Treat or Treat!

Thursday, October 29, 2009 |
Over the years I've had the privilege of working with some amazing individuals. These ladies go above and beyond and give so much of themselves and it's all done selflessly. To be fair, I learned a great deal in college. For the most part I enjoyed many of my courses and felt they were preparing me for my future as a teacher. Upon graduation, I thought I knew it all and could take the world on ~
yea, I was young!
Reality is, that what I have really learned has been through life experience. Hands on and peer modeling has made me the {proud} teacher I am today.
Each Wednesday a group of us meet for coffee at Starbucks. I'm the youngest of the bunch and feel so lucky to be included. After {more than I'm willing to share} years of teaching, I still feel like a sponge around these ladies soaking up their knowledge. Meeting with them is a wicked early start to the day but I look forward to it each and every week.
We don't all work in the same building any longer so this is the only time we have together to just "chat."
Being creative individuals, we are always bringing little surprises and treats along to share.
Since Halloween is just around the corner, I made these little paper mache pumpkins filled with homemade truffles for my friends.

Once a month we have a birthday celebration in my school for teachers and staff. We all sign up at the beginning of the school year for this yummy event. I signed up to bake for the October birthdays. I made my tried and true Pumpkin Torte.
Not only is it amazingly easy {I'm almost embarrassed to give you the recipe}, it's sinfully delicious ~ if only it were calorie free!
It's perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday if you're in need of a dessert.
I'll warn you though, it doesn't travel well. I almost rear ended a little car because I was so worried about the torte tipping over.
Thankfully, no one {car or torte} was harmed during the delivery.
I'm not sure how I would have explained that one to my husband.



Pumpkin Torte
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 toasted pecans ~ divided
1 package yellow butter cake
1can (15 ounces) pumpkin ~ not pumpkin pie mix
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
10 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
16 ounces whipping cream
1. In a small pan, melt the first three ingredients. Add 1/4 cup of the pecans. Pour this equally into two greased cake pans.
2. Mix the cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, and spices.
3. Pour mixture on top of brown sugar mixture in pans.
4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden.
5. Let them cool completely ~ this is very important.
6. Beat the whipping cream until firm peaks form ~ set aside in frig.
7. Mix cream cheese, powered sugar and remaining pumpkin.
8. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
9. Cut each cake into twos horizontally.
10. Layer the cake with mixture in between.
11. On the top layer add the remaining toasted pecans.
12. If desired {as shown in photo} make a little extra caramel by combining butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Let it cool completely before drizzling it over the top.
Enjoy!


Leave A Comment

12 comments:

CRICKET said...

That looks wonderfully delicious! I have always tended to be attracted to the teachings of older women.

Sue said...

How wonderful that you have this group of women from whom to glean their knowledge and experience. Maybe some day you can return the favor to someone else...

Your torte recipe sounds easy and delish! I'm always looking for new dessert recipes. I am a sucker for sugar!

:-) Sue

Jessica Ryan said...

oooh deliciously divine!

How did you make the papier mache pumpkins?? I would love to do this... (next year!)

Suburban Princess said...

Your pumpkins are so cute!!

Anonymous said...

Fabulous! LOVE the women in my life who teach me by living a meaningful life. Great post and yummy looking recipe.

carolinagirl said...

Oh my...that looks so good and making me want some dessert!!!!

I love meeting girlfriends at Starbucks. It is just so fun to sip delicious coffee and catch up!

Hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween!!!!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

What cute little pumpkins. I bet your friends loved those! And that pumpkin torte - looks amazing!

Happy Halloween Jo!

XOOX
Jen

JMW said...

That looks sinful! I will definitely need to try it. Happy Halloween!

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

Oh my goodness. That torte sounds heavenly!

Kristin said...

How yummy is that!

Mrs. Z said...

That looks TDF!!!! I'll have to try it! :)

Organized Chaos said...

This looks SO good...I'm printing it off your blog right now! Can't wait to try it.

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