Unintentionally crunchy Pumpkin Cake

When we carved the pumpkins, I thought I was going to be able to make pumpkin puree from what we scooped out of the insides. Turns out that pumpkin puree which is used in pumpkin pie, bread, cake, etc is actually from the inner walls of the pumpkin shell and needs to be roasted first. Since my pumpkin is a jack o lantern on display, I cannot roast and scoop him. So to make some pumpkin sweets, I went the old fashioned route of buying a can of Libby's Canned Pumpkin.

This cake was very moist and delicious but had a strange unintentional occasional gritty crunch. I think the crunch was being caused by sugar crystals that were not fully dissolved.  Given my past experiences of cakes not rising due to what I assume was my over beating of the batter, I was conservative on the beating step.  This may have resulted in the sugar not being given ample opportunity to really merge with the other ingredients. 

from www.cooks.com
Auntie's Pumpkin Spice Cake
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs (I only had 3, so I went with that)
2 cups pumpkin pie filling
1 cup applesauce (or oil for the traditionalists)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Mix together dry ingredients. Add eggs, pumpkin and applesauce (or oil if using oil). Blend in nuts. **Grease and flour 2 9 inch pans. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

**I actually used a bundt pan, so my bake time ended up being 45 minutes....but I went with 30 minutes originally and then kept checking every 5 minutes after that.

The recipe was listed with a cream cheese frosting but we just went with Cool Whip again for the topping.