Chocolate Pumpkin Cake – Baby’s First Birthday!

Like a lot of first time moms, I gave my baby girl’s first birthday a bit of thought. However, I wasn’t planning a huge bash with massive decorations or extravagant food. The plan was to just have a few of her uncles and aunts over for a BBQ and cake. But, due to the certain virus that we don’t feel like mentioning at this time, we weren’t able to have that party. Not to worry, we still had cake—a chocolate pumpkin cake! I wasn’t sure if that was even going to happen, but because my husband is a huge cake fan, he made sure that we made the cake happen.

Because her birthday overlaps with Thanksgiving weekend, we thought the best and most appropriate cake would be a pumpkin. So not only did we try to make it into a pumpkin, but we also snuck some pumpkin into the icing layer in the middle of the cake. Because I was making it in the shape of a pumpkin, I added a buttercream frosting to the outside edge. However, if you didn’t care about the shape and making it look like a pumpkin, this cake is very good with a chocolate ganache instead of the buttercream. I will try to include both options in the recipe here.

To make the pumpkin shape, I used two bundt pans and stacked them. Again, if you were not interested in the pumpkin shape and wanted a smaller cake, you can cut the chocolate batter in half and make it in two cake pans and stack those instead.

I don’t have a lot of experience with decorating cakes, so I did pull in my mother and sister to help with that part. They made my cakes look cute!

This cake is a nice moist chocolate cake, with lighter cream cheese pumpkin filling and deliciously sweet buttercream frosting. It was a hit and birthday girl sure enjoyed her icing!

Chocolate Pumpkin Birthday Cake – My baby turned one!

Recipe by trishamartin07Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

15-20

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

This cake is a nice moist chocolate cake, with lighter cream cheese pumpkin filling and deliciously sweet buttercream frosting.

Ingredients

• Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups of buttermilk

• 2 cups of water

• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil

• 4 cups sugar

• 4 eggs

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened dark cocoa powder*

• Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• Buttercream Frosting

• 1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature

• 1/2 cup shortening

• 4 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2-3 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions

• Chocolate Cake
• Preheat oven to 350 ℉.
• Add buttermilk, water, oil, sugar, eggs, baking soda, and salt to a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
• Add in flour and cocoa powder and whisk until there are no lumps.
• Pour batter evenly into two greased bundt pans. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 10-15 minutes and then removed from bundt pan.
• Optional: Freeze the cake to make icing it easier.
• Cream Cheese Filling
• In a mixing bowl add the cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar, and cinnamon and beat until smooth and creamy.
• Buttercream Frosting
• Combine butter and shortening in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
• Add half of the icing sugar and mix until well combined.
• Add the vanilla extract and only 1 of the tablespoons of cream and mix until well combined.
• Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until combined well again.
• Add more cream until the desired consistency is reached.
• Use food colouring to colour your desired colour.
• Assembly
• Put one bundt cake upside down on a plate, trimming as needed. Spread cream cheese filling on it. Put second bundt cake right side up on top of cream cheese filling.
• Spread butter cream icing evenly around edges as well as over the hole.
• Use a real pumpkin stem for the middle stem.

Notes

•  *Regular cocoa powder may be substituted
• * Making the chocolate cake ahead of time and freezing it will making icing it much easier.
• * If you want a smaller cake, make only half the cake batter and put it in two 9 inch cake pans instead. Use the same amount of cream cheese filling but less buttercream icing.
• * If you prefer ganache to the buttercream icing: Chocolate glaze ingredients – 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
  Instructions: In a small sauce pan add the whipping cream and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add in chocolate chips. Do not mix or stir them in, let the chocolate sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir until smooth. Let it cool for about 15 minutes, then pour over cake, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides. Set the cake in the fridge and let it chill for 30 minutes, until cake is set.