Birthday week!!!

This is my favorite week of the year.  It's even better than Christmas, because I have to share Christmas.  I love thanksgiving because I get to eat all my favorite foods.  And I'm an adult now, so there's no one to tell me to stop eating before I puke.  It's my prerogative if I want to eat till I throw up.  I've been known to do that, and I'm okay with that.  My mouth likes food, and my stomach just has to deal with it.  Although Per doesn't seem to like it too much, and in fact banned me from blueberries this year.  The past two years that I've gone blueberry picking has resulted in a bit of over-indulgence.  I'm like a carnivore; I'll just eat until the food's all gone.  But I feel this is a valid point for Thanksgiving, because when it's gone, it's really gone, for a whole year!
The other awesome thing happening this week is my birthday.  I'm going to make the following cake.  That's right, I'm making my own cake.  I'm not a total control freak, but this way I get to know if it sucks, it's my fault.  Plus if it's fabulous, I get all the praise.  It's hard to find a recipe that I want to eat, that my family will eat too.  I don't think they'll go for the coffee sauce, so I'll have to figure something else out for that.  And my dad can't eat chocolate after 6pm or he is kept up, so maybe we'll have cake for breakfast.  It's a make-ahead-of-time cake, so that'll be perfect.  I'll post photos when it's actually materialized.

Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate-Hazelnut Ganache and Cinnamon-Coffee Sauce
The Millennium Cookbook

Chocolate-hazelnut ganache
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
2 cups soy milk
1 pound semisweet nondairy chocolate, melted

Chop the hazelnuts in a blender or food processor.  Add the soy milk and combine with the nuts.  Turn the blender on and slowly pour in the melted chocolate.  When fully blended, pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until firm, about four to six hours.

Cinnamon-coffee sauce
3/4 cups freshly brewed coffee
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons Sucanat or Fructose (I plan to try Xylitol and hope for the best)

In a bowl, combine the coffee, cinnamon, and Xylitol.  Whisk together and cook over medium heat.  Let cool and refrigerate until needed-- up to two days if you make it ahead

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I'm going to use Arrowhead Mills gluten-free flour mix)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (After we went to Sauvie Island Farms, I roasted and pureed some acorn squash to freeze, so I'll use that)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (I dislike mincing.  I'm a grater)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Oil an 8 inch round springform or false bottom cake pan.  Into a large bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir in the salt until well combined.  In a blender, combine the pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, soy milk, ginger, vanilla, and lemon juice.  Blend until well combined.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cake cool completely in the pan, then remove it from the pan.
Slice the cake horizontally into three even layers (that should be fun!).  Place the bottom layer of the cake on a cake pan.  Drizzle 1/4 cup coffee-cinnamon sauce onto the bottom cake layer.  Spread one half of the hazelnut ganache on the cake layer.  If the ganache is too hard to spread, place the container in a warm water bath.  Place the second layer of cake on top of the ganache layer.  Drizzle 1/4 cup coffee-cinnamon sauce onto the middle cake layer and spread it with the remaining half of the hazelnut ganache.  Place the third layer of cake on top.  Wrap the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
To serve, cut the cake into ten pieces.  For each serving, place slices of cake on serving plates and garnish with chopped fruit or fresh berries and a sprinkle of cinnamon.