I bought a 25 pound bag of flour at the grocery store recently. The check out girls were amazed at the big bag. “Are you a baker?” they asked. “What do you make?” I answered with the usual things like cakes and cookies, but I was really thinking, “I have five kids. This isn’t going to last that long. I was disappointed that this was the only 25 pound bag you had!”
I am very particular about my flour. I have written about this before. I absolutely will not use anything that is not 100% wheat. All of the major brands, from Pillsbury to King Arthur, cut their flour with barley. I may just be the only person who reads flour labels, but I do not like the heavy texture of barley. Heck! I don’t even eat the stuff, but I don’t like it anyway!
So, I use independent label flours. In Utah, I used Lehi Roller Mills, in Arizona, I used Blue Bird, but here in Florida, I have a few choices! White Lily and Southern Biscuit are the two big brands, but there are a few others available, too. It would seem that you cannot get a flaky biscuit using barley, either, and Southern bakers know it.
Because I cannot always find 25 bags of flour in my grocery stores, I usually hit up the local restaurant supply store. They sell 50 pound bags! I have saved about a dozen 5 quart ice cream buckets and I load them up with flour. The entire floor of my pantry is full of them!
This snack cake is a variation of a variation of a variation of a cake that I made years ago with applesauce. I changed it up this year and used pumpkin. It was so successful, that I think I will stick to the pumpkin from now on. My kids sure loved the Autumn flavors. Kraft caramel bits are an easy way to get lots of caramel goodness into the cake without fussing with big, wrapped caramel candies.
1. Info for Caramel Pumpkin Snack Cake
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: unavailable
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Caramel Pumpkin Snack Cake
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 2 cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp all spice
- ⅛ tsp cloves
- 1 cup Kraft caramel bits, divided
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, divided
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
3. Directions:
- Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar.
- Add eggs and pumpkin.
- Combine dry ingredients and mix into pumpkin.
- Stir in ½ cup caramel bits and ½ cup chopped walnuts.
- Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
- Combine remaining caramels, nuts and brown sugar.
- Sprinkle over the top of the cake batter.
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool and serve.