- Cake:
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/ 4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/ 2 cup applesauce
- 2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/ 4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/ 2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/ 4 cup nuts
- Frosting:
- 1(8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour turkey pan; set aside. In large bowl, combine sugar, oil, pumpkin, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; add to pumpkin mixture. Blend on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl often. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into pan, dividing evenly among halves. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes in pan. Remove from pan and cool completely on cooling rack. When cooled, place halves back in clean pan. Using a serrated knife, cut dome off cakes to make level. Remove one turkey half from pan and set aside.
In medium bowl, combine frosting ingredients and beat on low speed. Increase speed and beat until light and fluffy, adding additional milk if necessary. Spread half of frosting over cut side of cake that is in pan. Place remaining turkey half on top of frosting, pressing to set. Let stand for one hour. Stand cake up on serving platter. Use remaining frosting to decorate as desired.
Posted by EK
I make this cake every Thanksgiving and there is never a crumb left. Excellent recipe!
Posted by Lil
I have had the same issue with the center being ‘gooey’. It also didn’t completely fill the pan but the baked part was a decent tasting spice cake. I’m thinking that the applesauce may have been ‘too wet’ and that was the issue. Next time I’ll probably use a pumpkin style quick bread recipe
Posted by DIANE MARIE WYNNE MILLER
I love this pan and use it every fall with enhanced cheesy cornbread. I generally plate it in halves. For buffet serving people are reluctant to cut into it for a piece, so I have cut one half into serving pieces and the other half remains decorative in the center of the platter. Good “turkey” alternative for vegetarians. Serving idea might work for cake as well.
Posted by Mark
The recipe does not provide enough dough to fill the pans completely. While the dough does rise, it does not complete each form. Additionally, I was left with goo in the center of each form. I added an additional 10 minutes to the baking (50 minutes), and this still did not correct the problem. I did not bake any further because I was concerned about burning the edges. Taste-wise the cake is very good.
Posted by shirl
Very similar to regular pumpkin bread recipe. It came out of mold easily and held its shape on cooling rack. I will assemble the sides together after we arrive at Thanksgiving Day dinner location as it is quite soft. (This was a trial run of this recipe, but the design came out so clear think I’ll freeze the sides and add it to the feast dessert table.) Am taking some Popsicle sticks to put in middle to help hold it upright. I’d always made a rosemary yeast bread in this mold and that is much firmer, so perhaps I’m just not used to a more cake-like product. I have convection oven and after 30 min it was pulling away from the sides but center was very gooey. I turned the temp down to 300 and baked for another 20 min and it was done. The outsides were not crusty; it was uniformly soft. Flavor is mildly spicy which is good for everyone at the table. If it isn’t able to stand up, I’ll just platter a half. It is a beautiful mold.