...a favorite Halloween treat...

...I actually thought that I had already shared this recipe with you...and I'm so surprised that I have not as it's truly one of our favorites...

...it's the Vegan Pumpkin Dot Pound Cake...
...the recipe comes from a dear friend in South Carolina...and we each made several of these to take to a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at our Church many years ago...and when she suggested this cake...I was all like...hmmmm...that sounds really weird...bran cereal...pumpkin...spices...chocolate...it just didn't sound like it would be very good...and made me question her normally outstanding sense of taste...so here it is...(I left it large so you can read it)...my only change is that I only use 1/2 cup of oil...I never changed the recipe...that's just the way I always make it and it's perfect...I don't think you'll miss the extra oil at all...

...grease and flour a pretty tube pan with Earth Balance...

...of course I'm still trying to use up all of that Butternut Squash...so I used that instead of pumpkin...

...I also used my 'Go-To-Egg-Replacer Recipe' - which is flax seed goo mixed with the required amount of Ener-G egg replacer...my goo was frozen so I thawed it out quickly on the stove...

...beat your egg replacer until frothy...

...then add your bran cereal...I used just regular old bran flakes here...but I think Audrey usually used All-Bran...

...mix that in...and let it soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients...

...my two small butternuts yielded almost exactly two cups of squash...just as I thought they would...

...pureed until smooth...

...add that to your liquid mixture with the bran...I added the sugar here as well instead of with the dry ingredients...I also added the spices...so I guess I'm saying that the order of preparation doesn't really matter all that much...

...and because I'm sort of lazy...I used self rising flour today too...but I added it a little at a time and only mixed until it was incorporated...you don't want to develop too much gluten and make a tough cake...

...all mixed up...

...then add some vegan chocolate chips...I should also say that I only added about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips...but if you like chocolate overload go ahead and add 2 2/3 cups...

...I sure am a messy cook today too...Oh my...I didn't even realize how messy until I uploaded the photos...

...let it sit in the pan a few minutes...

...and then turn it out onto a plate...

...I can't begin to tell you how delicious this is...I often serve it for company...just because it's so unusual and gets rave reviews every time...its just a perfect combination of flavors and textures...the bran cereal adds a little something extra...and then you've got the underlying sweet and spiciness of the pumpkin pie flavors...and then on top of that you've got that pop of chocolate in the little dots...

...it really is that good...