It’s that time of year again!  This moist, delicious pumpkin cake, inspired by a recipe I saw at Fabulous Foods.com, should help soothe that pumpkin craving.  This one cooks up beautifully every time!  I’ve made it a bunch of times!!  With the necessary low-carb tweaks, I was delighted it came out so close to my old high-carb recipe, actually.  It has a very smooth texture which improves with age.  I don’t care for the texture of cakes made exclusively with almond flour, so I use 1/3 whey protein for this cake.  In this instance I used fresh pumpkin (color in photo) since I had one on hand, but canned works well, too.   Canned pumpkin renders a more orange color in the final cake.   This one’s a keeper for our holiday baking, for sure!  I hope you’ll give this one a try during the holidays.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal as well.  The cream cheese knocks this out of suitability for Paleo, unless there is a suitable substitute I’m unaware of that meets that program’s requirements for subbing out cream cheese.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

1 c. plain whey protein powder

1 c. Splenda or equivalent sweetener of choice

2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1 T. + 1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1 c. fresh (or canned) cooked pumpkin puree

4 large eggs

½ c. sugar-free maple syrup or caramel sugar-free syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line the bottom of a tube pan with parchment cut-to-fit, or use a lightly oiled non-stick bundt pan if you own one (I do not).  Oil the sides and post of your tube pan as well.  In a medium bowl, soften cream cheese and butter.  With electric mixer, blend them well.  Add eggs, syrup, pumpkin and vanilla.  Whip on high until very smooth.  In a separate bowl, measure out all dry ingredients and stir well to blend to a uniform mixture.  Add to the wet ingredients and beat with the electric mixer until a smooth batter is achieved.  With a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the cake pan spreading it as evenly as possible.  Bake at 350º for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and dry.  Cool almost totally before loosening with a knife and tipping onto a cake plate for serving.

VARIATION:  Use lightly oiled silicone muffin pans for a muffin version.  Should make 12 large muffins that will take about 20-25 minutes to bake at 350º.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 14 slices, each contains:

295 calories, 25.8 g fat, 7.28 g carbs, 2.30 g fiber, 4.98 g NET CARBS, 12.4 g protein, 287 mg sodium