It’s not fancy, difficult, or pretentious. It’s not a layer cake, has no icing, and calls for ingredients nearly everyone has. It’s good enough to take to the In-Laws, and doesn’t last long at gatherings or buffets. In fact, it’s my EX-mother-in-law’s heirloom recipe, and I have no idea of its origins. But it’s the stuff of legend among her grown boys and now their families. You know, the ones I’m no longer related to…ahem…
(The cookbook went the way of the nice furniture and half the CD collection, but the recipe, it stays) And the pumpkin cake recipe lives on…it’s MINE, alllllllll MINE (sinister chuckle!) Ok, just kidding…I still give the credit where credit’s due. Thanks, Mom C!
I’m sorry I have no picture this time. I had every intention of making this tonight, and then repeated interruptions and trips to run errands and nighttime lethargy won out.
It’s a simple recipe…one of the few talismen of my former marriage, a family favorite baked ad infinitum by Mrs. C, a matriarch of matriarchs and the perfect mother to a gang of 6 ravenous (now-grown and still ravenous) boys. Most of her recipes were accompanied by a Braves game on the radio nearby. She deserves credit for so much…an amazing woman, gardener, mom, cook, wife, and scholar. She was/is a railroad man’s wife, a bang-up cook and an impossible act to follow in the kitchen, and I’m grateful she DID pass this recipe down the line.
Not that she shared all her secrets up front…after making this cake, which is a really thick pumpkin Bundt cake (she pronounces it BOOndt, every time…why do I remember that every time I make it?), mine somehow came out tasting rather bland after those first few attempts. When I was puzzled, and asked her about it, telling her I’d followed her written recipe exactly, she said, “oh, I always double the spices…” Ah, that would be the difference.
I did double the spices after that. You should not overbake this one…cook only till a straw inserted toward the center comes out clean, and then let it cool. It’s also best the second day, and later…stored better by wrapping securely in plastic or some other airtight material. And if you need potpourri, aromatherapy, air freshener, go no further…the rich, warm scent of this cake baking is its own category of wonderful!
I think I’ve seen hundreds of pumpkin cake recipes out there, yet the ones I’ve tried are different than this one…I don’t know what it is, but this one really (excuse the expression) takes the cake! It always made appearances at every family function, usually multiples were made so that any surviving slices could be ferreted away by those traveling back home again…but the cake seldom made it all the way home. The grown boys unapologetically would cut huge hunks of it, and wash it down with glasses of cold milk. It’s not fancy…really more of a spice cake, without frosting or adornment…but for all those years it took its place as a family classic.
Well, I’ve appropriated it, heh heh! My daughter still asks for it regularly. My addition to the recipe is slight…a bit of ground ginger, and then it takes on a moist, pumpkin-y, spice cake sort of gingerbready-ness that I prefer to regular gingerbread or regular pumpkin cake. Delicious!
Here’s the recipe, the original one. Remember…if you want it to taste Mother-in-Law good, double the fragrant spices. If you want it to take on a hint of gingerbread, add the ginger. Best stored the first day and devoured the next…if you can wait!
My thanks to Mrs. C for so many memorable gatherings savored all the more via her talented hand in the kitchen. Make it with warm thoughts of your loved ones, stir in some nostalgia and laughter, and a bit of bittersweet homesickness. (Oh yeah, and make sure some Atlanta team is on the radio in the background.) Baked up, it spells comfort and welcome..
Family Favorite Pumpkin Cake
3cups sugar
2 sticks butter
2cups cooked pumpkin (pulp well drained, or 1 Libby’s can of pumpkin)
3 cups plain flour
1teaspoon vanilla (I use 2)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I use 1-2 Tablespoons, to taste)
1 scant teaspoon powdered ginger (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees (300 if your oven runs hot). In large heavy bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Mixing with mixer, add other dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin. Add vanilla. Batter will be very thick. Butter and flour a Bundt pan, and pour in batter. Tap filled pan lightly on counter a couple times to settle any air pockets. Bake for @ 1 hour 25 minutes, or till straw inserted near center comes out clean. Be sure not to overbake. Allow to cool completely, then store in sealed plastic container or wrapped. Best after first day, if it lasts that long 🙂
I have a recipe similiar to this and it uses white chocolate chips- so good!
Badhuman, sounds good 🙂
Robbyn
What if I don’t have a boondt pan?
I absolutely love this post and I shall have to try this recipe. You are a good woman.
🙂
cheers.
Mary, if you don’t have the booondt pan, you could use a toooob pan instead, lol!
Shelby, I hope my virtue does not lie in my abilities in the kitchen. Today was a disaster. It looks like something exploded in there, and everything I tried to cook I burnt to a crisp. Except the mystery glop that what I had in the Crockpot turned into. We laughed that it’s now a Crackpot… My husband took me to dinner…not as much to spoil me as for his own self-preservation… 😉
Robbyn, you need a dog, they are wonderful for those glop recipes. Great cake recipe and tribute to the XMIL. Jack is a smart guy. 🙂
That sounds wonderful! I think I will make it for one of the three “Thanksgiving” dinners I have to attend this weekend.
Thanks, Robbyn! I made it yesterday as I have a wealth of pumpkins around here. (I also didn’t have a boondt pan: an angel food pan came with the house so I used that to great effect.) I needed to cream the still-stringy pumpkin first so I added a bit of buttermilk to thin it and then added another 3/4 cup of flour and a bit more baking soda but otherwise went with you on the spice suggestions: it’s quite yummy! Not helping at all with the pre-holidays diet though 😉
Perfect! I have puree in the frig from the ONE pumpkin our garden produced this year, and my mother-in-law flies in tonight. I will make this today!
Shoot! I don’t have a tooobe pan, either…Guess I’ll try it out in regular bread pans, or maybe a cupcake tin. I’ll report back. Thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂
Matron, yes, I DO need a dog, as I’ve been telling my hub now for the last 4 years. My pre-marriage dog was The Perfect Dog that I never wanted to part with, but I married Jack during the hurricane smashup here back then, with back-to-back hurricanes that smashed his house as well, so he was dislocated, I was relocated and NO landlord was admitting animals. I adopted my dog out, but that was one of THE hardest things I’ve ever done. We’ve not had one since,not till we get to our land. I SO SO want an Aussie or an English shepherd, or a pair. (sigh…) They’ll eat well when that day comes! 🙂
Stephany, I hope you like it!
El, how wonderful! I put off making mine, and I think it’ll be a couple days before I get it done. Yeah, I have to think about walking some of this off…lol…baking is my nemesis 😉
Michelle, wow, what an honor…hope it turns out well! One pumpkin is more than we had this year 😉
Mary, let me know…I’ve never tried either. It’s so thick I hope the middle cooks right without the outside drying out 🙂
WOW….just got done using your recipe……WOW
Didn’t have a bundt pan, so baked in a loaf pan….still awesome, i did double up on the spices like you suggested and am glad i did. Thanks, Seth
Seth, wow…is good?? If so, glad you liked!!!
Robbyn/thebackforty