My latest craze is Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter. I like to put it in cake batters, mix it into marinades, but mostly, I just eat it with a spoon. It’s got the perfect balance of pumpkin taste, holiday spices, and sweetness.

Would I eat it with goat cheese?

Why the heck not?

Pumpkin Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting
(adapted from Martha Stewart Living, November 2010: click here for original recipe)

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans and parchment
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for parchment
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups solid-pack pumpkin (back off on the pumpkin and add in a jar of Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter!)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

2. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin; add vanilla and ginger. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with butter milk, and beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down side of bowl as needed. Divide batter between pans.
3. Bake cakes until golden brown, pulling away from sides of pans, and until a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool in pans set on wire racks for 15 minutes. Invert cakes onto racks. Let cool.
4. Evenly spread half the goat cheese frosting on top of 1 cake. Top with the second cake, and frost top with the remaining frosting. Top cake with some quince-ginger compote, and serve remainder on the side.

Goat Cheese Frosting

• 1 pound cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 ounces soft goat cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (I added an additional ½ cup, because I can!)
• (I added 1 T vanilla extract)