Judi's (5th Grade) Pumpkin Bread/Cake

While in 5th grade, Sister Dorothy brought a bunch of students to the convent next door to whip up some pumpkin bread for a bake sale. Boy were we all psyched to get inside the fortress that was the convent. And we were shocked to find that those nuns were living it up a lot more than we thought. What a complete shock to find out that they had LIQUOR in there! Scandalous. They had the most gigantic pantry anyone could imagine and the place was decked out with professional appliances. But I guess when you are cooking for a huge crew daily, you need to run your kitchen like it's a restaurant. This recipe was phenomenal and I have been making it, to rave reviews, for a good number of years now. This is sort of a quick bread, but not too dense, which makes it a bit more like a cake. I love to eat this spread with some real butter. Mmmmmm.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 3 1⁄2 cups flour
• 3  cups sugar
• 2  teaspoons baking soda
• 2  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2  teaspoons ground cloves
• 1  teaspoon  freshly grated nutmeg
• 2⁄3 cup water
• 3  eggs
• 1  cup  oil
• 2  cups  canned pumpkin pie filling
• 1  cup  coarsely chopped walnuts or 1  cup pecans
• 1  cup raisins or 1  cup currants

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine dry ingredients then toss raisins and nuts into it (coating these items with the flour mixture keeps them suspended rather than letting them sink to the bottom).
3. Mix remaining ingredients, beating until smooth.
4. Add dry ingredients, mixing well.
5. Pour into two 4 x 9 loaf pans or if you want to do it Sister Dorothy's way, into two greased 1 lb coffee cans.
6. Bake for 1 hour.
7. Cool for 20 minutes in the pan before removing to cool on a wire rack.
8. Do not leave the bread in the pan longer as it may not come out clean.