Gingerbread Sheet Cake

Recipe Adapted from Serious Eats
INGREDIENTS
1 cup light brown sugar
3 ounces unsulfured molasses
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried orange peel
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, fresh grated
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
3 large eggs, straight from the fridge
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled to about 100°F
5 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
2 1/2 ounces whole wheat flour
8 ounces buttermilk

DIRECTIONS
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 350°F. Line an anodized aluminum half sheet cake pan with parchment, then grease lightly with pan spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine brown sugar, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, five-spice powder, black pepper, and eggs. Mix on low until moistened, then increase to high and whip until foamy and thick, about 8 minutes.

Reduce speed to low and drizzle in melted butter, then add all-purpose and whole wheat flours, followed by buttermilk. Once combined, shut off mixer and fold batter once or twice from the bottom up with a flexible spatula, then scrape into prepared pan.

Bake until cake is puffed and firm (though crust will retain a light impression when pressed with a fingertip), about 20 minutes. Cool in pan until firm, top with cream cheese frosting.

I love all things gingerbread. Gingerbread cookies- soft, snappy, I'll take them all, the gingerbread churro at Disneyland, Gingerbread Spice Life Cereal… so I knew I wanted to find a gingerbread cake that will make my heart the happiest. BUT in all the recipes I tried, it just wasn't quite spicy enough. Yeah, gingerbread needs to be spicy! To balance the of the sweetness of the holidays. So, I used the cake recipe that I enjoyed the texture of the most (the addition of whole wheat flour gives it such great texture) and used my favorite gingerbread spices.

Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS
2 cups pumpkin purée
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 425°F.

Prepare pie crust, and pie dish.

Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust.
Bake 15 minutes, then REDUCE oven temperature to 350°F; bake an additional 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1-inch from crust comes out clean. Remove from oven, and let cool.

Enjoy your pie!

My nephew, Nathan, wanted to bake a pumpkin pie FROM a pumpkin. Being the amazing aunt that I am, I took that as a challenge. So, I cut up a sugar pumpkin, scraped the innards, chucked it on a baking sheet and roasted it in the oven for like an hour (until the pumpkin is fork tender) at 350ºF. When I removed the pumpkin from the oven I peeled the skin off, and went to work on pureeing that s.o.b. in my TINY food processor. My pumpkin was a little dry, so I had to add some water to get the consistency I wanted. Then I pushed it all through a sieve, because it was still pretty fibrous. The Pioneer Woman recommends freezing it in one cup increments, just so that you know how much you have. I had a little under two cups from the one pumpkin, and used it in this pie recipe. This may not be the prettiest of pies, but I still love it because of how much hard work went into making it.