Granny's Birthday Cake--Guest Post with Hammock Tracks

A big thanks to The Farm Girl for letting me post a recipe on this wonderful site. This past Sunday we celebrated my mother's birthday. When my wee girl heard that we were baking a cake she quickly grabbed the kitchen bar stool and drug it over to the mixer. We were both quickly dissapointed when I learned that the cocoa jar was completely empty. With chocolate cake slashed off the menu I turned to the pantry to see what kind of ingredients we could use to create another kind of cake. When you live far away from civilization you either become a better more creative cook, or go hungry. With the cost of gas, if you ran to town for cocoa your cake would cost more than the best bakery sells. Ultimately, we created this pumpkin sheet cake flavored with cardamom (one of my favorite spices) and coconut. For the icing we used a basic cream cheese base but added a can of crushed pineapple. Everyone raved about the cake, including my son who hates coconut. So it was either good, or he was very hungry. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Granny's Birthday Cake

(printer friendly version)

• 1 (15 ounce) can canned pumpkin puree
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 cup coconut

Icing:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 20 oz can crushed pineapple, well drained

Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs in mixer until well combined. Combine flour, soda, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. in small bowl and slowly incorporate into wet ingredients. Stir in coconut. Pour into a greased and floured 9″x13″ pan. This is a very thick batter, so do not become alarmed. Bake @ 350F for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Icing: Drain and squeeze most of the liquid out of the pineapple. Beat cream cheese until fluffy, slowly add powdered sugar. Add pineapple. Add to cooled cake. Store in refrigerator.

Savannah is the author of Hammock Tracks. Hammock - an elevated tract of land rising above the general level of a marsh region. Or in other words, where we call home. This is a record of our life, or the “tracks” we leave there. We are the parents of four children. We home school and do other crazy things like raise rabbits, garden, fish, hunt and spend a lot of time together. Just as animals leave tracks in the marsh near our home, we leave tracks here, on Hammock Tracks, for you to read and hopefully enjoy.