Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Frosting

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Frosting - This pumpkin cake is another one of those baked-around-the-Internet recipes, like the ultimate chocolate chip cookies. Blame Deb Perelman over at the fabulous Smitten Kitchen. She turned this light pumpkin cake and its luscious maple–cream cheese frosting into cupcakes.

Pumpkin desserts are especially popular during the fall and winter months. Of course, pumpkin pie is America's favorite pumpkin dessert, but this lovely orange colored Pumpkin Spice Cake, containing both pumpkin and its complementary spices; cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, is sure to please. It consists of two layers of moist and flavorful cake that, like a carrot cake, benefits from being filled and frosted with a cream cheese icing. This frosting does deviate from the traditional cream cheese frosting as it contains pure maple syrup. Now, do not confuse pure maple syrup with the corn syrup flavored with artificial maple extract, sometimes called 'pancake syrup', as it does not come close to the real thing and should not be used here. Pure maple syrup is a reddish-brown aromatic liquid that has a distinctive rich, sweet, nutty, flavor that Diana Henry in her book 'Roast Figs Sugar Snow' says is "reminiscent of burnt sugar and fudge". It is produced from the sap of maple trees (in February and March) grown in Canada and the Northeastern United States.