The Sweet Tastes of Fall

Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.
–Carol Bishop Hipps

My first Thanksgiving with Mr. Bug's family was a shock. For dessert there was only pumpkin pie. No apple. No cherry. No lemon meringue. And I didn't like pumpkin pie. I didn't like pumpkin anything. But since we spend most of our Thanksgivings with his family {so we can do Christmas with mine} I learned to like pumpkin pie and eventually all manner of pumpkin goodies. With the weather turning all crisp and cool {we even had a little snow overnight}, it is time to dust off the pumpkin recipes.

12-Minute Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake

1 package spice cake mix
2 cups canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Grease a microwave-safe Bundt pan.
• In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on medium speed to combine the cake mix, pumpkin and eggs until the batter is smooth, about 2 minutes.
• Place a small amount of the cake batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Stir the chocolate chips into the remaining batter and spoon into the pan.
• Microwave on high for 12 minutes.
• Cool for 10 minutes. Invert onto a serving platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Serves 16

Notes:
• The name of this recipe might be 12-Minute Microwave Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake, but I may have changed it so that it would fit all on one line.
• I use a Pampered Chef Stoneware Fluted Pan for this recipe, but there are silicone and glass Bundt pans which are also microwave safe. Ask Google where you can get one. He knows everything.
• I have not tried this in the oven, but I imagine it could work. I would suggest heating the oven to 350˚, baking for for 35 minutes and then checking it. My best guess is that 35 minutes won't quite be enough, but better safe than sorry. I would add 5 minutes to the time and then check it again, up to about 50 minutes. If you try it in the oven, let me know how it works.
• If you spread a little batter in the bottom of the cake pan before mixing the chocolate chips into the batter it helps the cake come out of the pan better because the chips aren't all a gooey, melted mess making the cake stick to the bottom of the pan.
• I like this cake served cold and without ice cream, too, as pictured above. It goes nicely with ice cold apple cider. Mr. Bug likes his topped with hot fudge.