Rustic Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Our contributor, Miso Bakes, is back with a rustic cake perfect for Autumn…

Autumn is officially here!  It is time to bring out my spice jars and put a generous sprinkling of cinnamon on everything I bake!  I am so excited to bake with tons of apples and pumpkins this season.  What will I be baking with them?  Pies, pies, and more pies.  Even just thinking about it makes me squeal in excitement.  My favorite pie just so happens to be pumpkin pie.  I can eat it all day everyday!  Summer included!  The silky texture, the nuttiness of the pumpkin, and the marriage of spices always leave my heart smiling.  Not to mention, the pie leaves the whole house smelling divine.

Today we’re taking a different approach to pumpkin, pairing it with chocolate ganache in a rustic fall cake.  This pumpkin shaped cake is easy to make, you simply stack two bundt cakes on top of each other.  Clever, right?  Then we’ll finish things off with a forgiving buttercream frosting that’s piped on in every which way.  Let’s get started on this Pumpkin Bundt Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache!

PUMPKIN & CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE
a recipe by Miso Bakes

Note: This makes 1 cake. You will need 2 cakes to create your pumpkin.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven at 350F and butter a 10″ bundt pan.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in color using the paddle attachment.
3. With the exemption of the eggs, in a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (pumpkin and buttermilk) together.
4. In another bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients together.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar.
6. Divide the dry ingredients into thirds and wet ingredients into half, and incorporate into creamed mixture.  Starting and ending with the dry.
7. Pour batter into greased pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes. Or, until inserted skewer comes out clean.
8. Cool completely.

 

For the Chocolate Ganache:

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
5 ounces heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Bring cream to simmer in pot over stove.
2. Pour over chocolate chips. Let sit for a minute.
3. Mix with spatula until smooth.
4. Add vanilla extract.
5. Let ganache sit on counter until it sets. (It should be soft, but not soupy– kind of like buttercream!)

 

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream:

6 egg whites (8 ounces)
1 pound unsalted butter, room temperature cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

1. Whisk egg whites and sugar in a glass or stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water, making sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water or your eggs will scramble!
2. Whisk until the egg whites feel warm to touch (110F) and no grain of sugar can be felt.
3. Pour egg mixture to a clean stand mixer bowl.
4. Using a whisk, beat on high until about room temperature.
5. When meringue is nice and fluffy, throw in pieces of butter a little at a time.
6. Whisk until nice and silky.

Whew!  Now that all is baked and made are you ready to compose the cake?  Wait, what was that?  You want to call it a day?  Well, that is completely fine too!  Wrap your cooled cakes in plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge.  Since the weather has cooled significantly, you may let your buttercream and ganache sit on your kitchen counter overnight.  Just make sure to re-whip your buttercream.  For those of you that want to continue, here we go!

 

Take your cooled bundt cakes and torte each in half.  It is important to torte them when they are completely cool or the layers will indeed shrink and not align.  Spread a very thin layer of ganache in between each layer. You want it to be thin so it does not over power the flavor of the cake.

For the stem, you may use a upside-down green flat-bottomed ice cream cone, or you may make a stem out of fondant or gumpaste. You can dry the stem out completely, or have it be partially firm so you can mold it on your cake. I chose to do a latter and put a paper cup (upside-down) in the cavity of the bundt so the bottom of the cup holds the stem up. I made the stem white, but colored it brown with a little bit of coffee extract.

Crumb coat your cake. (My buttercream was tinted a pale tan color. I used a few drops of coffee extract.) Your cake should now look like this:

Now to decorate your cake!  You may choose to use whichever round tip your little heart desires!  What do you think?  The picture needed some color so I used a pomegranate as a prop for some color.

Now that your hard work is done, enjoy a slice!

The pumpkin cake, chocolate ganache, and extremely light coffee buttercream, is indeed a unique flavor combination, but it’ll leave your taste buds happy.  Happy Autumn everyone!

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Find more cake recipes, cupcake recipes and tutorials in our Fall Baking Gallery!