Pumpkin Angel Food Cake
There’s an old saying that “necessity is the mother of invention.” That certainly held true for me a couple weeks ago. What was originally scheduled to be a business meeting for my husband evolved into a “bring the wives” and join us for dinner. We knew it would be a delicious meal as our friends are both excellent cooks. But my husband made a grave error when accepting the invitation for both of us… he said “what can we bring?” Of course I’m sure you understand that that translates into “what would you like my wife to make?” To my dismay, they asked us to bring dessert.
Although I absolutely love cooking and spend more time in the kitchen than in any other room in the house, I’m really a savory cook not a baker or dessert maker. Aside from binges of baking during the holiday seasons, I don’t often make desserts. As a matter of fact, we rarely ever eat desserts even when dining in restaurants. We generally prefer an interesting cheese course rather than something sweet.
But I was tasked with bringing a dessert so I had to think fast. My day was too busy to spend a lot of time working on a dessert and I didn’t have time to shop so I needed to work with what was in my pantry.
I always have an “emergency supply” of boxed baked goods like corn muffin mix, brownie and angel food cake mix. In a pinch I’ve dressed up an angel food cake by mixing in fresh squeezed lemon juice and zest. The mix only requires water so it’s simple to make and always tastes delicious. But I wanted something more seasonal and what could be more seasonal than pumpkin spice? In autumn it’s in everything from coffee to soap!
I planned to reduce the amount of water, add some canned pumpkin purée and spices and voila - dessert was ready. The problem is, I didn’t have any canned pumpkin purée. But (here’s the genius idea) I DID have small jars of baby food for my grandson. A couple baby food jars of butternut squash would work perfectly! I’ve made the pumpkin angel food cake a few times and every time folks ask for seconds so I know it’s a hit. All you need is a scant cup of purée so if you are using canned pumpkin (which comes in 15 ounce cans) use half and freeze the rest. If you’re using baby food - try butternut squash or even sweet potato.
PUMPKIN ANGEL FOOD CAKE
Ingredients:
Angel food cake mix (I like Duncan Hines’ “just add water” mix)
1 cup water
1 cup pumpkin purée (or two 4 oz. jars of baby food)
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
Confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon sugar for dusting
Angel food pan or Bundt pan
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix together the pumpkin purée and spice.
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, mix the angel food cake mix and cup of water, first on low speed for about 30 seconds then on high for 1 minute.
Using a spatula, gently fold about a cup of the angel food cake batter into the purée. Pour the purée into the large bowl and use a spatula to fold and blend the purée into the batter. You don’t want to stir the batter too much so it will keep its airy consistency. A little streaking like a marble cake is fine.
Pour the batter into an ungreased angel food (tube) pan or Bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Given the choice, the cake is a lot easier to remove from an angel food pan. It might stick to the grooves in an intricate Bundt pan.
When done, place the pan upside down over a heatproof glass and let the cake cool. This will help it to release from the pan. I use a butter knife to help loosen the edges when the cake has cooled down a bit. When the cake is completely cool, use a fine sieve to dust the top with a little confectioner sugar and sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar.
*If you don’t have any pumpkin pie spice, it’s easy to make your own. For this recipe, mix together 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger. For the most delicious mixture, use a microplane to grate whole nutmegs.