Gobble, gobble!

So, turkey day is officially over... and I still feel stuffed! My family enjoyed the usual Thanksgiving fare: turkey, my mom's homemade stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies, bread, cranberry sauce. Yum! For dessert, I made a Harvest Cake. Our kindergarten teacher made it for a faculty meeting about a month ago and everyone raved about it. I got the recipe and tried it myself. It was a hit!

It has a spice cake base, but there are lots of added goodies like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, apples, carrots, walnuts and raisins.

I used a spicy cream cheese frosting, and sprinkled crushed ginger snaps on top. Then I decided to get all fancy and tint the frosting to make it look all autumn-y. I topped the whole thing off with a silk fall leaf.

The cake is dense, moist and delicious. I highly recommend it!

Mrs. B.'s Harvest Cake

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
1 can pumpkin (15 oz.)
2 1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 c. grated sweet potato (1 med. sweet potato)
1/2 c. grated carrot (about 2 whole carrots)
2 med. size apples (cored, peeled, grated)
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and pumpkin, mix well. In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing well to incorporate all ingredients. Add sweet potato, carrots, apples, raisins and walnuts. Mix until well blended.

Grease and flour three 9 inch cake pans. Line bottoms with wax paper or baker's parchment, cut to fit the bottom of the pans. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans. Loosen sides of cake with knife, invert on wire racks to cool. Peel off wax paper. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.

Spicy Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c. butter (softened)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. allspice
10-12 spice wafers, crushed

Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add allspice and gradually add sugar, mixing well after each addition. If frosting seems too stiff, add 1 or 2 tbsp. milk. Sprinkle crushed spiced wafers over frosting between cake layers and on top of cake.