It’s October and pumpkin recipes are hitting hard on my blog feeds and Pinterest right now — and it all looks so good. I was due to make my next cake, so scoured recipes for the perfect chocolate pumpkin cake. Yes, I need chocolate in my cake. But I’m a chocolate purist. I don’t want my pumpkin bits mixed up with my chocolate bits. So I came up with this chocolate pumpkin cake with spiced brown butter frosting. The layers keep the two flavors separate, and the brown butter frosting is so incredible, I wrote a blog about it.
Chocolate pumpkin cake with spiced brown butter frosting
This cake looks beautiful with the deep orange pumpkin layers and dark chocolate layers all wrapped up in vanilla bean-specked white frosting. My husband says it’s my best so far. It’s fun to see my baking abilities improve now that I’m up to my sixth chocolate cake (not in my lifetime, but documented on my blog). I tried piping on a few of my other cakes, and wasn’t very good at it. This time I used the back of a spoon to swirl the frosting around once it was on the cake. It worked like a charm.
Chocolate pumpkin cake with spiced brown butter frosting
The cake recipes are pretty basic and I’ve made the chocolate recipe before. I just halved the cake recipes and they cooked up moist and delicious. The cake stays moist in the fridge for a while, too. Mine is going on day three and was even left cut and uncovered for a day. The frosting is adapted from a cooked flour frosting recipe by Leelabean Bakes. This is probably the hardest part of the recipe, since there are some extra steps and lots of waiting for things to chill before proceeding to the next step. It’s all worth it, though. Browning the butter gives it a nutty flavor that matches perfectly with the pumpkin cake.
Serve this cake at your holiday party and you will get rave reviews. I promise. If you do, please take a pic and send it to me…I’d love to see it recreated in someone else’s hands.
Chocolate pumpkin cake with spiced brown butter frosting
Pumpkin cake adapted from Pumpkin Cake III by Sue Case.
Chocolate cake adapted from The Best Chocolate Cake {Ever} by Add a Pinch
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Grease 2 8” round cake pans and line with parchment.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a mixing bowl.
In another mixing bowl, beat together sugar and oil on low. Add the vanilla and pumpkin puree. Beat in one egg at a time and then gradually add the flour mixture. The resulting batter will be thick. Add it to your pan and give it a tap on the counter to settle it evenly.
Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. The pumpkin layer will take longer to cook than the chocolate layer, so be ready with a toothpick (I use a long bamboo skewer) to test for doneness.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a large mixing bowl.
Using your hand or stand mixer on low, add the milk, vegetable oil, egg and vanilla to the flour mixture. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed to low and carefully add the hot water. Mix on high for about a minute, scraping the sides.
Pour into the cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until your cake tester comes out clean.
Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans to cool completely on a wire rack.
Using a bread knife, cake cutter or dental floss, slice through each cake horizontally. Assemble with the a chocolate layer on the bottom. Frost with a big dollop of frosting. Add a pumpkin layer, frost. Add a chocolate layer, frost. Then the last pumpkin layer. Frost the top and sides of the cake, using the back of a spoon to make the swirls.
If you are using a vanilla bean, you first need to infuse your milk/cream. This adds an extra step, but all of those vanilla bean specks are worth it. Add the milk, cream and split vanilla bean to a small saucepan. Heat on low for about 10 minutes. Don’t let it come to a boil. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk/cream. Allow to cool completely.
Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until it foams, then carefully watch until you see brown specks at the bottom of the pan. Don’t let the butter blacken. Remove from the heat and strain the butter. Chill until solid, about 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge, and allow to come to room temperature.
Now that everything is cool, we can start to make the frosting. In a small bowl, whisk the flour into about ¼ of the cooled milk/cream mixture. Once it’s formed a nice paste without lumps, add to the rest of the milk/cream. Add the sugar and heat on low, whisking so you don’t get any lumps. Once hot, the mixture will thicken.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. You can stir periodically over a bowl of ice, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to speed up the process. If you don’t stir or cover, it will form a skin and create lumps.
Add the room temperature browned butter, pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg to a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until light in color and fluffy. Add the milk mixture (and vanilla extract, if using), and beat until smooth and fluffy.
http://loveandduckfat.com/chocolate-pumpkin-cake-with-spiced-brown-butter-frosting/
This is my second recipe using cooked flour frosting. It’s my favorite frosting right now. It’s so good; I had to make a separate blog post about it. This spiced brown butter cooked flour frosting is light, creamy and not too sweet. It has a depth of flavor lacking in most frosting that contains just butter and tons of sugar. This is a little harder to make than an American buttercream, but much easier than a French or Swiss buttercream. You won’t have to deal with egg whites, yolks or sugar syrups. I adapted this recipe from the popular “Even Better! Cooked Flour Frosting” by Leelabean Bakes.
Making a brown butter adds an extra step, but is so worth it. The brown butter adds a savory nuttiness to the frosting and pairs beautifully with Fall desserts like the chocolate pumpkin cake I made it for. You can use it to top carrot cake, pound cake, banana bread, apple coffee cake…you could put it on your shoe and it would taste good.
The trickiest part to making a brown butter cooked flour frosting is waiting. You need to allow the hot milk/cream mixture to cool before adding it to the butter. You also need to allow the brown butter to solidify again. As the milk/cream mixture cools, it will develop a skin on top that will ruin the whole batch with lumps. You can do two things to prevent this. Either continue stirring the mixture until it cools, or let it cool with some plastic wrap on top. Using plastic wrap sounds easier, but you end up with a lot of the mix stuck to the plastic when you peel it off. Just fold the plastic in on itself and use your fingers to squeeze it back into the bowl. Problem solved.
Spiced brown butter cooked flour frosting
Spiced brown butter cooked flour frosting
This makes about 3 cups, enough for a 2-layer cake. If you are making this for a 4-layer cake, increase ingredients by ½.
Ingredients
Method
If you are using a vanilla bean, you first need to infuse your milk/cream. This adds an extra step, but all of those vanilla bean specks are worth it. Add the milk, cream and split vanilla bean to a small saucepan. Heat on low for about 10 minutes. Don’t let it come to a boil. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the milk/cream. Allow to cool completely.
Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until it foams, then carefully watch until you see brown specks at the bottom of the pan. Don’t let the butter blacken. Remove from the heat and strain the butter. Chill until solid, about 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge, and allow to come to room temperature.
Now that everything is cool, we can start to make the frosting. In a small bowl, whisk the flour into about ¼ of the cooled milk/cream mixture. Once it’s formed a nice paste without lumps, add to the rest of the milk/cream. Add the sugar and heat on low, whisking so you don’t get any lumps. Once hot, the mixture will thicken.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. You can stir periodically over a bowl of ice, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to speed up the process. If you don’t stir or cover, it will form a skin and create lumps.
Add the room temperature browned butter, pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg to a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until light in color and fluffy. Add the milk mixture (and vanilla extract, if using), and beat until smooth and fluffy.
http://loveandduckfat.com/spiced-brown-butter-cooked-flour-frosting/
For a few months now, I’ve been on a chocolate cake mission. I’ve made it my quest to bake the perfect chocolate cake, challenging myself on the way with new techniques. My first two cakes didn’t make it to the blog. They tasted good, but looked like a third grader slapped them together. The third chocolate cake, however, was a glorious success (and the best tasting so far). This is the fourth chocolate cake. I went far outside my comfort zone, with two difficult techniques that you should not attempt while looking after a 9-month-old crawling at your feet. This three layer chocolate cake has a challenging orange French buttercream on the inside and rich chocolate ganache on the outside.
I’m proud to say I accomplished making both, along with some deceptively easy candied orange slices, but my timing was off. The French buttercream took a little too long to whip up to the right consistency and by the time the layers were frosted; my ganache had set too much to pour correctly. I ended up combining the leftover orange buttercream with the ganache to create a spreadable (and yummy) frosting. Had I more experience, I would have known my ganache was too firm, but well, now I know.
In the end, the cake was good, but not my favorite. The orange French buttercream was divine, and the cake was moist and rich, but I’ve confirmed for myself that I’m not a fan of ganache, at least, not in this circumstance. You see, I’m not a hardcore chocolate fan. Enrobing an already rich chocolate cake in what amounts to a chocolate bar is overkill. I’m chalking this one up to a learning experience. If you want to make this challenging cake, I’m including the recipe (adapted from the original on Oprah.com) and a link to what it should look like, from The Italian Dish.
Chocolate cake with orange buttercream and ganache
chocolate cake with orange french buttercream and ganache
Recipe for Chocolate cake with orange buttercream and ganache from The Italian Dish, adapted from Chocolate Cake from Oprah.com
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. This recipe calls for using a 15 ½” x 10 ½” jelly roll pan to bake the cake in a single layer, dividing it into three layers. I used two 9” round cake pans, which made a four layer cake. Line the pan (or pans) with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture using an electric mixture on low speed, about 5 minutes. Add the hot water and blend on low speed, scraping the sides of bowl until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour batter into pan(s) and cook until a toothpick comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Cool cakes completely and invert on a wire rack. Remove parchment paper.
If you are using a jelly roll pan, carefully cut the cake into equal thirds with a serrated knife. If you are using round pans, cut each cake in half horizontally using twine or a serrated knife.
Beat egg yolks until they become light yellow and ribbonlike when you lift the beaters out of the bowl, about 5 minutes. While you are beating, heat sugar and water over medium-low heat. Continue to heat, occasionally swirling the pan, until a candy thermometer registers 238°F. While mixing on medium speed, add the hot sugar mixture to the egg yolks in a slow, steady stream. Continue to beat this mixture for about 10 minutes, until it cools completely. It should be light and fluffy. Add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. When the butter is completely incorporated, add the orange juice or liquor to the buttercream.
Combine the chocolate and butter in a large bowl. Heat the cream and sugar in a saucepan until little bubbles start to appear on the surface of the cream (just before it boils). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir. Continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Cool about 15 minutes. It should be thick, but still pourable.
Arrange the first cake layer on a wire rack over wax paper. Spread the layer with buttercream. Continue stacking the layers, alternating with buttercream and spreading evenly. Pour the ganache over the top layer of buttercream, spreading and pushing it over the sides. You can collect the ganache that spills onto the wax paper to pour again until the cake is completely covered with ganache.
Cool the cake in the refrigerator about an hour. To remove the cake from the wire rack and place on a serving platter, use two spatulas or your clean hands.
http://loveandduckfat.com/chocolate-cake-with-orange-french-buttercream-and-ganache/
