Chocolate pumpkin cake (wheat-free)

I offered to bring dessert to follow Sylvie's turkey dinner. I wanted to make something pumpkin-yummy. Originally I was looking online for gluten-free cookie crumb pie crusts, but found a cake recipe that sounded good instead. It needed to be light on dairy, so I substituted oil for butter in the actual cake. I opted to keep the cream cheese icing, so people can have as much or as little as they want and remove the rest.

The cake rose nicely in the oven, but fell when it cooled. That seems to be a problem with gluten-free baking. Xanthan gum is supposed to stabilize the structure, so maybe more is necessary. The texture ended up dense, moist and brownie-like. In other words, not a bad thing. Delicious and worth remembering, including my various modifications.

• 1½ cup Birch Tree Foods All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour (a blend of brown rice, soya, tapioca and arrowroot flours)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  
• 2/3 cup of cocoa
  
• ½ teaspoon salt
  
• 1 cup of canned pumpkin (oops, that's where I went wrong; I used a whole can)
  
• ½ cup soya milk mixed with ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar, allowed to sit
  
• 2/3 cup oil
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 3 eggs, plus one yolk
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
  
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  
• generous pinch ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a medium bowl, mix pumpkin and buttermilk. In a separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together. With hand mixer, beat oil and sugar together. Add vanilla then eggs, one at a time. Then alternate adding pumpkin mixture and flour mixture until all incorporated. Pour into a rectangular cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes. (It would be nicer to use two round cake pans, but I don't seem to have those anymore.)

Take out of the oven and cool. Then invert the pan and allow cake to cool on a rack. Cut the rectangle in half. Now the icing:

• ¼ can of pumpkin (there I go again, the original recipe calls for ¼ cup, but I can't complain about the result)
  
• ¼ cup butter
  
• generous tablespoon lemon juice
  
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  
• 1 package cream cheese
  
• ¾ cup icing sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Soften butter and cheese. Mix all ingredients until combined, but do not overbeat as it will change the consistency of the cream cheese.

Stack the two halves of the cake with an icing layer between, then ice the whole cake.