For the week before Thanksgiving, some friends of ours invited us to their house for a “Friendsgiving,” where we’ll all enjoy a big potluck meal together with a large group. This is the second year for the tradition, and we’re really looking forward to spending time with everyone while eating a great meal.
I will be taking pie this year, and it led to a discussion on the best Thanksgiving pies between Joey and myself.
Joey is a big advocate of pecan pie above all others. I tend to be one of those folks who will try a sliver of everything on the dessert table.
But one thing is certain, and that is that baking pies can get labor intensive pretty quickly. Although I’m a big fan of the process, I would guess I’m in the minority, so I decided to try a new recipe this week that might help those of you who want to bake something at home but don’t want to have to fiddle with pie crust this Thanksgiving.
This recipe came from the blog “The Country Cook.” You can find the original at https://www.thecountrycook.net/pumpkin-pie-cake/. I used just pureed pumpkin instead of pumpkin pie filling in my version and added extra spices.
Pumpkin Pie Cake
Ingredients
- 30 ounces pumpkin puree
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 cup butter melted
- 1 container vanilla frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13-inch baking pan by spraying the bottom with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the pumpkin, eggs, salt and spices until the mixture is smooth.
- Beat in the cake mix and butter for two minutes until well combined, and then spread the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the center doesn’t jiggle. (Don’t use the toothpick method. Since it’s a little pie-like, it won’t be a good indicator.)
- Once the cake is cooled, spread the frosting on top and serve.
My entire house smelled just like I baked a fresh pie in my oven, which was a nice way to get in the mood for Thanksgiving, and it was an extremely easy recipe to complete.
I’m still planning on making a pie for Friendsgiving this week, but this cake would fit in perfectly on any Thanksgiving dessert table without making anyone too disappointed.
Well, anyone but Joey, who would wonder why you bothered with making a pumpkin pie version of cake instead of figuring out how to do the same thing with pecans.
This piece first appeared in print on Nov. 21, 2019.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
