Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake (Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 81.

I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of pumpkin and especially pumpkin-flavored desserts. However, if I must eat it, what better way of doing so than with chocolate? It sounds like a winner and sure enough, this cake is really nice. I decided to skip the nuts in this one because I have two other desserts for Thanksgiving with nuts and I often get annoyed with Maida because 95% of her recipes call for nuts. If you haven't noticed, they are very expensive these days!

The original recipe calls for a baking time of 1 1/2 hours! I started checking mine at 55 minutes and felt that one hour was enough. I usually tend to underbake my cakes slightly because they continue to bake after you remove them from the oven. So, I give a baking time of 1 hour to 1 hour fifteen minutes, but use your best judgement and keep checking.

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)
2 sticks sweet butter (softened)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin
1 1/2 cups walnuts (chopped)

Preheat the oven to 325. Generously butter a 10" Bundt pan and dust with fine bread crumbs.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and the sugar. Mix well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, blending well.

On low speed, add half of the flour mixture...

Alternating with the pumpkin...

And ending with the last half of the flour mixture. Mix well and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add the nuts.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour to 75 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. (See the note in the introduction. My cake was ready in 1 hour).

Let stand for 15 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Sprinkle with confectioners sugar if desired.