pumpkin patch layer cake
I don’t have much to say today. Except, that I’m seeking things that bring me joy, and this cake is one of those things – so maybe it’ll bring you joy, too, if you’re feeling extra heavy.
Today is a lot. I, like many folks with their moral compasses jerking and buzzing alarm bells, am uneased. I’m confused, hurt, scared, overwhelmed, absolutely flabbergasted, appalled, confounded…I stayed up late Tuesday night and felt sick to my gut all day. I went to work and served people so clearly celebrating what? What victory is there? Who hurt you? What has turned your mind, heart, and soul so sour?
I’ve held conversations with good people, trusted people. I am empowered by them. Comforted. It’s well to know that despite the seeming majority, I am among warmth, love, likemindedness. I am among those who will always choose humanity and humility.
If you want to hold talks with your loved ones, share a space of care and community, I invite you to consider this Pumpkin Patch Layer Cake. Warming spices, fluffy sweet crumb, a delicate but enticing maple cream cheese frosting, and the most adorable rustic piped pumpkins. Perhaps it’ll conjure a small smile, a moment of peace and normalcy.
Perhaps you’ll feel a little more whole.
Patching Up the Wounds
Start with your two pumpkin cake layers (or three, if you choose 6 inch pans, which is an option. This might impact the baking time so keep that in mind!) The basis is a spiced brown sugar pumpkin flavor profile. Delish.
Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Whip in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla, pumpkin puree, and Greek yogurt.
Add in your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and an array of spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and black pepper, as well as a little salt. Run the mixer gently while streaming in some buttermilk. A slightly lumpy batter is quite alright, just be sure the flour streaks are no longer visible.
Scoop your batter into your greased cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes – again, may be shorter for 6 inch layers, so start checking around 20 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans for about 10 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack to cool completely. I like to wrap up each layer and refrigerate them overnight, for easier frosting the next day.
Maple is a Staple
I love the playfulness of the maple frosting against the chai cake, and love even more the cute little pumpkins! I’m so proud of them, even though they’re quite flawed visually and I am clearly not a professional decorator. Never claimed to be, never will be. But I love them.
Whip up some cold cream cheese with softened butter, maple syrup, maple extract (strengthens the mapleyness, but it’s not required if you can’t find it), and vanilla extract. Add in powdered sugar, crank up the speed, and fluff up that shit until it’s light and spreadable.
Scoop about 1 cup of frosting out and, using red and yellow food dyes, color that baby orange. Dye boxes typically have directions for creating basic colors, so follow those and have some fun with light adjustments until you achieve your perfect hue.
Slap one cake layer onto a flat plate or a cake stand, and frost with some of the buttercream. Add the second layer and frost on top, to the left, take it back now ya’ll…until fully covered.
You can choose whatever piping tip you’d like for the pumpkins, but I like a star tip for the project. Fill the piping bag with buttercream and draw an open parenthesis, a straighter middle, and a closed parenthesis to create the shape. Repeat several times around the cake, either until you run out of frosting or until you have enough pumpkins to feel happy.
If you have some orange frosting left, you can add more food dye to create a brown for the stems. Again, the boxes probably have directions for this as well. I used a toothpick to carefully draw a blob on top of each pumpkin.
Clearly I’m very skilled at describing my decoration styles, but honestly, I winged this shit, and encourage you to have as much fun as I did creating your unique, sincere patch.
Store the cake, covered, in the fridge (preferably under a cake dome) for up to 5 days. If you store baked but undecorated cake layers, I recommend waiting no longer than 3 days to finish and frost. The cake does not do well on the counter because of the cream cheese frosting.
Friends, as always, I invite you to use FMG as a safe, gentle space to enjoy when you yourself feel unsafe. We can either swear and yell together, or enjoy a sweet treat and a friendly, earnest talk. I am with you with the intent of giving you something you need in the moment you come to my page.
Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!
Cake bake-off:
Salted Caramel Apple Cider Layer Cake
pumpkin patch layer cake
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
maple cream cheese frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese, cold
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp maple extract (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 1/2-5 cups all purpose flour
- red and yellow food dye
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9 inch cake pans with butter or oil.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Whip in the vanilla, pumpkin, and Greek yogurt. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, black pepper, and salt. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the buttermilk, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes until the center is set and an inserted toothpick emerges with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to release the layers and flip onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
- When the cakes are cooled, make the frosting. In a bowl, whip the cream cheese, butter, maple syrup, maple extract (if using), and vanilla on low speed until combined. Add in 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix to combine, then increase the speed to medium high and whip until very light and fluffy. If needed, pour in more sugar 1/4 cup at a time until the frosting is soft and spreadable.
- Pull out about 1 cup of frosting. Mix the yellow and red food dyes according to package directions to achieve the desired orange hue.
- Place one cake layer on a flat plate or cake stand. Frost the top generously, then add the second layer. Frost all the way around the cake until completely covered. Use a star piping tip to swirl on some pumpkin designs. To make little stems, add more dye to the remaining orange frosting to create brown. You may need other dye colors to achieve this.
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