Pumpkin Picnic Cake

This is a moist, yummy cake.

This is based off a recipe from my Grandma.

I substituted one of the ingredients with Pumpkin and it makes it good for Fall when Pumpkin is more available.

Preheat the oven at 350°F, Bake time is 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on how your oven works.

You will need:

Medium to large mixing bowl

Fork and Spoon

9"x13" Pan

Toothpicks

Cooking Spray (Pam, or something similar)

15 oz Pumpkin Puree

2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 Cups Sugar (Keep the sugar out you'll need it later)

1/2 Cup Butter (1 full stick)

3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

2 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Cocoa

2 Eggs

2/3 Bag of Chocolate chips (Keep the chocolate chips around they're used again)

Take the mixing bowl and add the sugar into the bowl with the butter.

Use a fork to cut the butter into the sugar (you can use a pastry cutter if you have one), you could also use a spoon if you only want to use one utensil.

Mix/cut the sugar and butter until it is fully combined where all the sugar has a yellow tinge from the butter.

In the bowl with your mixed sugar and butter, add the 2 Cups of Flour, 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda, 1/2 Teaspoon Salt, 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, and 2 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Cocoa.

Mix the dry ingredients together.

This is when I swapped to the spoon because the fork wasn't stirring well.

Next I added the Pumpkin Puree first then the eggs, I suggest adding the eggs to the dry ingredients and mixing them before adding the Pumpkin.

Since I added the pumpkin first it was a little difficult to combine the eggs into the mixture.

You can do it either way.

I used Milk Chocolate chips, but you can use whatever chips you want to in your cake.

Add about 2/3 of the bag into the bowl with the batter.

If you want a less chocolaty cake you can add less chips.

Stir the chips into the batter, mix well.

Take your 9"x13" Pan and spray with your cooking spray.

I used a brand called Vegalene Premium 3-Oil Blend.

It worked really well, there was no sticking at all.

Pour your batter into your spritzed pan, try to keep it smooth and even.

Next you add more Chocolate Chips to the top of the cake batter.

Sprinkle as many Chocolate Chips as you want, or don't it's up to you.

This is optional.

Take your container of sugar with a measuring cup.

Sprinkle sugar over the top of the Batter to create a crust when the cake bakes.

It adds a little crispiness to the cake.

Pop your cake into the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, however long it takes for the sugar to crisp up, and when you test the cake with a toothpick for it to come out clean.

My cake took exactly 45 minutes to cake.

The bits of the cake that look darker had less sugar on it and usually there isn't as much sugar on top as I did.

The cake came out wonderfully, it has a pumpkin flavor that mixes well with the chocolate chips.