Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil, divided
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup milk
• 12 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup butter, softened, I used 6 Tbsp salted 6 Tbsp unsalted
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 – 5 cups powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat 3 9-inch round cake pans with butter, fit parchment rounds into the bottoms, then butter the parchment as well. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 20 seconds, then put that mixture aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attached, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and 3 Tbsp of the vegetable oil until the mixture looks lighter and airy, stopping now and then to scrape the bowl well. Beat in the remaining 1/4 + 1 Tbsp vegetable oil. Add the eggs individually, mixing after each addition, and add the vanilla along with the last egg.
3. In a bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk the pumpkin and milk together. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the butter mixture at a time, alternating with half of the pumpkin mixture between them, starting and finishing with the flour mixture. Mix only until each addition disappears into the batter.
4. Portion the batter into the 3 prepared pans and smooth it out level. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean, about 30 – 35 minutes. Leave the cakes in their pans for 15 minutes, then slide a knife around the sides to release them and turn them out onto wire racks to cool all the way.
5. When the layers are fully cool, cover the cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. For cleaner slices, refrigerate the cake for a bit in an airtight container, such as a cake carrier. Store the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator; if it is fully chilled, let it sit at room temperature only until it is no longer cold before serving.