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This Pumpkin Cake is a lovely way to welcome fall: three fluffy, warmly spiced layers with nutty brown butter frosting between them. Little piped pumpkins make it especially fun for Halloween or a fall gathering.
If you’re the kind of person who puts pumpkin in everything this time of year, we have that in common. I always keep a can of Libby’s on hand for baking pumpkin cinnamon rolls or butterscotch pumpkin pie, and it’s just as good in savory recipes like my pumpkin pasta. This cake is one of my favorites because the pumpkin keeps every layer so tender and moist. Let this recipe be in your fall baking rotation.
Ingredients You’ll Need for Pumpkin Cake
- Pumpkin puree – Pumpkin puree can be a bit mild but it adds moisture and a lovely texture to cakes.
- Pumpkin pie spice – For the classic fall flavor we all know and love. If you don’t have pumpkin spice on hand, you can combine ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a pinch of ground cloves.
- Vegetable oil – Along with the pumpkin puree, this is the reason the cake will stay moist.
- Unsalted butter – This is the base of our frosting. It gets browned and added to the frosting lending a nutty, toasted milk flavor. It’s works really well with the warm spices in the cake.
- Baking powder and baking soda – While the pumpkin puree brings the moisture, the combination of these leavening agents keep the cake light and lifted to avoid a dense cake.
For the rest of the ingredients, please refer to the recipe index card below!
How to Make Pumpkin Cake
- Prepare the batter. Mix the dry ingredients.
- Mix the wet ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. Cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Brown the butter and cool to room temperature.
- Beat the frosting ingredients together until light and fluffy. Set aside some frosting and dye it for decorating.
- Assemble the cake: First layer, frosting, second layer, frosting, third layer, crumb coat. Chill for 20 minutes. Then add the final layer of frosting.
- Decorate the cake: Pipe on orange circles for the pumpkins and brown hooks for stems.
- Slice it up and serve!
- Instruction
Quick Tips for the Best Pumpkin Cake
Check the bottom of the mixing bowl. A quick scrape catches any flour the hand mixer missed.
Watch the butter closely. Take it off the heat once the milk solids are a deep brown and it smells nutty.
Let the layers cool completely. Warm cake will soften the frosting.
Give the crumb coat time to chill. It makes the final layer of frosting easier to smooth.
Make-Ahead & Storage
Make ahead: Bake the cake layers a day ahead. Once completely cool, wrap each layer tightly and refrigerate. You can also make the frosting a day ahead; cover and refrigerate it, then let it soften and beat it briefly before frosting the cake.
Storage: Cover the assembled cake and refrigerate it for up to 4 days. Let slices sit at room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the frosting can soften.
Freezing: Wrap the unfrosted, fully cooled layers individually and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator before assembling.
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Pumpkin Cake
Equipment
- Piping tips and piping bags
- offset spatula
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cup white granulated sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Brown Butter Frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 1¼ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line three 8×8-inch cake pans. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt.
- In a large bowl, with a hand mixer on medium speed, combine the eggs, oil, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Using a hand mixer on low speed, mix until combined. You really just don’t want to see any speckles of flour. I like to scrape the bottom of the bowl with a spatula to make sure there aren’t any bits of flour hiding.
- Divide the batter evenly amongst the prepared cake pans (they should weigh about 467 grams each). Transfer the layers to the oven for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 to 7 minutes. Then invert onto a cooling rack and cool until it’s room temperature. It’ll probably take a full hour.
To Make the Brown Butter Frosting:
- In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, add the 1/2 cup of butter. Once it’s melted, it will begin to foam up and bubble a bit. Allow it to cook until you begin to see lightly browned specks beginning to form. Give it a stir and cook until it’s browned. You should also start to smell its nutty aroma. Remove it from the pan and continue to stir to cool it down.
- Transfer it to a small bowl (freezer-safe) and place it in the freezer to chill, for about 20-25 minutes. We want it to be the texture of room-temperature butter (it can be a bit softer, that’s ok).
- In a medium bowl, add the cooled brown butter and the 1¼ cup of room temperature butter. Then, sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt, and heavy cream. With a hand mixer on medium speed, beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes.
To Assemble and Decorate the Cake:
- In two small bowls, add about 2 tablespoons of frosting to each. You can eyeball this. One will be our pumpkins (orange) and another will be our stems (brown).
- If your frosting is super soft, add about 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar to each bowl and mix it in. This will help stiffen it up.
- Add a drop or two of orange food coloring to one frosting bowl. And add a drop or two of brown food coloring to the second frosting bowl. Mix until smooth. Transfer the orange frosting to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip.
- Transfer the brown frosting to a piping bag fitted with a (Wilton #1) tiny round piping tip.
- Place one cooled cake layer on a cake board. Add about 1/3 cup of brown butter frosting to the top of the first layer and smooth out into a thin, even layer (no more than ¼ inch thick). Place the second cake layer on top and repeat these steps.
- Place the third layer on top. Then, add a thin crumb coat of brown butter frosting to the cake and smooth the top and sides. Transfer the cake to the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Then add the final layer of brown butter frosting to the cake.
- To add the pumpkins, pipe on rounds of frosting. Add as many as you like. Make them any size you like, too. Dip your finger in a bit of water and tap the tops of the pumpkins to make them appear smoother.
- Pipe on a small hook shape at the top of each of the pumpkins. This will make it appear like they have a stem. You can slice up the cake and serve immediately or keep it in a cool area until ready to serve.
Notes
Quick Tips
Check the bottom of the mixing bowl. A quick scrape catches any flour the hand mixer missed. Watch the butter closely. Take it off the heat once the milk solids are a deep brown and it smells nutty. Let the layers cool completely. Warm cake will soften the frosting. Give the crumb coat time to chill. It makes the final layer of frosting easier to smooth.Make Ahead & Storage
Make ahead: Bake the cake layers a day ahead. Once completely cool, wrap each layer tightly and refrigerate. You can also make the frosting a day ahead; cover and refrigerate it, then let it soften and beat it briefly before frosting the cake. Storage: Cover the assembled cake and refrigerate it for up to 4 days. Let slices sit at room temperature for about 20 to 30 minutes before serving so the frosting can soften. Freezing: Wrap the unfrosted, fully cooled layers individually and freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw them, still wrapped, in the refrigerator before assembling.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
