Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie Cake

So yeah: we had the little boobalicious gathering on Friday night, and my friend Peppermint (shout out to the lickable candystick!) whipped up a ton of goodies for it, none of which I took pictures of *wah wah wahhhh* because I was too busy eating them. *SIGH* But so you can use your imagination to drool over them, she made a) homemade focaccia, b) potato salad, and c) a sweet beanie salad (which, if I remember correctly, consisted of butter beans, fresh diced tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, and garlic--it was AWESOMELY flavorful which I thought was even cooler because of the simplicity of ingredients).

I contributed to the mix with some (you guessed it) mock tuna salad. And since one of my friends from work brought me in the rest of a can of pumpkin (which she'd only used a couple tablespoons of for a recipe), I also decided to finally try out Have Cake Will Travel's Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie Cake. And holy mother of crapping god. This is really yummy stuff. It's not so much brownie-esque in my book as it is dense chocolatey cake. (Interestingly though, I just peeked at HCWT's pic of her Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie Cake, and hers DOES look much more brownie-esque than mine did. So maybe I just suck.) But nonetheless: arghlghlghl.

It is dense and uber-chocolatey with just a hint of pumpkin and spice. And yet, despite it's denseness, it manages to stay moist (which I was impressed with). And since I am pretty much a sugar-freak and can't stand unfrosted cakes (yeah, I'm lame), I also decided to whip up a small batch of cream cheese frosting for the brownie cake (using a smaller version of the cream cheese frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). And man if that ain't a delish-kus frosting (that was my Popeye impression), I don't know what is.

Anyways, it's officially autumn folks. Which means my libido and desire for romance is through the fricking ceiling*. Which also means everything you cook should have pumpkin in it (the autumn part, not the libido part). Which means you need to go make this right now. Either that or come bat your sweet sweet eyelashes at me while rubbing your nips and doing a little dance. The choice is yours.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 c. all purpose flour


• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour***


• 1 t. baking powder


• 1/2 t. baking soda


• 1/3 c. granulated sugar


• 1/3 c. light brown sugar, packed


• 2 T. unsweetened cocoa powder


• 1 t. ground cinnamon


• 1/2 t. ginger powder


• 1/2 t. nutmeg powder


• 1/4 t. salt***


• 1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips***


• 1/4 c. sour soy milk **


• 1/2 c. pure pumpkin puree


• 4 T. unsweetened apple sauce


• 3 T. veggie oil or other neutral oil


• 2 t. pure vanilla extract


Optional cream-cheese frosting:


• 2 T. softened vegan nonhydrogenated margarine


• 2 T. vegan cream cheese


• 1 c. powdered sugar

Grease an 8×8 in. pan. Preheat your oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, prepare your sour soy milk and let sit for a few minutes. In another large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugars, cocoa, spices, and salt. Set aside.

In your sour soy milk bowl, add pumpkin, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and whisk until blended. Combine dry and wet ingredients until you can’t see flour anymore. Do not overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour batter in your prepared pan and bake for 23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I think I ended up baking mine for about 27 or so, but I was using a silicon pan, and for some reason it didn't seem to be cooking through all the way.) Leave in pan and place on cooling rack for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, if you decide you want to frost it, whisk together your margarine and cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Add your powdered sugar and whisk and whisk and whisk until smooth and a bit thickened. (Alternately, you can follow the ACTUAL directions on how to make the frosting from the Vegan Cupcakes book--I just don't have a handheld mixer, so I didn't even try.)

Take out of pan carefully, and enjoy still warm or chilled. (If you choose to frost it, wait until the cake is completely cooled before doing so and leave in fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour so the frosting can harden.)

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*I still haven't yet figured out why this is--maybe I'm secretly a necrophiliac or something: autumn = death = heightened Lindy Loo libido.

** To make sour soy milk: start by putting 1 t. apple cider vinegar in your measure, top it up with plain soy milk and let sit for a few minutes to have it curdle

*** Changes from the original recipe

(Original recipe from Have Cake Will Travel)


Oh, and Marla, you Great Brownie Challenger, you: I haven't forgotten about the brownie recipe you passed along. I just haven't made it yet since I don't own the larger type brownie pan it calls for. *Sobbing* I am useless.