Egg and Nut Free Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Frosting

The next person up on our birthday list was my dad. I knew that pumpkin was one of his favorite flavors, so even though it is February, I still decided to go with a pumpkin cake. I made a pumpkin cake for my husband's birthday, but I improved the recipe a bit so I didn't have to use cake flour because I wasn't able to find an egg free cake flour. I think the last time I made the pumpkin cake, I combined flour and cornstarch to make my own "cake" flour, but I figured adding that much cornstarch to a recipe couldn't possibly be a good thing. So, here it is...a new (and improved) pumpkin cake!

Egg and Nut Free Pumpkin Cake
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1 cup organic unrefined sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp.cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk (make your own by combining 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 Tbsp. vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add applesauce and mix well. Add pumpkin and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternatively beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Pour into the two separate pans and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cinnamon Cream Frosting
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3-4 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Beat cream and sugar until the cream is whipped.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg and beat until spices are mixed in. Chill until ready to frost the cake.