Pumpkin Spice Cake with Vanilla Maple Buttercream Frosting
Holy cow this is delicious! I couldn’t resist making a pumpkin spice cake this Fall. This is one of the most flavorful and delicious cakes I have ever had. The family was flipping out over it including my husband who isn’t even a fan of pumpkin anything. He loved it! The pumpkins, the vines, just everything about is just beautiful. We had so much we served a few of our neighbors some and they just were in love with it. It was really fun to make with the kids.
You’ll need a 9 x 13″ baking pan and a mini bundt pan to make the mini pumpkins on top, some cinnamon sticks cut in half, anise seed pods for the leaves and a bakers chocolate for drizzle vines. I filled the mini bundt pans only 1/2 full and then cut the risen top flat once baked so I could put the two cut edges together to make a cute bundt pumpkin. I made 1.5 times the recipe–the full recipe for the cake so I had enough for the mini bundt cakes.
INGREDIENTS
For the cake
1 cups light brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk (I use nonfat)
For the frosting:
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c butter softened
2 tablespoons of milk (if need more add a few drops at a time.. if you made it too watery add more powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons maple syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray baking dish with vegetable oil.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Next mix in the pumpkin and beat until well combined.
In a medium sized bowl, combine all remaining dry ingredients. Then, add half the dry ingredients to the batter followed half the milk and beat until it starts to combine.
Finally add the remaining dry ingredients, mixing on low speed while pouring in the milk and beating until all of the ingredients are well combined.
Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
Bake the cake at 350°F for about 40 minutes or more if needed. I baked the bundt cakes separately at 350 for about 7 minutes give or take. Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool Completely.
For the frosting: In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. Stir in vanilla, maple syrup, and milk.
Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar. Frosts 13x9-inch cake generously, or fills and frosts an 8- or 9-inch two-layer cake.
Separately make the Glaze for the bundt cakes. I mix 3/4c powered sugar, few drops of milk and vanilla and maple syrup. Wisk it together until a nice consistency for dipping, not too watery.
Cut risen tops off the mini bundts to create a completely flat surface. Place a small dollop of frosting in the middle of the cut side of the mini bundts and put two cut ends together to create your “pumpkin”. The frosting acts as glue to keep them together. Separately make the Glaze for the bundt cakes. I mix 3/4c powered sugar, few drops of milk and vanilla and maple syrup. Wisk it together until a nice consistency for dipping, not too watery. Dip the bundt pumpkins in this glaze and let dry. Stick a cinnamon stick in the top of the mini bundt and add an anise seed pod for a leaf.
Melt 1/4 C chocolate chips or half bar (or more) bakers chocolate and spoon melted chocolate into a frosting bag (or ziplock bag). Barely snip off the end of the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate from one pumpkin to the next to create vines. I finished the cake with a dusting of cinnamon or extra beauty and flavor. This cake is a true beauty and one of a kind. It is definitely the most fun to make with the kids!
With the extra melted chocolate… we grabbed some strawberries and dipped them in. The girls LOVED doing this of course!
I hope you enjoy making this delicious pumpkin spice cake as much as I did! This cake was inspired by Jackie at Findinglovely.com. I love her espresso cream cheese frosting. YUM! I made it my own and did maple buttercream and changed up a couple of the ingredients. What a beautiful, tasty, and FUN cake to make! Check out some other pumpkin sweet treat recipes below. :)
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More Yummy Pumpkin Spice Recipes
Pumpkin Scones {Starbucks Copycat}
Cheesecake Pumpkin Bars
Pumpkin Spice Waffles
Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts with Maple Glaze