this huge, heavy pan of lasagna out into the backyard. We're all standing at the door trying to calm her down when it dawns on me..... Sheepishly I say, "Hey mom, I already put the lasagna in the oven." Silence for about 5 seconds before we all start laughing while we try to get the thought of one of the dogs dragging about an empty lasagna pan around the back yard. But for some reason, the dogs failed to see the humor in it........ their thoughts.... "so close, soooooo close."

Thanksgiving Dinner - Plan B

We usually have my in-laws drive up from Tennessee for Thanksgiving. This year they are coming for Christmas instead. And looking ahead we decided to make a Mexican lamb dish called Barbacoa for Christmas dinner. Since we've never made barbacoa before, we decided to make a trial run of it for Thanksgiving. This way we would know how to tweak the recipe or decided to make something else all together.

Barbacoa is a Mexican version of barbeque. This one calls for a pan of veggies and water set underneath the roasting lamb. As the lamb cooks, the drippings go into the pan beneath it creating a soup that is served on the side. We first tried this dish at Andale, one of our favorite restaurants. It's what inspired us to try to make it at home.

My better judgement told me to put the lamb in the oven early, like before noon. But after consulting two of the three recipes I found, I decided to wait until about 2 this afternoon to begin cooking. Big mistake, BIG. It's now almost 8:30 and the lamb is STILL not done. Not even close. This is what it looked like as we put it in the oven.

So we rummaged through the freezer and are making stuffed grape leaves, a leftover hamburger and some Chinese noodles. Not what I had planned but at least it will be ready to eat before the lamb.

I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it actually tastes. Then decide if we're going to still make it for Christmas or not. And if we do, you better believe that baby's going in the oven much earlier......say about day break.

Maybe tomorrow I'll let you know what we decided.