Warm Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Butter and Cinnamon Scented Whipped Cream

So a couple days before Halloween some friends decided they wanted to do pumpkin carvings. One of them an Art History major and the other three talented artists, I was trying to think what the heck I was going to carve into my pumpkin. Of course the first thing that came to mind was something food related! I thought about it, couldn't think of anything (besides seeing this excellent pumpkin on Butter on the Endives blog that was made into a hamburger with real lettuce, cheese, tomato and a sesame seed bun using the leftover pumpkin seeds) and realized why not let them do their kind of pumpkin art and I will do mine? So I looked up pumpkin recipes and came up with this! The original recipe was a two layer cake with ganache and pastry cream which would have taken too long to make since I wanted something that would be fast and easy to whip up while they were carving, so instead I changed the batter recipe, served the cake warm, dolloped it with pumpkin butter made with the leftover puree and finished it with whipped cream and a final dusting of cinnamon and icing sugar. Using pumpkin made the cake soo moist and cakey and served warm, its the perfect dessert for those chilly fall nights!

Above: My pumpkin art....Below: Their pumpkin art!

Warm Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
(Makes 1 - 8'' cake and 12 cupcakes or 2- 8'' cakes) This can be made into a cake as well-Cool both 8'' cakes, slice off tops of cake to make a flat surface, fill middle with pumpkin butter, invert one cake cut side down onto the filling and cover with whipped cream.

1 3/4 cup flour (plus more to coat pan)
1/3 plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (optional)
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp butter, softened (plus more to grease pan)
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 8'' pan and dust evenly with flour. Tapping out any excess flour. Line bottom of the pan with baking paper
2. Combine together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl combine pumpkin puree, oil and cream.
3. In a mixer beat butter and sugar until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla.
4. Add in dry ingredients and wet ingredients, alternating, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Divide batter in half, and place in 2-8'' pans or 1/2 in one 8'' pan, the rest into lined cupcake molds.
6. Bake cakes for 30-35 minutes, cupcakes approx 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Serve warm with pumpkin butter and whipped cream

Pumpkin Butter (*note this is not a typical pumpkin butter recipe)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1. Combine and chill in fridge

Cinnamon Scented Whipped Cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1. Whip cream slowly adding in icing sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Whip to soft peak and chill in fridge.