Butternut Squash Cake

id="recipetitle"class="fn">Butternut Squash Cake

This is a fall favorite for sure. The cake itself is awesome but the frosting makes it truly epic.

INGREDIENTS

Cake
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup buttermilk *

2 cups peeled and grated butternut squash (1 small)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

* Note my tip from the banana bread recipe. This year I actually used skim plain yogurt instead of buttermilk because that's just what I happened to have. Think of the calories saved as well! (Probably like 10, well whatever).

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons maple flavor
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


DIRECTIONS

1) Take all of your ingredients out of the fridge. You know how they say all of your ingredients should be at room temperature? That shit is for real. So while your waiting for everything to warm up, start grating your squash. It will take you about 7 hours, but it will be worth it.

2) Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottom of 13x9-inch pan.

3) In stand up mixer, beat 3/4 cup butter and the granulated sugar light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until fluffy. Beat in baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour alternately with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat 1 minute. Stir in squash and 1/2 cup walnuts. Spread in pan.

4) Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before attempting to remove it from the pan.

5) In stand up mixer, beat 1/2 cup butter and the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and the maple flavor. Beat until smooth. You may want to add one extra cup of powdered sugar if you want the frosting to be a bit thicker. Frost the cake. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup walnuts.