October

I'm inexplicably excited for October this year. It's my favorite month, largely due to all the scary Halloween stuff, tasty apple and pumpkin stuff, and all the birthday stuff. My uncle's birthday is the 10th, my mom's is the 18th, mine is the 23rd, and my friend Travis' is the 29th (I think). One of the sites I hang around, a virtual pet site called Aywas, has tons of events going on this month, so I'm definitely excited about those. I just spent all day drawing for a bunch of their contests. Mostly, I think I'm just looking forward to a month filled with good stuff when the rest of the year hasn't treated me so well thus far.

If you want to check out Aywas, I get stuff for referring people, so use my link to sign up. They do all the member applications by hand, so it might take a little while to get your confirmation email. The site's a great place to sell artwork or make real life money on their contests. There's lots of pets to collect, or you can make customs and breed them to make unique pets. Below is one I made for the monthly shop contest:

Just to make sure this post is more than me being really excited that October starts in a few hours and I'll know if I won those contests, here's a recipe for pumpkin cake that needs to be shared. I made it a few times last year,a and it was a big hit with everybody. I recommend using Betty Crocker's Cream Cheese frosting. Don't use Pillsbury - they have wonderful cakes and terrible icings. XD I leave the nuts out. I only like walnuts in brownies. Also, a 12 X 18 pan is HUGE. You can halve the recipe and use a standard 9 X 13 if that's too much cake for you. :)

Unrelated to cake but related to cooking, I made a new barbecue sauce recipe! It's apple spice flavored, and after I tweak it just a little bit, I'll post the recipe. 

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients
2 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 12x18 inch pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time.

Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter into prepared 12x18 inch pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.