Holiday Preparation Day 9 | Pumpkin Bread (um . . . Cake)

Okay. I know that pumpkin is the trendy fall food. And I know that you might already be sick of your pumpkin lattes and pumpkin cheese cake already. Honestly, I can’t blame you. But don’t quite give up on pumpkin quite yet because this pumpkin bread is so good. In fact, I just finished a piece for dessert because, it is probably better characterized as cake. And how can you go wrong with pumpkin cake in November? You can’t.

The best part might be how simple the recipe is. You might even have everything in your well organized spice cabinet and pantry.

Super Moist Pumpkin Bread (Cake)

Bread Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
15 oz pumpkin pie filling
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Topping Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp milk

Here’s What You Do
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Beat your eggs and mix them with your sugar, oil, water, and pumpkin pix filling. In a separate bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Combine your wet and dry ingredients so they everything is just combined. Do not over mix. Pour the mix into a greased and floured pan. You can use a bundt pan or a loaf pan, your pick. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick stuck in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

Once your loaf has cooled, you can start the topping. Mix all the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and stir it constantly while it boils. Boil it for only 2 1/2 minutes. And then pour it over your bread. You can add pecans (or really any chopped nuts, cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, you pick.) I poured the topping over, and then switched the plate the loaf was on. This keeps everything from getting mushy. But if you keep the loaf covered, it won’t dry out.

Try it with a cup of coffee and a good book while it snows or rains outside or even for Thanksgiving dessert. To make it just a little healthier, I used Splenda’s brown sugar, skim milk, and whole wheat flour. It’s still a splurge food, but with a few less calories.