Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Last week I discovered a new reader, Angelnina, and in turn discovered her blog, Angelnina's Cottage, which is awesome! She makes great Italian dishes and lots of beautiful Italian cookies! I was so excited to find her blog that I spent the whole afternoon going through it. She recently made this cake from a Cooking Light Recipe and the photo was beautiful.  I actually had everything to make it, so I made it this weekend.  It was delicious, moist, and you can't even tell that it was light. I can't believe that there are only 4 tablespoons of butter in this cake. I used regular cream cheese (instead of the 1/3 less fat that it called for) so I can't say if the lighter version of the icing is as good as the full fat one. Maybe if you've used reduced fat cream cheese you can tell me.

Frosted Pumpkin Cake


Adapted from November’s Cooking Light Magazine
and as seen on Angelnina's Cottage.



Ingredients:

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
15 oz can pumpkin puree
Cooking spray

Frosting:

2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz package 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuirng cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, other spices,and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

3. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 tsp vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture, beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin puree; mix well. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13×9 inch baking ban coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

4. To prepare frosting, combine 2 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

Yields 24 servings; serving size: 1 piece

Calories 178, Fat 5.5, Protein 3 g, Carb 30 g, Fiber .09, Chol 32 mg, Iron 1.2mg, Sodium 135 mg, Calc 62 mg