Bite Me: Who Wouldn't Want to Live With Annie

One of the best parts about living in Los Angeles is meeting people. I meet new people almost every week at a little social tradition Hollywood assistants call "drinks". "Drinks" is not really the most accurate word to use for these meetings because they are usually right after work, and I am always hungry (working until 7 or 7:30 PM). Most of you may recognize this as "dinner".

I met Annie at a celebratory dinner for our mutual friend when he got his new job. In this crazy town, it is easy to spot good people because they stand out. Good people are also pretty rare so it is always refreshing to meet someone like Annie. I am pretty sure you will like her too. She also has a great blog with some really amazing home decorating ideas along with lots of other projects and recipes that she updates almost daily. Her blog is called Living With Annie, and after reading the below recipe, you may consider asking her if you can move in.

Hello lovely readers of Sammy's Bite Me blog!I am long time fan, first time guest poster - Ms AnnieBelle, here to share with you the joys of a four layer pumpkin cake!

I first fell in love with this recipe when I received it in the Kraft Foods Family & Fun Recipe Magazine. If you don't already receive it, I highly recommend signing up for it. It comes quarterly, has tons of pictures of great recipes, and it's super free! You can sign up at kraftfoods.com.

Anyway, the original recipe includes too much pumpkin for my taste (including using pumpkin in the filling) so I've adapted it to the recipe you see below. This is a great and really impressive cake for any fall event and I think you'll find that most anyone will love it even if they swear they don't like pumpkin. I've converted many people with it - starting with myself. I've also done this very successfully as cupcakes that look equally impressive.
Good luck and happy baking!

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 dash of cinnamon (to taste)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed (Preferably french vanilla)
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans

Directions (almost directly from the Kraft Foods recipe):
HEAT oven to 350°F.

BEAT cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. spice in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9-inch round pans.

BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.

BEAT cream cheese in medium bowl with mixer until creamy. Add sugar, remaining spices; mix well. Gently stir in COOL WHIP. Cut each cake layer horizontally in half with serrated knife; stack on serving plate, spreading cream cheese filling between layers. (Do not frost top layer.) Drizzle with caramel topping just before serving; top with nuts. Refrigerate leftovers.

Tip: A great way to move the layers of cake is to use a flat cookie sheet. Slide the cookie sheet between the already sliced cake, completely beneath the new cut layer. Then you can cleanly move it and even flip it over using another cookie sheet or a plate. Be careful though, the top will stick to any surface if you don't spray it before hand so if you want a perfect top, definitely do that!