Butternut Squash Cake

I have amazing in-laws...what makes them so amazing you ask?  Well lots of different things but one of those things is their devotion to gardening every Spring and Summer.  Starting in about June I am supplied with fresh veggies until about the end of October.  Last year my hubby told his dad that butternut squash was his favorite of all the squashes they grow so this year my father-in-law planted almost three times as much as he did the year before.  The end of October my father-in-law stops by with two big boxes full of butternut squash.  My first thought..."what in the world am I going to do with all of this???"  Honestly, most of it is still sitting in my garage.  The good thing about squash is that most of them have such thick skins that you can keep them in a cool, dark area and they will stay good for a couple of months.  A week before Thanksgiving I was searching the internet for new recipes that might be interesting for Thanksgiving day.  I'm a recipe junkie, I love recipes, I always print out a ton of them and end up making one or two of them.  My husband loves this about me...NOT! LOL.  While searching through the Betty Crocker website I stumbled onto a recipe that used butternut squash...a CAKE recipe.  I'd never heard of a butternut squash cake before so of course I printed it out.  I honestly figured it would end up in my stack of printed-but-not-yet-tried recipes but lucky for me it didn't.  Some how it ended up on my kitchen counter.  My hubby probably brought it down off the printer and left it there.  So the day before Thanksgiving I was looking through my recipes and there it was, the butternut squash cake.  I looked over the ingredients and I had everything I needed right there in my pantry so I had to make it.  And what I'm telling you right now is...you HAVE to make this cake.  Its moist and delicious!

Butternut Squash Cake
Adapted from: Betty Crocker

Ingredients
Cake
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 buttermilk (I make my own buttermilk, I put 1 tablespoon distilled vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill the rest of the measuring cup with milk.  Let it sit for 2-3 minutes and....tada buttermilk)
2 cups shredded peeled butternut squash
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
3oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 to 4 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons maple flavor
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Cake
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray bottom of 13X9 inch pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs until fluffy.  Beat in baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add flour alternately with buttermilk, scraping side of bowl.  Beat 1 minute.  Stir in squash and 1/2 cup walnuts.  Spread in pan.
3. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely.

Frosting
In a medium bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and the maple flavor.  Beat until smooth and creamy, adding additional milk if needed.

Frost cake.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup walnuts. Cover and refrigerate.