Pumpkin-Chocolate Torte

My most recent issue of Eating Well arrived over the weekend, and it was so inspiring for Thanksgiving recipes! They have a whole spread on a simpler Thanksgiving, hearkening back to recipes that could or would've been found around the original Thanksgiving and in the next 200 years that followed. This recipe for a Pumpkin-Chocolate torte caught my eye, because I still have leftover pumpkin to use up (though I have finally frozen a couple cups of the puree), and I because it was dark and beautifully chocolate!

The recipe was easy enough. Everything went according to plan. However, the recipe does call for drizzling of extra chocolate on the top of the torte before chilling in the refrigerator. This made it difficult to cut into the torte, which subsequently meant that the torte had a hard time staying together once I did get it cut. Had I been abstemious with the drizzling, it probably would've been easier, but really, who can be abstemious with chocolate? My drizzles were more like large streams of chocolate, hence the difficulty of cutting into chilled chocolate. So, if you try this, keep to small drizzles and restrain the urge to make small rivers on your torte. Except for this, the torte was wonderful, a nice change from just chocolate, with a nice balance of spice.

The recipe also called for a Pumpkin Whipped Cream in which you fold 2 tbs of pumpkin puree into heavy cream once it's been whipped (along with a little sugar and vanilla); however, I was out of heavy cream, so was left with regular canned whip.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Torte
Ingredients:

Torte:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 tbs butter
1 tbs canola oil
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat a 9" springform pan with cooking spray (or oil it). Line the bottom with parchment paper and spray the paper (or oil it).

3. Combine 1/2 cup chocolate chips, butter and oil in a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, until melted.

4. Beat eggs, egg whites, pumpkin puree, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

5. Bake the torte in the middle of the oven until the edges are set and the center just barely jiggles when the pan is gently shaken, 30-40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 1.5 hours.

6. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Decoratively drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the cooled torte. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours (or up to a day).