Cake Friday: Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Fall is in the air. This is the time of year that my tummy begins to crave all things pumpkin. I found this recipe on the Iowa Girl Eats site and even though this is not officially a cake I thought I would share it as a Cake Friday post. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 48 Whoopie Pies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-15oz can 100% pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup sour cream
3 cups flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the cream cheese frosting:
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
4oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat butter and sugars together for 1 minute. Add egg and vanilla then beat to combine. Add pumpkin puree and sour cream then beat to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch.
3. Drop 1 Tablespoon batter using a cookie scoop onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Let cookies cool for one minute on the baking sheet before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
4. For the cream cheese frosting: Beat together butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency of frosting is reached. Pipe cinnamon cream cheese frosting on half the cookies, then top with remaining cookies.

Be sure to check out some of the other fantastic recipes on this site.

Happy Eating,

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

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Reason to Procrastinate # 57- I Was Dreaming of Baking

I was searching around the internet the other day and found these great recipe ideas. I know I should have been working on the next chapter for my current WIP, but when the air is beginning to get that crisp almost fall feeling my mind turned to baking. The pull was too hard to resist.

Here are a few recipes I found that I thought would be fun to share with all of you:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles from Seeded at the Table.

Banana Bread Brownies with Brown Butter Frosting from Our Recipe Garden.

And for those of you looking for something a little more healthy check out examiner.com for some Hauntingly Healthy Halloween Snacks.

I’ll sign off for now. I really do have to get back to my writing. But be assured, I’ll be doing it with visions of Banana Nut Brownies on my mind.

Happy Baking Writing,

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

 

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Cake Friday: Lemonade Layer Cake

It’s been a long time since I posted a recipe for Cake Friday, but when I saw the recipe for this Lemonade Layer Cake on myrecipes.com I knew I had to share. If you’ve been a reader of our blog for any amount of time, you may have heard me mention my allergy to chocolate. It’s yummy treats like this that help me not miss chocolate so much.

Ingredients

• Cake:
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
• 3 tablespoons thawed lemonade concentrate
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free buttermilk
• Cooking spray
• Frosting:
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 2 teaspoons thawed lemonade concentrate
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare cake, place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat well after each addition.
3. Pour batter into 2 (9-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.
4. To prepare frosting, place 2 tablespoons butter and the next 4 ingredients (2 tablespoons butter through cream cheese) in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended (do not overbeat). Chill 1 hour.
5. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Happy Baking,

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

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Craving Pancakes

One of my favorite mid-grade novels is Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino. I am pleased to announce that author Nan Marino’s newest book Hiding Out at the Pancake Palace is being released today:

Here is a synopsis:

Eleven-year-old musical prodigy, Elvis Ruby, was supposed to win the most coveted reality show on television, Tween Star. None of the other contestants even came close to his talents. But in the middle of the biggest night, with millions of people watching, Elvis panicked. He forgot the words to the song. He forgot the tune. He forgot how to play every single instrument he’d ever known and froze on national TV. So Elvis must run from the paparazzi camped outside his door and spend the summer working with his aunt and cousin at Piney Pete’s Pancake Palace in the remote wilds of New Jersey. It’s the perfect place to be anonymous, that is until Elvis meets Cecilia, a girl who can’t seem to help blurting out whatever’s on her mind.

I can’t wait to read it.

In honor of the release, I’ve decided to search out some fun pancake recipes. I found a great post for 13 Fun Pancake Ideas on Simply Sweet Home. Here are some of the fun recipes in the post:

Charlie Brown Pancakes

Lucky Charms Pancakes

Strawberry Shortcake Pancakes

Yum!

Happy Reading and Eating!

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

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Cake Friday: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Frosting

We have been experiencing some pretty warm temperatures around here lately and that has me wishing for some crisp fall weather. It’s simply too hot to turn on the oven right now, but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming about cake.

I found this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cake on the Martha Stewart website. Yum! I think this recipe will be just the thing when those cooler temperatures and crisp nights come around.

Ingredients

• For The Cake

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice (or 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/8 teaspoon each allspice and cloves)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree

• For The Honey Frosting

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1 bar (8 ounces) regular (or reduced-fat) cream cheese, very soft
  • 1/4 cup honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin-pie spice. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, butter, and pumpkin puree until combined. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture, and mix gently until smooth.
3. Turn batter into prepared pan, and smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes in pan, then turn out of pan, and cool completely, right side up, on a rack.
4. Make Honey Frosting: In a medium bowl, whisk butter, cream cheese, and honey until smooth.
5. Spread top of cooled cake with honey frosting. Cut cake into squares to serve.

Cook’s Note

You can also use a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan: Increase baking time by 25 to 30 minutes (tent loaf with foil if it browns too quickly).

Happy Baking,

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

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