I’ve never eaten pumpkin pie, and the idea of a pie made of pumpkin doesn’t entirely appeal to me. However, I have it on good authority that pumpkin pie tastes really, really good. So, I’ve been meaning to make it for a few months now. However, I just can’t work up the nerve to actually follow through on my intentions. Last week, I saw a most divine picture of a Chocolate Pumpkin Torte over on Foodgawker. I thought to myself, “This would be a gentle way of easing into the Pumpkin Pie Experience. If I don’t like the pumpkin filling, no harm; I can just enjoy the chocolate cake with a cream filling instead.“
So, in that spirit, I decided that rather than make a whole cake, I’d just make half a recipe of the filling and a few little chiffon cakes, fill one, and try it. If it didn’t work out, then nothing lost. Not wanting to do too many new things at once, I stuck to my mother’s tried and true chocolate chiffon cake and a standard ganache (the one in the recipe called for evaporated milk, and I was really not in the mood to break out the can opener again, lazy, I know.) Lo and behold…it did work out. I actually liked it! So, if you want to give this recipe a try, head on over to the originator of the recipe, Kitchen Confidante. The filling is basically a buttercream, with a bit of canned pumpkin cooked and whipped into it, along with some cinnamon and nutmeg.
