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First, the pumpkin mixture: Add 2 sticks of butter to a saucepan…


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And melt them over medium-low heat.


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Measure 2 cups of pumpkin puree (the plain puree, not pumpkin pie filling)…


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And add it in with the butter.


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Next, for a little spice, I added some pumpkin pie seasoning.


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If you want to be all fancy, you can add your own mix of spices instead: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom…whatever brings you an inner sense of pumpkin peace.


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Whisk this to combine, and don’t be at all alarmed if it looks really weird and disturbing at this stage. It’s supposed to.


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Next comes 3/4 cup boiling water! (The regular sheet cake recipe calls for 1 cup, but since the pumpkin naturally has some water in it, I decreased it a little bit.)


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Whisk it all together and set it aside.


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Now for the dry ingredients: Flour, sugar, salt…


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And stir it together in a large bowl.


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And finally, the wet ingredients: Measure a little buttermilk in a pitcher (or, if you’re me, some milk mixed with a little white vinegar.)


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Whisk in a couple of eggs…


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Some baking soda (I added 2 teaspoons instead of the 1 teaspoon in the original sheet cake recipe)…


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Some vanilla extract…


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So now it’s time to mix the elements together! I pour the pumpkin into the dry ingredients…


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And stir them just to cool down the pumpkin a bit.


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Pour in the buttermilk/egg mixture…


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And stir it together…


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Until it all comes together in a beautiful, orange batter.


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Pour it into a sheet pan (actually, a “half sheet pan”) that’s been sprayed with cooking spray…

(Update: This is a half sheet pan at 13 x 18. You can use a slightly smaller jelly roll pan OR a 9 x 13 inch pan. The 9 x 13 cake will be quite a bit thicker and you might need to bake it a little longer!)


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And smooth out the surface.


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Then bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until it’s lovely and golden!


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You can’t believe how good the house smelled at this point. Have you ever noticed that the smell of pumpkin baked goods makes you feel like everything’s gonna be okay?


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Now, let’s discuss the icing! You could do a seven-minute icing or a buttercream icing—both would be delicious. I decided to go the cream cheese icing route, because…well…

Because…well…

Because…well…IT’S CREAM CHEESE ICING! No other explanation is required.

Combine softened butter and softened cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer…

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Then sift in some powdered sugar…


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See how much you can sift in before it comes crumbling down!

I have these little contests with myself daily. “If this conical mountain of powdered sugar doesn’t crumble, I’m the coolest person in the world.”

If it keeps from crumbling, I high-five myself and say “YES!”

If it does crumble, I dismiss the whole exercise as silly superstition.


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Mix it together until it’s smooth…


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Then splash in a little half and half or milk…


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Until it gets to the consistency you want. I like it nice and thick, but really smooth and luscious looking.


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Plop the icing all over the cake…


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Then smear it all over the surface.


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Important Icing Note! I actually made double the amount of icing as in the recipe below. While it wound up being thick and delicious, it really was too much. If you like a whole bunch of cream cheese icing, you can double it as I did…but next time I make it, I’ll use the amounts in the printable. Cream cheese icing is rich, man!


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Cut it into squares…


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And serve it up!


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It’s pretty much impossible to describe how delicious this was. But I’ll give it my best shot:

It was ding dang darn delicious.


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Oh, and if you want to get all fancy-like, sprinkle on a little pumpkin pie spice!


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Then dig in and enjoy every bite.

You’ll love it! It’s perfect for Thanksgiving!

It’s also perfect for the other 364 days of the year.