pumpkin cake with gingerbread buttercream
The perfect sweet treat to segue between autumn and Christmas, am I right? A tempting two-layer pumpkin body enrobed in a spicy molasses-based buttercream. The best part? It’s designed for a 6-inch pan, so you folk like me who want your cake but don’t want to eat it too for the rest of your lives can indulge and share a slice or two with your favorite quarantine companions.
Why I decided to bake a cake for Thanksgiving isn’t an easy question to answer. My brain fires in bizarre patterns and during one of those inner communication sequences, I thought “you should buy some mini cake pans.” So, like a good responsible financier would, I did. Mom and I had failed to brainstorm a good dessert outside of old fashioned pumpkin pie and I haven’t really jumped into the world of cakes yet during my baking adventures, so this happened. And, by some fit of luck or another, it was successful. Hugely. I nearly cried after I finished frosting the layers and beheld the miniaturized tower of pumpkin goodness.
Cake is not a journey for the impatient, but this one isn’t awful in its consumption of time. Certainly not in the time it’ll take you to consume it. I release pumpkin flavors back into the culinary wild rather reluctantly but can’t deny that once Thanksgiving terminates, the world flies immediately into Christmas mode (though that happens right after Halloween, but whatever). This cake fuses both seasons splendidly. I tried to make little cake pumpkins to decorate but failed stunningly and just wound up nibbling at the scraps. You can adorn your creation however you wish. Some little gingerbread cookies, or edible flowers, or maple roasted walnuts sound charming.
If you’re a cake fiend and try this out, please leave a comment letting me know what you think! Give VE some love on Instagram and I’d thoroughly enjoy viewing your creations if you tag me in any recipe of mine you create.
Ingredients
pumpkin cake
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, soft
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp clove
- 1 tsp ginger
- splash milk to thin, if needed
gingerbread buttercream
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp clove
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- milk, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease two 6-inch cake pans well with butter or oil. In the bowl of a stand mixer OR with a large bowl and a handheld mixer, cream oil, yogurt, and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in pumpkin puree, then add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. In a second bowl, sift flour, salt, baking powder, and spices until well combined. In three batches, add flour mixture to wet ingredients, beating until everything is fully mixed. At this point, you may need to add a bit of milk if the batter is too thick: you want it to be pourable, but not too wet that it slops around in your bowl. I only needed to blend about a tablespoon in and it was perfect thereafter!
- Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack and cool completely, about an hour.
- At this point, I placed the finished cakes in an airtight bag and kept them unfrosted overnight, but you may wish to frost the same day. In either case, start by, with a sharp serrated knife, cutting the domed tops off of the cakes to create a smooth work surface. I saved the scraps and made little cake balls out of them, but you might choose to just snarf up the crumbs. It's quite scrumptious so I wouldn't blame you!
- To make the buttercream, beat in your stand mixer or with a hand mixer the butter, sugar, molasses, and spices until a soft but not drippy texture is achieved. I added just a splash of milk to get it smooth and spreadable – think similar to cream cheese.
- To assemble the cake, spread buttercream on the cut side of one layer and stack the second atop, again with the cut side facing skyward. Scoop more buttercream on top and frost down the length of the cake, using whatever strokes float your boat. I'm not here to give a frosting tutorial because I am not a professional by any means, but I more or less added frosting and swirled it around until the whole shebang was covered thoroughly. Top with cranberries and a cinnamon stick, if desired. Cover the cake and refrigerate until serving time, with then you can either slice it like a civilized member of society or go caveman and have at it with a fork and knife. Either way, enjoy!
