Perfect Fall Recipe:

Sometimes you have to indulge and this recipe may not be the healthiest, but there are some ingredients that help keep your eyes healthy and give you a good excuse to enjoy this recipe from time to time. Just in time for Halloween!

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

½ cup apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups pumpkin (I used baked pumpkin from my garden, but canned works also)

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease and flour a 12x18 inch pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside

In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Once cooled add icing if desired. We recommend a simple brown butter icing as follows: (taken from http://www.marthastewart.com/314840/brown-butter-icing)

Icing

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.

Add sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk; stir until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon milk, a little at a time, until consistency is spreadable. Let cool 5 minutes. Use immediately.

Benefits of Pumpkin cake

Pumpkin is a delicious fall flavour and as it’s bright color suggests it is filled with vitamins that are

protective for your eyes. The orange color of pumpkins is caused by the large amounts of beta-carotene

found in them. Beta-carotene is an eye super antioxidant and helps prevent Macular degeneration and

may also help prevent heart disease and cancer. Other nutrients that pumpkins contains that are

beneficial for your eyes are vitamin E, Zinc, Fiber, lutein and zeaxanthin. Pumpkin seeds add a nice

texture to the cake and they are also high in Zinc. Zinc is another antioxidant that helps protect against

oxidative damage in your eye that may cause Macular degeneration and cataracts. In this recipe we also

cut some of the sugar and vegetable oil and substituted apple sauce to help with sweetness and texture.

So if you needed any more motivation to try out this delicious fall pumpkin cake now you know how it

can help keep your eyes healthy and taste great too!