A pumpkin chocolate cake recipe filled with chocolate ganache and topped with a sweet caramel buttercream!
The first week of school needs to be celebrated. I’m not saying I was sitting here celebrating a quiet house. While I certainly did enjoy the solitude, I felt our family had to celebrate my youngest daughter’s first week of kindergarten. We had a rough start. She cried as we walked to the bus stop and she cried while getting onto the bus. Then I took over and cried as I watched the bus pull away. This marked a significant milestone for our family. Our baby is growing up. While I think we should have had a dozen more babies, the reality is that we had to stop sometime. Three is a good number.
Once my tear ducts ran dry, I set about making a treat for the kids. I wanted my little one to be greeted with something sweet to brighten her first day. At first the treat was going to be something simple like chocolate chip cookies or brownies. But, as you can see, things took a turn. They took a glorious, three layer, decadent turn! It just hit me, most celebrations involve cake. So we needed cake!
I typically avoid cakes. They scare me. I’ve had far too many disasters. Which is why I prefer cupcakes!
This time I didn’t want cupcakes, I had my heart set on cake. I sucked it up and dove in. Since fall is practically at our door steps, I decided upon a pumpkin chocolate cake recipe. Did I mention the three layers? I know cream cheese frosting pairs well with pumpkin, but I’m not a fan of the taste. I compromised. I made a caramel buttercream made with a touch of cream cheese. I added ganache to the layers, because really, can one ever have too much chocolate?
Here is the skinny on this chocolate cake recipe. It takes time to prepare. But I can honestly say it’s worth all the effort! The cake is definitely more of a chocolate cake with the pumpkin flavor hanging out in the background. The texture is spot on. Just what a cake should look like, it only has a few crumbs, and the cake bounces back when touched. Once the layers cool, cut off the dome with a serrated knife. What you do with that part is your business. Crumble it over ice cream, make mini cakes, or do what I did and just eat it. Then prepare your ganache. From here you will do quite a bit of layering and refrigerating. That is truly the hardest part. Hard only because you have to wait when all you want to do is finish the darn cake so you can start stuffing your face! Once you have your layers filled and stacked, all that’s left to do is crown the top with the silkiest caramel frosting you’ve ever tasted! Don’t worry about frosting the sides of this one, the layers are a work of art!
Pumpkin Chocolate Cake Recipe
A pumpkin chocolate cake recipe filled with chocolate ganache and topped with a sweet caramel buttercream!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour + 2 tablespoons
- 1 cup cocoa powder + 2 tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 sticks butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 5 whole eggs
- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1 11oz package vanilla caramels
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray three 8 inch round cake pans, set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; set aside. In a separate bowl, stir together the buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla. Set that aside. In a mixer beat together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add flour and pumpkin mixture, alternating between the two. Blend well after each addition. Beat until batter is smooth.
- Divide the batter between the three pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove cakes and continue to cool completely on your wire rack.
- Meanwhile prepare your ganache. In a saucepan heat heavy cream until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate chips. Continue to whisk until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. You want the ganache to be thick but spreadable. Prepare buttercream
- In a microwave safe bowl. Melt caramels and 2 tablespoons of milk in 30-second intervals until melted. Allow caramels to cool.
- For the buttercream, combine butter and cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium speed until creamy. Mix in salt and vanilla. Slowly mix in powdered sugar one cup at a time adding milk as necessary. Continue to beat until buttercream is smooth. Carefully beat in cooled caramel.
- Remove ganache from refrigerator and allow ganache to stand for 5 minutes before spreading.
- Place bottom cake layer on your serving plate. Using a serrated knife, cut dome off of the top of the cake. Discard. Place about a half a cup of ganache on cake in the center and smooth out towards edges with an offset spatula. Place cake in refrigerator. Allow ganache to set for 10- 20 minutes. Remove and top with one cup of buttercream. Spread buttercream starting from the center and working towards edges.
- Cut top of second cake layer. Place layer over buttercream layer. Repeat process. Continue until all three layers have been stacked. Place remaining frosting on the top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- *Before covering top layer with frosting. Place 3-4 wooden skewers through the cake to keep layers in place. Frost over top to hide the skewers.
Nutrition Information
Yield 18 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 865Total Fat 47gSaturated Fat 28gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 15gCholesterol 154mgSodium 470mgCarbohydrates 100gFiber 4gSugar 79gProtein 8g
Tonia says
This is my kind of cake! YUMMY!!
heather @french press says
Stella cried on her first day as well, and the many that followed 🙁 it broke my heart each day. Hopefully your little one is getting used to things, but this cake would pretty much bring a smile to anyone’s face
Kelli @ The Corner Kitchen says
This cake is totally gorgeous! Love the chocolate & pumpkin combo! Pinned!
Heather @ Sugar Dish Me says
My gawd, woman. What kind of cake witchcraft are you working over there? This looks AMAZING!!! I am so sad that you AND your baby cried! You guys are so cute. And cake dries all tears.
Erin @ Simple Sweet & Savory says
Nothing gets me more excited for Fall than a delicious pumpkin recipe! This cake looks out-of-this-world amazing. You can’t go wrong with chocolate and pumpkin IMO. I gotta try this!
Lemonsforlulu says
Nope, cannot go wrong with chocolate and pumpkin!! Thanks Erin!
Lisa+@+Cooking+with+Curls says
WOW…work of art is right!! Holy moly Tanya, that looks so amazing! I think I need to bake myself a cake…pronto! 🙂
Lemonsforlulu says
You are too kind Lisa! Thank you!
Nicole says
Whoa, we are on the same page. I am posting a chocolate pumpkin layer cake tonight! I love the fudgy layer. This cake looks fantastic!
Marla Meridith says
Such a great looking layer cake!
Lemonsforlulu says
Thank you Marla!
angie says
what a wonderful fall recipe perfect for get togethers
come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
Lemonsforlulu says
Thank you Angie!
Maria says
Your cake looks absolutely beautiful, and it sounds so delicious. That caramel buttercream sounds AMAZING!
Julie+@+This+Gal+Cooks says
I was one of the kids who cried when I first started kindergarten. My mom took me to school and I wailed like a big baby when I got to the classroom for at least a week. I’m not sure why I did that when I started kindergarten. I went to a pre-school type place when I was four and I didn’t cry about that. But I think it was only for 3-4 hours per day. Who knows.
What I do know is that this cake looks phenomenal. Seriously, I’d totally devour maybe all of it right now for breakfast. Just give me a cup of coffee and I’ll be good to go!
Lemonsforlulu says
I cried too! Kindergarten is just different, it’s harder somehow.
Ginnie says
This is my kind of cake:) It looks soooo good! Thanks for sharing!
Dave says
This sounds like a great Fall cake. I’m going to try splitting the batter so either 1/3 or 2/3’s is chocolate. I also like nuts with my pumpkin, anything, so might see how I can work that into the mix.
Lemonsforlulu says
I like the half and half idea! Let me know how it turns out for you Dave!
Theresa @DearCreatives says
I love the idea of the pumpkin flavor in the background. I’m not a huge pumpkin pie fan inserts sad face but, this is a great alternative to a holiday dessert for me 😉
Megan @ Our Pinteresting Family says
This looks so delicious. It also looks like it was worth the time to make it. 🙂 Hope your little one is off to a great start in Kindergarden. 🙂
Akaleistar says
The cake looks absolutely amazing!
allie says
Did you really use 2 1/4 cups of butter or did you mean 2 1/4 sticks?
Lemonsforlulu says
Yes! You are correct, it has been changed.
Natasha of Natashaskitchen.com says
My oh my your cake looks incredible! Pinning 🙂
Benazir's Kitchen says
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post.