Chocolate-Pumpkin Layer Cake

Name: Chocolate-Pumpkin Layer Cake
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8 to 12 servings
Ingredients: 20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) soft unsalted butter, more for greasing; 2 cups flour, more for dusting; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon allspice; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar; 3 eggs; 1 1/2 cup plain pumpkin purée, canned, frozen or fresh; 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; 1 cup chopped pecans; 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar; 10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; Milk or cream

Recipe from John Down

Adapted by Florence Fabricant

Chocolate-Pumpkin Layer Cake — Francesco Tonelli for The New York Times

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Rating: 4(1,444)
Comments: Read comments

This rich and decadent spiced pumpkin cake is just the thing to serve for an autumn celebration, Thanksgiving or otherwise. Chocolate chips and chopped pecans are added to the pumpkin batter for extra sweetness and a bit of welcome crunch. For those who like to plan ahead, it can be made and frozen – iced and all. Just put the entire finished cake on a plate or a baking sheet, unwrapped, and freeze it overnight until it is hard. Then it can be wrapped without damage to the frosting, and returned to the freezer. Layers can also be wrapped well and stored, to be iced later. —Florence Fabricant

Featured in: The Oven Is Booked. Dessert's in the Freezer.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 12 servings

20tablespoons (2½ sticks) soft unsalted butter, more for greasing
2cups flour, more for dusting
1teaspoon cinnamon
½teaspoon ground ginger
½teaspoon nutmeg
¼teaspoon allspice
1teaspoon baking soda
½teaspoon baking powder
½teaspoon salt
1½cups granulated sugar
3eggs
1½cup plain pumpkin purée, canned, frozen or fresh
1cup semisweet chocolate chips
1cup chopped pecans
2½cups confectioners' sugar
10ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature
1teaspoon vanilla extract
Milk or cream

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Use a little butter to grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter and flour the paper. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
Step 2
Using an electric mixer, cream 8 tablespoons butter and the granulated sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in pumpkin purée. Mixture may look slightly curdled. Stir in flour mixture about half a cup at a time until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans.
Step 3
Divide batter into pans and bake in middle of oven until springy to the touch and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, run a knife around edges, invert onto racks and peel off paper. Let cakes cool completely.
Step 4
In a large bowl, blend remaining 12 tablespoons butter and confectioners' sugar together. Blend in chocolate and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add cream or milk by the tablespoon, blending well after each addition, until it reaches spreading consistency.
Step 5
Place one cake layer, smooth side up, on a platter. Ice top. Place second layer, smooth side down, on top; ice top and sides of cake.

Ratings

4 out of 5

1,444 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Comments

SB7 years ago

You know you're already on the internet and checking for conversions takes like 2 seconds. Get over it.

Margaux Laskey, Staff Editor7 years ago

After reading some of your notes, we took a closer look at the recipe and made some edits: use semisweet or bittersweet instead of unsweetened, and add a bit of milk or cream if you find the frosting too stiff to spread. We hope that helps!

Antonia7 years ago

I made this as a bundt cake today and wary of the icing - choose to use the Silver Palate's chocolate cake icing recipe instead: See below: This cake is SO SO GOOD and I am Definitely going to make this a staple fall dessert! DELICIOUS!
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
combine everything in a heavy skillet, melt to combine and drizzle, pour or spread while still warm!

SK2 months ago

I halved the recipe and made it as cupcakes in my silicone cupcake mold. Yum!

carolk4 months ago

I made this as a Bundt cake and baked it for 55 minutes. Also, by the fault of a distraction in the kitchen, I misread the recipe and put all 20 Tbs butter in the cake. The result was a rich, moist Bundt cake. Please note that I was baking a gluten free cake with Bob’s Red Mill Baking Flour. Gluten free baked goods tend to come out heavy and dry at times, so I answered the question on how to create a more moist baked good. This also seemed to reduce some of the heavy density. It’s something to experiment with at least.

Deb1 year ago

Made in Bundt pan and used chocolate glaze: melt together 2 tlbs butter, 3/4 semisweet chips, 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and 6 tlbs heavy cream. Weight of flour is 240 grams and of sugar 300 grams.

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