Well, it’s here: Our last day of vacation. Normally at this point in the week I’m complaining to myself (oh all right, and to everyone around me who will listen) that the past week went by too quickly and I wish I had more time off, but I have to say, this time around the week seemed like just what I needed. I actually feel like I had two weeks off, and although I love being home and “keeping house” and all that goodness, I’m kind of looking forward to getting back to work. I’m sure I’ll change my mind in, oh, two weeks’ time when I’m run-off-my-feet busy, but for now I’m ready to greet my office with a smile tomorrow morning and see what my colleagues have been up to during my absence. I’m fortunate to work in a small office where it really feels like a family at times, so I’m excited to catch up with everyone.
Instead of spending our last day off hanging out alone at home as I’m normally wont to do, we hosted a potluck lunch at our house with five of our nearest & dearest friends. The food was great, but the company was even better. I’ll be spending the rest of the evening lying on the couch, feeling pleasantly full and happy from a good four hours’ worth of conversation and laughs.
Although I didn’t photo-document the whole to-do, I did for the dessert I made! It’s another pumpkin-based dessert (autumn is almost over so it’s nearing time to put away my pumpkin addiction for another year), and although I’d never made it before and was a little nervous about how it would turn out, it was a hit! Here’s the recipe, if you’re interested:
Pumpkin Better-Than… Cake
Adapted from Something Swanky
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (mix only; other ingredients mentioned on the box are not needed)
2 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (not in original recipe)
1/4 ginger (not in original recipe)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (not in original recipe)
1 300 mL can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub whipped cream topping
2 Skor bars (original recipe calls for Heath Bits, but I don’t know what those are!)
Caramel sundae sauce
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree and the yellow cake mix. The batter should be thick, but easy to stir. To ensure that the batter wasn’t clumpy, I mixed the two ingredients together first with a wooden spoon by hand, then used my electric mixer to break up any lumps. At this point I also added the spices, although the original recipe didn’t call for them. I just wanted my version to have a little “autumn spice” added to it.
Fold batter into a greased 9″x13″ baking dish, and bake for the time required on the back of the cake mix box for the size pan you’re using (I baked mine for 35 minutes). As with most cakes, it’s ready once a toothpick or knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Once finished, allow cake to cool for ten minutes.
Then, using the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes in top of the cake. Drizzle condensed milk over top, making sure it’s spread into the holes. Allow cake to cool completely.
While cake is cooling, break the two Skor bars into bite-sized pieces – I put mine into a plastic baggie and bashed them with a rolling pin. Once cake is completely cooled, top with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and Skor pieces. Chill in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours, or overnight (I kept it in the fridge overnight and it turned out great!).
As always, here are some photos to accompany:
This was probably one of the easiest, least time consuming desserts I’ve ever made, and it was tasty to boot! Both Dave & our friend, Simon had seconds and I would have if I hadn’t already eaten so much food already. I’m unsure what to do with the remainder of it – it was cut into sixteenths, so there’s still about half of the pan left! I might give it to my mom to bring into her office tomorrow as a little treat, but I’ll have to save at least one piece each for Dave & I – it was just too good!
And now it’s time to go enjoy the rest of my night with Dave before he heads out to work. I hope you all had a great weekend!
Until next time!
Love,
Cyn (& Dave)
thesassyapron
/ November 4, 2012This sounds amazing- I love pumpkin spice cake and this is like one step further!
Cyn Younker
/ November 4, 2012Take my word for it, it’s pretty much amazing! It turns out to be a very dense, very moist cake and then the topping makes it even better. And it was so easy – I’d definitely recommend it for someone who has the time to chill it, but doesn’t want to invest in something overly complicated. If you make it I hope you enjoy it as much as we all did! =)
somethingswanky
/ November 5, 2012So glad you liked it!!
Cyn Younker
/ November 6, 2012I more than liked it – it was a really great recipe! I’m very glad there’s leftovers in my refrigerator. =)