{squash bloghop} Pumpkin-Cranberry Pudding Cake
Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 6:31AM 
[click image for recipe]
Did you know that November is #squashlove month? Thanks to the wonderful group of bloggers listed below who have been kind enough to let me join in on their bloghop, I'm offering up Pumpkin-Cranberry Pudding Cake to celebrate (more on the recipe in just a bit.) But first...
If you are a blogger, please consider joining in on the #squashlove fun by linking up any squash recipe from the month of November 2011. And don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #squashlove event! If you want to follow the along, the Twitter hashtag is #squashlove.
Now, about the recipe. I am fascinated with pudding cakes. They're not something you see on the average restaurant menu, and I don't know that I've been served one very often in friends' homes. But they are the perfect go-to quick and easy dessert and because of their formulaic versatility, lend themselves to a host of different flavors.
My first experience with the pudding cake was years ago when I worked in the test kitchen at Oxmoor House. We tested a Brown Sugar Pudding Cake for The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. Since then I've done multiple variations of that recipe, all with great success.
If you're not familiar with a pudding cake, first, don't be misled by the name. This is NOT a cake that uses a pudding mix in the cake. It's a cake that forms a pudding layer on the bottom (cool, huh?) It's a simple cake batter, poured into a dish and then topped with boiling water (no stirring).
Once baked the boiling water magically combines with a portion of the batter to make this thick rich sauce on the bottom of the pan. It's like having a cake with a sauce... but the sauce is already in the pan. Love it.
And here's another cool tidbit... since pudding cakes need the water & batter to combine to yield a sauce, they don't use eggs. I love eggs, for sure... but sometimes it's nice to craft a dessert without them (oh how I hate waking in the morning ready for scrambled eggs only to realize that last night's dessert stole my last one!)
Enough about pudding cakes, though. This IS after all, #Squashlove. I chose to show the squash world some love by visiting with that seasonal fall favorite - canned pumpkin. Given all the recent Recipe ReDux fun with fresh pumpkin, I felt it was time to revisit the can. Fresh pumpkin was Uh-Mazing... but in fairness to the pumpkin world, I dare not play favorites.
The bottom line is this: Pudding cakes are humble and simple... the sort of dish you think of late in the day when your sweet tooth aches just a bit. The same can be said about canned pumpkin... humble and always ready for the brief whirlwind of recipe frenzy that surrounds it. My promise to the pudding cake and pumpkin. With this new recipe, I promise it won't be another 365 before we meet again.
