From time to time (mainly random holidays like Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc) my sweet grandma sends me a card decorated with stickers, a little poem about the holiday and some other anecdotes. Sometimes it even includes a gift card. She has been doing this for as long as I remember. Taylor's mom has also started doing this for holidays and we love it! For St. Patrick's day we got green clover napkins, I got a pair of St. Patty's Day socks, and Taylor got a sweet green tie with clover leaves and beer mugs. :) If you want our mailing address let us know. :)
Anyway...so in one particular card last fall, my grandma sent me a recipe for "Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake" by Paula Deen. Apparently she got it from my (second) cousin Jocelyn, whom I have always deemed to be healthy. She's very fit and she'd be the last person I would have thought to recommend this thing! Besides yesterday's chocolate cake this is the worst recipe I have ever made- not in taste .Oh no..definitely not in taste. How could it be with 2 sticks of butter, a bar of cream cheese and a WHOLE BAG of powdered sugar!! I don't have a calorie breakdown but let's just address those 3 things..There are 810 calories in one stick of butter- multiply by 2, along with 91 grams of fat (141% of the recommended daily value), 243 g of Cholesterol, and 650 g of sodium (I use unsalted butter so this should be less). Cream Cheese- I use Neufchatel Cheese which has 1/3 less fat than cream cheese. But, it still has 560 calories, 48 g of fat, 100 mg cholesterol, and 880 g of sodium. That bag of powdered sugar? 3,600 calories and 870 g. sugar. I could only bring myself to use half the bag, so make that 1,800 and 435.
Today I decided to look up this Paula Deen lady. I know she's a cook but I wanted to know more about her and the food she cooks. In summary she's from the South and as we all know, Southern Cooking is not the healthiest (no offense to all my new Southern relatives) and she loves butter. I also found that she is being sued for $40 million. The reason? Cussing on the job and not cooking enough. Hmmm..interesting.
Anyway..I love butter too. I really do. But everything in moderation. Unfortunately I couldn't find the nutritional information for this cake, but I don't think anyone really wants to know, do you? At least no one is eating the whole cake. That would be a real problem. But one little piece, well, everything in moderation, right? There are a few good things in this recipe.
Pumpkin- It's high in potassium, Vitamin A, manganese, copper and one of the B vitamins, riboflavin. It also contains considerable amounts of magnesium, phosphorus, iron, folate, vitamins E and B6, niacin, thiamin and pantothenic acid — and is low in salt, cholesterol and saturated fat. Good, that makes up for all that butter. You know how some foods lose a lot of their nutritional value when they're cooked or put in a can rather than fresh? Pumpkin is an exception, so you don't have to worry about using the canned.
I have had a hard time locating canned pumpkin ever since I started making pumkin recipes last fall. I can't find any articles online, but every time I go to the grocery stores (I have to go to multiple to even find any) they tell me that they are very limited because apparently there was a bad freeze last fall that killed off a lot of the pumpkin crops.
The other 2 good ingredients are cinnamon and nutmeg. Cinnamon is an amazing spice that has been around for a long long time. Here's a quick list of its health benefits. Studies show that just 1/2 teaspoon a day can do the following: lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, regulates blood sugar (good for people with diabetes or hypoglycemia), helps you lose weight, has an anti-clotting effect on the blood, and helps with arthritic pain to list a few.
Nutmeg: Warning: Nutmeg is toxic in large amounts so don't start eating it by the spoonful. Nutmeg is rich in potassium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Nutmeg also has anti-inflammatory properties, increases blood circulation and stimulates the cardiovascular system, helps with respiratory problems such as the common cold, it can cure stomach aches and diarrhea, and is also good for digestion.
Okay, are you ready for the recipe?
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
- 1 egg
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 8 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
::Tip of the Day:: Use butter versus margarine. There are so many things I could say about this but I'd like to direct you to the following article for a fascinating research study on butter vs. margarine. http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/10/butter-vs-margarine-showdown.html
I will ALWAYS ALWAYS choose butter over margarine. Butter may be high in saturated fat- so use just a little, but it doesn't contain hydrogenated oils like margarine. Hydrogenated oils cause all sorts of health problems. There is a hot debate out there over this topic but my belief in butter is firm. Butter haters always talk about how it is high in cholesterol- research has proven that the cholesterol in foods does not affect the cholesterol levels in the body. That's why, all of a sudden it's okay to eat the yolks of eggs again. Fat, however, such as saturated fat, will raise blood levels of cholesterol. The American Heart Association will recommend margarine over butter, but I disagree. Butter is far more natural than that disgusting, processed fake margarine. Any food listed as hydrogenated, or partially hydrogenated should be avoided at all costs. Trust me on this people.
For the last 5 decades, Americans avoided animal fats such as butter based and instead increased their consumption of polyunsaturated and hydrogenated fats. In direct correlation, the rate of heart disease has increased, as has obesity and many immune system disorders. (Source: The Maker's Diet by Jordan Ruben)
Read this article if you have time: http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/margarin.htm
Sources:
http://www.indepthinfo.com/nutmeg/health-effects.shtml
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html
http://www.organicfacts.net/nutrition-facts/herbs-and-spices/nutritional-value-of-cinnamon-and-nutmeg.html
http://www.healthcastle.com/butter-or-margarine.shtml
I LOVE LOVE LOVE all things Pumpkin! Thanks for the recipe!
ReplyDeleteReally informative.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the associate hate butter?
I know - I usually am healthy! This is a once a year kind of recipe, Ashley (and meant to be shared)!
ReplyDeleteJocelyn