Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake

When I was 13, my parents sent me to a summer basketball camp (this was back when I still thought I, perhaps, had some athletic skills–spoiler: I don’t!) and one of my fellow campers asked me if I liked cake. I was all, “Who doesn’t?!” Turns out she meant the band, who are fine, but I get way more excited about Cake the Dessert, as most people do. You can eat it at work parties, on your birthday, with coffee for breakfast as I have done above; there’s no bad time for cake.

I’ve gotten better at making them lately, too. I used to flat-out refuse because baking a WHOLE CAKE was a lot of pressure for somebody who rarely uses the oven (I’m more of a cook as opposed to a baker), but now I have my sea legs and it’s really not so bad. In fact, I saw a trick on Pinterest a while ago and had been meaning to try it, so I finally did. I call this the can o’ pumpkin hack:

Literally, those are the only two things you need. Instead of the usual wet ingredients like eggs and oil, add the can of pumpkin to the cake mix. This makes it a little healthier, which is awesome because then I can eat more of it, but the real point is the flavor. Instead of regular old spice cake, now we have PUMPKIN SPICE cake. It’s the dessert version of everybody’s favorite coffee. Holla!

One tip: the batter will be slightly thicker than usual, which made me nervous for a second because BAKING but it turned out just fine. I think the next time I’ll make this I’ll add some chocolate chips. Walnuts would be really good, too. Of course you could frost it, but I personally find that to be like pouring a bag of sugar into my mouth so that’s why there isn’t any. Naked cakes forever!

Have you been baking lately? Any cake hacks to share? Been enjoying the smorgasbord of pumpkin-flavored foods that pop up every fall? Who else hates frosting?

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