Pumpkin-cheese Cake

Serves: about 16

This is my mother’s recipe. She used to make eggless squash cake and squares. You sauté the ingredients in a pan, and layer in a cake pan. It takes only about 30 minutes, plus to cool. This is a very tasty layer cake, which we make a day ahead of Thanksgiving. 

Ingredients:

For the Crumbs: 1 cup graham cracker or cookie crumbs, mixed with 2 tbsp. each butter and sugar.

 For the Filling: 1 tbsp. butter; 1 can, 29 ounces pumpkin puree; 1 box, 3 ounces (85g) butterscotch, or orange pudding mix; 1 box 4 ounces (113g) lemon pudding mix, divided; 2 pkgs., 8 ounces (227g) each cream cheese, room temperature; 1-1/2 cups sugar; ½ cup Post Grape Nuts or any cold cereal; 1 bag, 11 ounces ( 311g) butterscotch or white chocolate morsels, divided.

To decorate the top: 1 container, 8 ounces (226g) whipped topping or Cool Whip; ½ cup each roasted pumpkin seeds and fresh pomegranate seeds (op). To serve: orange-lemon glaze.

1. Line a 10-inch spring-form cake pan with parchment paper and grease it well. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. Press down the crumbs on the bottom of the cake pan with a flat-bottom glass, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

2. Heat a heavy bottom sauté pan on medium heat. Add the butter and coat the pan. Add the pumpkin puree, increase the heat to medium-high and sauté the pumpkin for 10 minutes, until it is very hot. Sprinkle the whole box of butterscotch pudding, only half of the box of lemon pudding (lemon flavor should be less) on the top and sauté for 1 minute; combine well. Now reduce the heat to medium, cut the cream cheese in the wrappers to 1-inch cubes and add to pan; add the sugar. Increase the heat to medium-high and sauté again until the cream cheese and sugar is diluted, about 8-10 minutes. Pour half of the mixture over the crumbs, even out the top and sprinkle the cereal, then about a half cup of chocolate morsels. Now pour rest of the mixture over the cake and even out the top. Leave in room temperature for 30 minutes or until it is cooled.

3. When cooled spread the whipped topping evenly over the cake, then sprinkle the remaining chocolate morsels, pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds. Serve drizzled with caramel sauce/orange-lemon glaze.

Orange-Lemon Glaze (M: 1 cups)

I mostly prepare this glaze for pumpkin cake, but you can use this on pies, cakes, glazed carrots, Brussels sprouts, even on roasted chicken and turkey.

Ingredients: 2 tbsp. unsalted butter; 1 cup apricot jam or marmalade; ¼ cup caramel sauce; ½ cup sugar; 1 tsp. paprika; 2 ounces lemon pie and pudding filling (left over from pumpkin cake); ¼ tsp. salt.

Melt all ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil; take off the heat, strain or use as it is when cooled.

Tip: Instead of making the cake, you can make two 9-inch pies same way. Just double the amount of the crumbs and whipped topping, to cover two pies.