I love this cake, it is amazing and the frosting is incredible. I have had this recipe for many years and I always break it out and start making it again at the beginning of October. Alex’s birthday is October 1st and he almost always requests it for his special birthday dessert. From then on, I make it as often as I can during the fall/ winter season. I remember about three years ago there was a pumpkin shortage- do you remember that? I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to find my canned pumpkin, so I stocked up and disaster was averted!

We went out to Prescott to visit Alex for his birthday and I made this delicious cake for him. He let us each have one piece and then it was all for him! I put purple, blue and green sprinkles on it and brought Monster’s University plates and napkins. Just what every 21 year old would pick!

Combine all dried ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkin.

Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add nuts, if desired.

Pour into a well greased 9×13″ pan.

Bake at 350* for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. I know that is a really vague bake time. For some reason my original recipe says 20 to 30 minutes and that is too short and I have never paid close enough attention to how long it actually takes. So you just have to guess and then keep checking! Let cake cool completely, before frosting.

For the frosting, beat all ingredients together.

Frost cooled cake.

Store in refrigerator.

I made these babies into cupcakes for the first time, just the other day. The recipe made 24 cupcakes, just shorten the baking time to 17-19 minutes.

Pumpkin cake

2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar (not a typo) scary!
1 cup oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups cooked pumpkin, solid pack, not seasoned
1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Combine all dried ingredients. In a separate bowl; mix together sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkin. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture and mix well. Add nuts, if desired.

Pour into a well greased 9×13″ pan. Bake at 350* for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. I know that is a really vague bake time. For some reason my original recipe says 20 to 30 minutes and that is too short and I have never paid close enough attention to how long it actually takes. So you just have to guess and then keep checking!

Let cake cool completely, before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp milk
1 pound box of powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients together. Frost cooled cake. Store in refrigerator.

Cindy

We recently got back from a fun camping trip to the Colorado River! We had a great time playing in the river and eating. I love to stock us up on yummy treats before we go, and this trip was no exception.

Because it was 110 degrees in the shade, we didn’t have a campfire- so I decided to make S’mores themed treats.

S’mores Mini Pies – aren’t these adorable? It was quite a few steps, but it came together quickly. I found the recipe on Iowa Girl Eats. They were good- but not great! Definitely not as good as real s’mores and not as good as this delicious S’mores pie we posted several months ago.

S’mores Rice Krispy Treats – sorry about the terrible picture. I sort of forgot to take pictures and at the last second, just before digging in, I snapped a couple pictures. These were quite good – I would make them again. They were super easy and were yummy. I think I originally found this recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction and then I just modified it slightly.

Ingredients
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 bag mini marshmallows, 10 ounce
4 T butter
1 1/2 cup Golden Graham cereal (I crushed them slightly)
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Spray an 11 x 17″ baking pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
In a large saucepan melt the butter. Pour in the marshmallows and stir constantly until melted and incorporated in with the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the two types of cereal and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and stir gently.
Immediately press into prepared pan, I use a piece of waxed paper that has a bit of nonstick spray on it to press the bars evenly in the pan.
I sprinkled approximately 1/4 cup more of the mini chocolate chips on the top, and pressed them down slightly.
Let cool completely and cut into squares.

Peanut Butter Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies – we’ve made these many times and they are awesome. They were the favorite treat of the trip.

Cindy

I really love lemon squares- luckily for me Danae does too! These lemon squares are delicious, so they became The Treat of the Month for September.

As you can see in the pictures, the shortbread crust is actually thicker than the filling, which is a total plus 🙂 If for some odd reason, you’re not a fan of super thick crust, you could put the lemon squares into a larger pan and just shorten the baking time a bit.

To make crust, mix 4 ingredients together and press into a greased 8 x 8″ pan.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350* or until golden brown. If you like your crust thinner, you can use a larger pan but adjust the cook time.

To make the lemon filling, mix the 5 ingredients together…

and pour over the hot crust. Bake for about 30 minutes more. If you notice the top getting too brown, cover with aluminum foil and continue baking until set. Cool and cut into squares. I like to sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar just before serving.

Lemon Squares
Ingredients for crust:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 t salt

Ingredients for filling:
2 cups sugar
4 T flour
4 T fresh lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
4 eggs, beaten

To make crust, mix 4 ingredients together and press into a greased 8 x 8″ pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350* or until golden brown. If you like your crust thinner, you can use a larger pan but adjust the cook time.

To make the lemon filling, mix the 5 ingredients together and pour over the hot crust. Bake for about 30 minutes more. If you notice the top getting too brown, cover with aluminum foil and continue baking until set. Cool and cut into squares. I like to sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar just before serving.

Jordan

I found this recipe in a Family Circle magazine years ago and I have probably made it 100 times. In fact, my kids told me that they were sick of it so the recipe disappeared for awhile. It’s now back and improved a bit! We added peanut butter chips the last couple times that we made it and it was a yummy addition. The bars are fast and easy and they are perfect to put in lunches because they are hearty and stay together well.

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