IT’S FALL THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!
I am overwhelmed with excitement. It’s my favorite season ever, and I just love love love it. Obviously we’re celebrating big time, so a pumpkin spice cake seemed only right.
Normally I’m itching for fall to start in a BIG way by mid-summer. And while I still had those first few little twinges of fall excitement, I actually enjoyed this past summer more than I can remember ever enjoying a summer before.
I think for me it was just a much-needed attitude adjustment and shift in focus. I was feeling really overwhelmed and stressing myself out toward the end of spring and decided just to focus on LIFE. Living my life, enjoying every minute possible, doing fun things. The result is that I had to let go of (or slow down on) some things that I “should” have been doing. And you know what? It made me SO happy. I’ve got a much longer blog post in the works about how important it is to prioritize enjoying the present, but suffice to say: it worked wonders for me this summer, and it kept me from longing for fall and wishing the hot days away.
BUT that doesn’t stop me from being thrilled that it’s almost fall. Crunchy leaves, gorgeous colors, cooling temperatures, boots and scarves. And I don’t care how long I’ve been out of school, something about those back-to-school feels get me.
It seemed only right that this week’s recipe be something PUMPKIN. I don’t usually go too big on the pumpkin recipe front. I’ve posted a few, usually on the first day of fall… but that’s it.
But this year, I got the pumpkin-and-squash-recipe ITCH, so it’s going to be four weeks in a row of squash recipes 😉 gear up!
This was the first one I picked, and I thought of this recipe back when I felt the first bits of fall excitement in early August 😉 I made my loose editorial calendar, and planned “something pumpkin/squash/fall-like” for today. Within a few minutes of writing that down, my mom texted to tell me that Kahlua comes in Salted Caramel flavor (UMMM WHAT?) so I immediately pulled it up to check the stock at my local stores, and right next to it was Pumpkin Spice Kahlua!!! (ALSO WHAT???)
And seeing those two flavors next to each other looked fantastic because OBVIOUSLY. Thus the idea for this cake was born.
I just LOVE the weird and random ways that recipe ideas come to me sometimes!!!
So I shall stop rambling and give you guys a DELICIOUS recipe to welcome fall, and I hope you enjoy this fantastical pumpkin spice cake with salted caramel kahlua buttercream. (Say that three times fast.)
And oh yeah… one last ramble… because I thought the only thing that would make this awesome cake more awesomer (aside from proper grammar, but whatevs) is EDIBLE GLITTER. So yeah. That’s happening.
(actually first it was edible gold foil, but that shit’s super expensive! so no thanks.)
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 C canned pumpkin
- 1/2 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 3 T avocado/vegetable/coconut oil
- 2 t vanilla extract
- 2 C flour
- 1 1/3 C sugar
- 1 t ground nutmeg
- 2 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 1/2 t ground cloves
- 2 t baking powder
- 3/4 t baking soda
- 1 t salt
- 1 C vegetable shortening
- 2 C powdered sugar
- 6 T salted caramel kahlua
- 1/8 t ground cloves
- 1/8 t ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla extract) until well combined and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together.
- Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just combined.
- Bake about 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat all ingredients together. The consistency may vary a little – if it is too thin to spread, add more powdered sugar until it is spreadable; if it is too thick to spread, add a splash of almond milk (or more kahlua if you want an extra kick) until spreadable.
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