I thought my Dad deserved a home-baked birthday cake this year (well, every year), especially since his chemo-affected tastebuds seem to work best with sweet foods. He loves pumpkin pie and caramel and dried fruits and nuts, so I decided to use the recipe that my friend Kate used for my 40th birthday cake:
Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Caramel Icing.
It involves making home-made caramel enriched with not only heavy cream but also cream cheese. I substituted dried cherries for the raisins in the recipe (Dad likes raisins, but neither MinxBro, Mr Minx, nor the Minx herself is very fond of the cucaracha-esque nasties), and because MinxBro has very specific nut allergies, I used a combination of chopped hazelnuts and almond slivers in place of the walnuts.
It was gooooood. The cake is moist and airy, the caramel is rich and gooey, and with a leetle beet of vanilla ice cream, it's a perfect dessert.
Dad enjoyed it. :)
It involves making home-made caramel enriched with not only heavy cream but also cream cheese. I substituted dried cherries for the raisins in the recipe (Dad likes raisins, but neither MinxBro, Mr Minx, nor the Minx herself is very fond of the cucaracha-esque nasties), and because MinxBro has very specific nut allergies, I used a combination of chopped hazelnuts and almond slivers in place of the walnuts.
It was gooooood. The cake is moist and airy, the caramel is rich and gooey, and with a leetle beet of vanilla ice cream, it's a perfect dessert. 
Dad enjoyed it. :)
