Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Snack Cake. Beyond Pie - A series of my favorite pumpkin recipes.

Recipe #4! I am usually a pumpkin purist. And a chocolate purist. I normally don't mix the two. When I made this cake initially it had neither pecans or chocolate in it, but I added the chips in order to please my youngest daughter. She'll eat just about anything with chocolate chips. The pecans were for me. I have to say, I have come to love the pumpkin- chocolate chip combo. Adding pecans and maple is just a no brainer. My daily tea time game is strong and this cake is perfect with a steaming mug of my afternoon PG Tips black tea. It's perfect any time of day really - breakfast dessert, dinner dessert, mid morning pick me up, late night comfort. I think you'll really enjoy this recipe. I make the vegan version for my daughter with food allergies and have included appropriate recipe notes. I enjoy it so much the vegan way using Enjoy Life brand vegan chocolate chips (which, if blindfolded, I could not tell you they weren't dairy chips) that I don't even make it with eggs or dairy anymore. We use vegan "butter" sticks for baking (very easy to find in the grocery store) and the ground flax meal (easy to find in the organic aisle, I use Bob's Red Mill brand) lends an additional nutty flavor as well as a health benefit. Since it is baked in a 13x9 pan, it's easy to transport for the holidays. The icing comes together in a second and you can use your liquid of choice. I always choose Bourbon or Rum, because ... why not. It adds to the whole maple pecan profile but adjust as appropriate for your needs. Yes, that does mean that I always have Bourbon on hand. I realize you may not. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip Snack Cake with Maple Icing

For the cake:

2 cups Castle Valley Mill hard bolted wheat flour or white whole wheat flour such as King Arthur

1 ½ cups sugar (light brown is a good option)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 ¾ cup pumpkin puree

4 large eggs OR 4 tablespoons ground flax meal mixed with 10 tablespoons warm water and rested 5 minutes

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup chocolate chips

For the icing:

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoon liquid of choice (Bourbon, vanilla, milk)

2 tablespoons melted butter (dairy or vegan)

¼ cup maple syrup

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 baking dish. In a large bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together with a fork or whisk, with the exception of the nuts and chocolate chips. In a small bowl, mix all of the wet ingredients together. Using a whisk, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until fully blended. Add nuts and chips and stir to combine evenly. Pour into baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the icing:

When the cake is out of the oven, in a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together with a whisk. Spread evenly on cooled cake.