Pumpkin Cake — The Out-of-Season Cake for the Kid Who Wanted Pumpkin in May

Cody is on day five hundred and eight. Junior year finals week. AP Biology Wednesday afternoon. AP English finals Thursday morning. Algebra II Friday morning. The home-ec final project presentation Friday afternoon — my project this year is a portfolio of the recipes I have taught Mrs. Rivera’s freshman class as her TA over the year, with the cost-per-serving math and the technique notes for each. Mrs. Rivera said when she returned the rough draft Tuesday with a single comment in red pen on the last page, Kaylee, this is publishable, which is the kind of comment that makes a person walk back to the bus stop slowly.

And the recipe Saturday was a pumpkin cake for a kid’s sixth-birthday party. The job came in through Mrs. Henderson’s niece Renee, the same Renee who had brought Eli over for the floating taco bowls in March, the same Renee who had her older daughter Madison’s graduation party in May with my queso. Renee’s friend at her gym in Stillwater had heard about my cakes and called Renee asking for the catering reference. The friend’s son turned six last weekend and had asked her, with the kind of specific six-year-old certainty that comes from a Pinterest scroll, for a harvest-themed birthday party in May with pumpkin in the cake.

The mom called Mama at the Dollar General on Tuesday. The arrangement: $50 reimbursement, $40 tip if the cake matched the Pinterest photos she was going to text me. Mama agreed on my behalf because I was at school. The cake is in the calendar. The Pinterest photos arrived Tuesday night.

The reference photos showed a two-tier round cake in pumpkin orange with brown chocolate-frosting fall leaves piped around the base, a small fondant pumpkin on top, and an additional small fondant black cat sitting next to the pumpkin (the kid had asked for a cat too, the mom said, because his cat at home is named Pumpkin). I was going to charge for the cat. Mama said I should not. Mama is more generous with her catering pricing than I am. The cat is going on the cake at no extra charge.

I baked the cake Saturday morning. The recipe is a doctored box cake using the Kathy variation I have been writing about since the chocolate chocolate chip cake for Mama’s thirty-ninth birthday in 2017. One yellow cake mix, four eggs (instead of three), a third of a cup of vegetable oil (instead of half), a cup of milk (instead of water), a tablespoon of white vinegar, a fifteen-ounce can of pumpkin puree, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a teaspoon of ginger, a half teaspoon of ground cloves, a half teaspoon of nutmeg.

The pumpkin and the warm spices are the upgrades that turn a yellow cake into a pumpkin cake. The pumpkin replaces some of the moisture the milk and oil would have provided and gives the cake a tender slightly-dense crumb. The spices fill the kitchen with the November-in-May smell that the mom had asked for. I baked two 9-inch round layers and one 7-inch round layer for the top tier. I leveled the layers with a serrated knife, stacked the bigger layers with cream cheese frosting between, frosted the outside in pumpkin-orange-tinted cream cheese frosting, and stacked the small layer on top with a thin support of dowel rods running through the bottom tier (the kind of support technique I learned from a YouTube video three months ago and have been using on every multi-tier cake since).

The cream cheese frosting is the standard one I have been using for two years — two bricks of cream cheese softened, a stick of butter softened, a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of salt, four cups of powdered sugar whipped together until smooth and thick. I tinted it pumpkin orange with three drops of red gel food coloring and four drops of yellow.

The decorations took the second half of Saturday. I piped small fall leaves in red, yellow, and brown buttercream around the base of the bottom tier with a leaf tip. I shaped a small fondant pumpkin from orange-tinted fondant Mrs. Henderson had given me from a baking class she had taken in 2003 and never used. I shaped a small fondant black cat from black-tinted fondant. The cat had small white-fondant eyes the size of pinheads. The mom Sunday afternoon when she picked up the cake at our front door said, oh, my goodness, and put a hand on her chest, and I knew the math was going to come out fine.

The mom posted three photos of the cake at the party on Facebook Sunday night. The photos picked up nineteen comments by Monday morning, several from other moms in her network. Two more catering inquiries came through the comments by Tuesday. The kitchen has continued to be the small business it is becoming. The savings envelope is at $675 with the new shift-lead pay rate plus the cake reimbursement and tip plus the May Sonic shift hours.

Three weeks until junior year ends. Three weeks until the Tulsa Library writing program starts. Three weeks until the summer.

The recipe is below. The trick is the doctored box cake (the Kathy variation: extra egg, less oil, milk instead of water, a tablespoon of vinegar) plus the canned pumpkin folded into the batter with the warm spices. The pumpkin gives the cake a tender slightly-dense crumb and the spices fill the kitchen with the November smell even in May. Use cream cheese frosting tinted with gel food coloring (not liquid; liquid food coloring throws off the consistency). Make this for a kid who has decided pumpkin is the right fall in their May.

Pumpkin Cake

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for dusting, or cream cheese frosting (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and lightly dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth and fully combined.
4. Combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined — do not overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine; they’ll incorporate as you fold.
5. Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are just pulling away from the pan.
6. Cool and serve. Let the cake cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar or top with cream cheese frosting if you like, though it’s plenty good on its own.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 44g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 210mg