Recipe: Pumpkin Nut Bread with Cream Cheese Icing

courtesy Emeril Lagasse

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients
2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
One-half teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (16-ounce) can pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar, beating well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the next seven ingredients and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the pumpkin, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in the vanilla, raisins and nuts. Spoon the mixture into four greased and lightly floured one-pound coffee cans. Bake for one hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.Cool in the cans for 10 minutes, then remove from the cans and cool completely on wire racks.


Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients
1 stick (one-fourth pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Stir in the confectioners sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy and smooth.