I have made this recipe a couple of times. The first time I made it as directed, however, there was too much butter making it too rich for some. The 2nd and 3rd times I made this, I cut the amount of butter in half, reduced the pumpkin pie spice by approximately 1/3rd and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract. I even added some chopped pecans/walnuts to the cake mix the 3rd time. With and without nuts were a hit with both coworkers and family. I'll be making this for our Thanksgiving gathering this year.
I have been serving a very slightly different version of this recipe to family and friends for years. In my version: (1) I use the smaller can of pumpkin. (2) I use cinnamon pumpkin pie spice (or allspice) and a 1/2tsp of powdered ginger. (3) I use regular whole milk instead of evaporated milk (though I bet the evaporated is better and I will try that next time) and...(4) I bake and serve the cake in a ceramic dish--no turning it out or inverting. Just remove it from the oven and put the whipped topping on after it cools and just before serving. In my opinion this recipe is very "personalize-able." There are a lot of variations out there but the basic recipe is the same in all of them. It kicks regular pumpkin pie in the patootie and everyone will love you for making it.
I have made this recipe at Thanksgiving and Christmas since the mid 80's instead of pumpkin pie. It is fantastic and you get a lot of pumpkin taste for the effort. I love to add broken nut meats especially walnuts. I hope others will try this recipe too. Thanks for sharing it.
I started making this recipe last thanksgiving and love it. I actually used a 15 oz can of pumpkin and it came out great. Highly recommended, pumpkin pie just ain't the same no more.
Thumbs up on my initial test from the family! I did a gluten-free version using Pamela's Gluten Free Vanilla Cake mix which was around 21 oz instead of 18. It's a keeper we'll be making it at Thanksgiving!
This is an excellent pumpkin dessert. I use about 1 cup of chopped pecans on top of the the dry cake mix just before I pour the melted butter on it. I also use the smaller can of pumpkin but keep everything else the same. I saw this in a Southern Living Cookbook where they used the smaller can so I tried it. I loved it... I am a topping/crust liking person more so than filling and this was perfect. Very easy dessert and you will get rave reviews as well as everyone wanting your recipe.
Though I'm still a fan of traditional pie on Thanksgiving and Christmas days I thought this recipe was delicious and will make it again! If you're serving a crowd this can definitely go farther for less effort than traditional pie. In an effort to increase the nutrition factor by just a little bit I cut the white sugar to 3/4 c. and I thought it was plenty sweet enough since the cake mix and butter layer is pretty sweet on its own. I think next time I'll even omit a tablespoon or two of butter and my guess is I'll not notice the difference.
This was a hit with the whole family. I mixed semi sweet chocolate chips into the cake mix. The family polished it off. Thanks
Yummy! Like a pumpkin pie crisp! I added chopped walnuts on top and they were a good addition. I didn't have pumpkin pie spice so used 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp ea. nutmeg allspice cloves and ginger as I do in my pumpkin pie filling. We may have this for Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie!
I had such high hopes for this recipe but it proved to be too sweet for my tastes which is really saying something! The first bite or two was wonderful but was too much after a big meal (that's a lot of butter). I might try it again with some modifications but would probably include it with lunch offerings where the richness of the dessert stands out as a treat.
