Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

The Christmas concert at First African was Thursday night. Second year of writing about it, and it doesn't get less powerful. The sanctuary was full — candles in every window, poinsettias on the altar, the choir in our blue robes with gold stoles. We sang "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night" and a new arrangement of "Mary Did You Know" that the director added this year, which I didn't love in rehearsal but loved in performance because the congregation's silence during the bridge told me it had landed.

I didn't cry this year. I came close on "O Holy Night" — I always come close on "O Holy Night" — but I held it. Gladys was beside me in the soprano section and she reached over and squeezed my hand during the last verse, and I squeezed back, and we sang together the way we've sung together for decades, her voice soaring above mine, mine steady underneath, and for those three minutes we were not rivals. We were two women who have known each other for most of their lives, standing in a church that has held their prayers and their songs and their grief, singing about a holy night that asks you to believe in something bigger than yourself.

Earl came this year. He hasn't come to the Christmas concert in three years because of the cold and the crowds, but this year he said, "I want to come." Denise drove him. He sat in the third pew — my pew, left side — with his coat on and his hands in his lap, and when I looked out from the choir loft and saw him there, I sang the rest of the concert to him. Every note. Every word. For him.

After the concert, at the reception, Earl ate two slices of my coconut cake and one slice of Gladys's red velvet. He said, "Both were good." Gladys said, "He said mine was good too, Dot." I said, "He said both were good, Gladys. That's a tie. I don't accept ties." Gladys laughed. Earl shook his head. The congregation ate cake. Christmas continued.

Now go on and feed somebody.

The coconut cake I brought to the reception that night is one I’ve been making for thirty years, and I’m not sharing that recipe yet — some things you hold close a little longer. But this pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting is the one I make when the coconut isn’t in season and the crowd still needs something worthy of the occasion, something that says I made this for you and means it. Earl would eat two slices of this one too. That’s how you know it’s right.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour (plus cooling) | Servings: 16

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup neutral vegetable oil
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the frosting:
8 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of fine salt

Instructions

Preheat and prepare. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper, then grease the paper. Flour lightly and tap out any excess.
Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves until evenly combined. Set aside.
Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until smooth and fully combined, about 1 minute.
Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula until just combined — do not overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine; they will incorporate as you pour.
Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges have pulled slightly from the sides of the pan.
Cool completely. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool fully before frosting. Do not rush this step — frosting a warm cake is how you end up with a mess.
Make the frosting. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until smooth and no lumps remain, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating on low after each addition. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 more minute.
Frost and serve. Spread the cream cheese frosting evenly over the completely cooled cake. Slice into 16 pieces. Refrigerate leftovers covered for up to 4 days — though at a church reception, there will be none.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — The One You Bring to the Reception