Syndicated column for week of August 25,2013.

I tried a new recipe this week. I heard some folks talking about a cake that requires only two ingredients. I didn’t quite believe a cake could be made from only two ingredients, so I went home and did some research.

The Internet is an amazing resource, if you use it properly. I opened a search engine, typed in 2 ingredient pumpkin cake and got lost in the results. The first page I clicked on had the recipe I was looking for. However, I can’t stop at one web page.

About 5 million web pages reviewed and 3 million of them marked for future use, I had enough recipes of all sorts to keep us in food for the rest of our collective lives. Show me a person who has not been sucked into the great Internet information overload, and I will show you a person who has not been online since 1993.

Everything I read said the trick to this 2 ingredient recipe was to start with a store bought boxed cake mix. Is there any other way to make a cake? I suppose people who bake cakes for a living start from scratch with flour and other ingredients. But I have never made a cake that way. Boxes work really well for me!

Pumpkin Cake

1 box (18 oz) yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
1 cup milk
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the pureed pumpkin. Mix the cake mix and the pumpkin with electric mixer until well blended. The mixture will be very thick. Spread in a greased 9×13 baking dish. Bake cake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Toothpick inserted to middle of cake should be clean when removed. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk together the milk, 1 TB pumpkin, powdered sugar and spices to make a glaze. Pour the glaze over the warm cake and serve.

Make it a meal:  Served with a glass of milk, cup of coffee or tea, this makes a great afternoon snack.

Approximate Nutritional Value per serving: Servings per Recipe: 16, Calories: 216, Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 285mg, Total Carbs: 43g, Protein: 2g.

Variations: Sprinkle some chopped pecans on top before adding the glaze. Replace pumpkin with pureed squash or yams.

You may be concerned that this recipe for a cake would be too dry, too moist, not rise or have some baking failure problem. Guess what? It does not. The cake is moist, fluffy and tasty. It is low fat since the recipe does not call for oil or butter.

If you forget to reserve some pumpkin for the glaze, add a dribble of orange, lemon or apple juice. If you do not have any of those juices on hand, just add an extra dash of milk. Don’t stress out, it is only glaze!

Bake in muffin tins for individual servings or in a couple of loaf pans to make smaller cakes. If you want to have cake, but live alone or are baking for two, using the smaller pans makes it easy to have a cake for snaking and some for freezing.

To freeze, allow to cool completely. Wrap in waxed paper and mark with the name and date. Store wrapped cakes in a plastic zip top bag. This cake keeps well when frozen, up to 8 weeks. Thaw before serving.

I recommend this cake for Halloween and Thanksgiving gatherings. As a matter of fact, I recommend it for any day!

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