Cooking with My Son, Caston

I await autumn each year not only for the cooler weather and fall color, but the food. Pumpkin tops the list of some of my favorites: pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin cake…you get the idea.

And, no recipe that calls for pumpkin is complete unless it’s homemade pumpkin puree.  Making your own puree is very simple and freezer bags help you store the puree very easily.  Here is my method for processing pumpkins this fall.  And, I’ve got a special recipe that I made with my son this morning- Pumpkin Cake with a rich and buttery dark brown sugar glaze.  You never know what a little experimenting in the kitchen will bring…

How to Process Pumpkins
Split the pumpkin in half, remove all seeds and strings. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take pumpkin and place in a large cake pan. Place pumpkin pulp-side down into the pan. Add 3 cups of water to pan. Bake the pumpkin for about 1 hour in the oven. You will know when the pumpkin is ready by pushing on the skin and it feels soft to the touch. If the pumpkin is still hard, let it remain in the oven for another 20 minutes.  You may have to add more water throughout the cooking process, so be sure to check on the level throughout.

After you have your pumpkin cooked, remove all the pulp and place in large bowl. I remove the pulp with a large metal spoon and scoop it out.  With a blender add 1 cup of pulp at a time, along with 1/4 cup of water. Blend together.

Let pumpkin cool, add to freezer bags and freeze flat. I like to place 2 cups or 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin in each bag, for cooking purposes.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Cake with a Buttery Sugar Glaze
⅓ cups Water
2 ½ cups pumpkin puree
2 Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 box French Vanilla or Golden Butter Cake Mix(18 Ounce Box and I always use Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Divided
½ cups Flour
½ cups Walnuts, Chopped
4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
2 Tablespoons butter
¼ cups Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg until well combined. Next add the cake mix and baking soda and mix well.

Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Then, in a small mixing bowl make your crumbled topping.  Mix together ½ dark brown sugar, ½ cup flour, toasted walnuts and melted butter and mix until the topping resembles chunky cornmeal.  Sprinkle over the top of the cake mixture and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking make your rich glaze.  Combine ½ cup dark brown sugar, ¼ cups granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 tablespoons of butter and ¼ cup heavy cream.  Bring mixture to a light simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

When cake comes out of oven, take a knife and poke holes in the top of the cake.  Pour the glaze over the entire cake and let cake sit for at least 30 minutes.