This year my little Cookie helped me a lot with the gardening. She watered, pulled weeds, and even planted some of her own plants. One of the crops that is giving her a lot of pride even now is the pumpkin she planted from seed. The seedlings were placed in the garden a little late so I was unsure of if they would be ready before the first frost. Sure enough we got one HUGE pumpkin. I cleaned and baked it and scooped out 20 cups worth of pumpkiny goodness.
This dessert is one we have made at least three times in the last month for family get-togethers. It is extremely easy to make and is great because it is semi-homemade. Not a big fan of Sandra Lee but I must say her mantra of making things semi-homemade is exemplified in this recipe.
Pumpkin Dump/Crunch Cake
Ingredients:
Cake filling-
32 oz. pumpkin (either fresh and pureed or from a can – not pumpkin pie mix)
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 – 2 cups sugar (the topping is fairly sweet so I stick with the lower number)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsps. cinnamon
Topping-
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter or margarine, very thinly sliced
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together all the ingredients for the topping. Use a whisk or hand blender to mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 9″x13″ baking dish that has been greased with butter. Top this mixture with the yellow cake mix by carefully sprinkling it evenly over the top. Spread the chopped pecans over the cake mix and then top with a layer of butter pats making sure to cover every inch of the cake. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is toasty brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve this pumpkin delight with Cool Whip or real whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The crunchy, rich and buttery topping are absolutely delicious and store fairly well if you have leftovers (and that is a big if). The cake is nice and large and will serve at least 12 people. A great addition to the dessert table at any large family gathering. No one will ever know you didn’t spend hours in the kitchen putting this together.
Firstly, I’m a mom and wife. Professionally, IT consulting is my job and blogging is the outlet for my passions. I write about things that affect the everyday life of a stay-at-home parent or any parent for that matter such as parenting, relationships, discipline, the media, product reviews, giveaways, social media, food, cooking, gardening and anything else that might come my way.
