Last week I showed you pics of a fabulous pumpkin dessert that we had on Bee Day.  And I promised the recipe.  Pat gave it to me so I could share.  But I had to make it to share it.  Pumpkin.  Fall.  Kind of goes together, doesn’t it?  I’m still waiting for that big cold front to come through so I can make my token pot of chili.  It’s always what I want when we get some actual cold weather.  I mean it is October after all.  Couldn’t we have a little bit of chill in the air?  I won’t hold my breath.  This is Texas after all.  But one of these days…..  In the meantime, how about some Pumpkin Pie Cake.  Or as I think it should be called – Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake.

Here are the players!

Pumpkin, yellow cake mix, sugar, pecans, eggs, butter – yes, two sticks! – nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, salt and hiding behind the butter, evaporated milk.

Did I mention this recipe is really yummy?  Must be the two sticks of butter.

Start with the pumpkin.  Pour in the evaporated milk.  By the way, the recipe calls for a 29 oz can of pumpkin, but the can I found was 30 oz.  What’s up with that?  And for the evaporated milk, the recipe says a 13 oz can.  All I found was 12 oz.  I figure they cancel each other out and ounce for ounce it’s all the same.  Or something like that.

Beat the eggs slightly.  As opposed to beating the dickens out of them, I guess.

And add them to the pumpkin mixture.

Add the sugar.  Notice I switched from a spoon/spatula to a whisk.  I suppose you could put this whole thing in your mixer, but I’m lazy about those things.  And if a whisk will do, I prefer the whisk.  It’s just the kind of gal I am.

Add the spices….. cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt.  Nutmeg too.  But I prefer to do the nutmeg this way:

Grated, fresh nutmeg.  If you’ve never tried it, you should.  I like to add it to steamed veggies and sauces too.  It’s pretty wonderful and the aroma it gives as you grate it, is worth the price of a microplane.  I’m into those scenty things when I’m cooking.  Easily entertained.

And because it was important to do at least one up close shot, here’s a pic of what the inside of a nutmeg nut looks like.  Isn’t it cool?  Only it’s actually not a nut, it’s a seed.  The things you learn when you do a little research on the internet for your blog!

Whisk everything together (or use your mixer if you’re not lazy like me)……

….until it’s all nice and blended together like this.

Pour it into a 13″ x 9″ pan.  No greasing necessary.

Carefully dump the cake mix on top.  Thus the name “Dump Cake.”  At least in my opinion.

Chop the pecans with your handy, dandy Sudoku knife.  Or is it Sashiko?  Santoku?  Whatever.  I always get those words mixed up.

And sprinkle them over the top with your very wrinkled Shar-Pei dog hand.

Melt 1 cup of butter in the microwave.  Yes.  TWO sticks of butter. 

And pour all the buttery, luscious goodness over the top.

While it’s baking you can whip some heavy cream to serve with the yummy pumpkin.  Because whipped cream and pumpkin just go together.  Trust me.  You could buy Cool Whip, but once you’ve had the real thing, Cool Whip just doesn’t cut it.

Heavy cream, powdered sugar & vanilla.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  And I chilled my bowl while I was making the cake.  Just a little tip for making the whipping easier.

This is my favorite handy, dandy whipper.  Because again….. too lazy to get out the mixer.  And this little baby is a great whipper.

Besides, then cooking can be classified as an aerobic exercise.  Remember you want to not feel too guilty when you eat all that butter.  So whip away!

If I made whipped cream every day, I’d have the skinniest arms in town.  Not.  But look at that creamy loveliness.

Yum.  I could eat the whole bowl.  But that would defeat the aerobic workout, now wouldn’t it?

In the meantime, the Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake has come out of the oven.  And although Pat put the whipped cream on top of the whole pan like this:

I preferred the single serve, spoon the whipped cream on top method.  Like this:

Yum.  Double yum.  Maybe even triple yum.

And because I was impatient and couldn’t wait for anything to cool before I served it up, in about 2 seconds it looked like this.  And about 45 seconds later it was no more.  But my tummy was very happy.  And full.

And now – ta da!  I’m trying something new.  To get a simple page to print the recipe, click on this site: Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake.  I’ll work on a more serious option later, but just thought I’d try this today.  Very crude.  But should work for printing.  What do you expect at 2:00 a.m.?  Oh, yeah.  Most of you think that’s my best time of day.  Feel free to leave a comment about the recipe option, if you have any suggestions.

And now if we could just get some seriously cooler weather.  Because I’m ready for a big pot of chili.

Happy Fall!
Barb