Pumpkin Cake with Nutella Frosting

Pumpkin Cake with Nutella Frosting ~ an epic fall dessert that pairs two favorite ingredients: pumpkin and Nutella!

I used to pride myself on being able to keep a  jar of Nutella in the cupboard, unmolested, for months.  I don’t know exactly what  happened, but I’m now officially a Nutella freak, and no jar, no matter how well hidden, is safe.   Too bad.  I don’t need another favorite food in my life, I’ve got all I can handle. And I’m not even sure if it’s the texture, or the flavor, or that it’s so darn convenient to spoon into recipes, (especially frostings) but it’s now up there with eggs and butter as a kitchen staple.  This cake is my latest excuse to buy a jar.

It’s the love child of two of my best recipes: Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread so I had no doubts that it would be anything less than fantastic.  I already knew from the pumpkin bread that chocolate and pumpkin is a win win combination.  And that recipe is literally fool-proof, I just left out the chocolate chips, bumped up the walnuts, and added some sour cream for richness.  The Nutella frosting is just insane.  I already knew that, too.  It was interesting that by simply switching out sour cream for the butter I got a completely different texture from my original.  This frosting is a little glossier, and has a luxurious droop to it.

We’re leaving our daughter at college today and heading out to drive to North Carolina to see my dad for the second leg of our trip.  Torrential rains soaked all the kids and parents yesterday as we made mad dashes from cars to dorms.  As usual I’m feeling a heavy ache inside as we get ready to leave.  We said our goodbyes last night after dinner, now all that’s left is for us to drive away.   I did notice her new dorm has a pretty complete, if tiny, basement kitchen, though, so I see some fun Skype-enhanced cooking sessions ahead.  I’m thinking the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread might be first up.

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Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Nutella Frosting

Pumpkin Cake with Nutella Frosting ~ an epic fall dessert that pairs two favorite ingredients: pumpkin and Nutella!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

for the cake

• 1 cup pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche or yogurt
• 1/4 tsp each: cinnamon nutmeg, allspice and cardamom
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

for the Nutella frosting

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• milk or cream to thin

Instructions

• Set oven to 350F
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk the pumpkin, oil, eggs, sour cream, sugars and spices. Make sure everything is well combined.
• In a separate small bowl whisk together the flour, soda and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing just until combined. Fold in the walnuts.
• Spread the batter evenly in a lightly greased 9 inch spring-form pan.
• Bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it.
• Cool briefly before removing from the pan.
• Make the frosting by mixing together the Nutella, sour cream and powdered sugar. Add just enough milk or cream for a spreadable consistency. Add a little more sugar if the frosting seems too thin. Spread on the completely cooled cake.

Notes

For this and all baking recipes, make sure to measure your flour using the Fluff - Scoop- and Fold method: first fluff up the flour to loosen it, then lightly scoop it into your measuring cup, and then level off the top. This will help insure that you get an accurate amount of flour.

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