Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake


Maida Heatter's Book of
Great Chocolate Desserts
by Maida Heatter, 1995, Random House

“Moist, mildly spiced, not too sweet, very dark and chocolaty, plain (no icing), beautiful-looking (made in a fancy-shaped pan). Don’t shy away from this because of pumpkin with chocolate; the pumpkin is only to keep it moist and doesn’t give much taste to the cake. It is a perfect cake for the holiday season, or to wrap as a gift. A perfect cake for any time with tea or coffee. Wonderful to have on hand for any occasion. Everyone loves it. And it is easy to make and keeps well.
You will need a Bundt pan, kugelhopf, or turban pan with a 3-quart capacity.”

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process
1/2 pound (2 sticks) sweet [unsalted] butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs (graded large or extra-large)
1 pound (scant 2 cups) canned solid-pack pumpkin (not the one labeled “pumpkin pie filling”)
6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) walnuts, cut or broken into medium-size pieces
Optional: confectioners’ sugar (to be used after the cake is baked)

Adjust rack one-third up from bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees [F.] Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan or any fancy-shapes tube pan with a 3-quart capacity. It is best to do this with very soft but not melted butter, applying it with a pastry brush. Then dust the whole pan, including the tube, with fine, dry bread crumbs. Invert the pan over paper and tap lightly to shake out excess. Set the prepared pan aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat to mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula and beating after each addition until it is incorporated. On low speed add half of the sifted dry ingredients, then the pumpkin, and finally the remaining dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with the spatula and beating after each addition only until it is incorporated.
Stir in the nuts.
Turn the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top.
Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a cake tester gently inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean and dry.
Let it stand for about 15 minutes.
Cover with a rack and carefully invert. Remove the pan and let the cake cool on the rack. Then let it stand for several hours or overnight before serving.
Optional: Cover the top generously with confectioners’ sugar, sprinkling it through a fine strainer held over the cake.
Gary/Louisville