Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

I had the day off yesterday so I took the day to get used to my new apartment, run errands, run, organize, read, cook and bake. I love being productive!

I wanted to make a pumpkin treat and while Spencer’s pumpkin bread sounded amazing, I unfortunately don’t have bread pans so I found a similar recipe that had the same type of flavor. I know I’ve said it before but I really love fall colors and flavors!

I found a Paula Dean recipe for pumpkin bars on foodnetwork.com that looked good, but per usual, I modified it slightly. I also realized that I didn’t have any measuring spoons so a lot of the measurements were “guess-timated.”

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons agave nectar
1 cup canola oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

I cut 2/3 cup sugar from the recipe and replaced it with a little agave nectar but after tasting the finished product, I think I would cut the amount of sugar even further to 3/4 cups. I added chocolate chips to the recipe, of course, so that gave it extra sweetness.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix eggs, sugar, agave nectar, and canola oil together. The directions said I needed an electric mixer but I didn’t have one and it didn’t take much effort or time doing it manually.

I don’t have mixing bowls yet so I had to use a pan

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda) together and then slowly add to wet mixture.

Lastly, add in chocolate chips and pour into a greased 13 x 10 inch pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting and cut into squares.

The original recipe has a cream cheese frosting but I didn’t want to taint the pumpkin flavor with more sugar and cream so I left it as is.

Delicious!!! They were soft and moist.

I’m pretty sure I sampled at least three!

This is a REALLY simple recipe and uses ingredients that most have in the kitchen already. The only thing you really need to go out and buy is the pumpkin! I think I may actually make it again soon.

Tags: chocolate chip pumpkin cake, Paula Dean