Marbled Pumpkin Cake

one last orange food, cookie week sneak peek

I know your inboxes are probably being bombarded with Black Friday emails, so I will not add to that noise, but rather I offer you cake. You didn’t think I’d let an entire month go by without giving you an easy cake recipe, did you? Now, I realize that most people in the US just ate a huge meal yesterday, and maybe cake isn’t what you’re really craving at this moment, but maybe you also have a separate dessert compartment in your stomach? Or a bit of pumpkin puree floating around that needs a home?

This marbled cake is Snacking Cake adjacent, made with ingredients straight from the fridge or pantry. No softening or creaming of butter required, no waiting for your sour cream or eggs to come to room temperature, and no…spices. I leave them out of this recipe because I love the taste of pumpkin, chocolate, and brown butter and don’t think they really need much else. You can of course add a bit of spice if that’s your jam, but know that it’s great as-is if you are pumpkin spiced out. Don’t skip the glaze, it is fudge and buttery and beautiful.

And make sure to scroll down to the end of this post for a cookie week sneak peek!

Marbled Pumpkin Cake

Yield: 10-12 servings
Time: 75 minutes, plus cooling

1 cup/226 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

1 1/4 cup/250 grams granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup/230 grams pumpkin puree

1/2 cup/115 grams sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups/256 grams all purpose flour

6 tablespoons/35 grams dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy

Cocoa Glaze

1 cup/120 grams confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder

Big pinch kosher salt 

1 tablespoons soft unsalted butter

2 tablespoons boiling water, plus more as needed

1. Heat oven to 325ºF. Brush a 10-cup bundt pan with butter and dust with flour. Make sure to get into every nook and cranny of the pan.

2. In a small saucepan with a light-colored interior, melt 12 tablespoons/170 grams of the butter over medium heat. Once melted, cook the butter, stirring constantly until the milk solids are deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the remaining 4 tablespoons/56 grams of cold butter to the pan and swirl until the butter melts.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the granulated sugar and eggs until pale and foamy, about 1 minute. Add the pumpkin puree, sour cream, browned butter, vanilla and salt and whisk until smooth and emulsified.

4. Whisk in the baking powder and baking soda. Fold in the flour with a spatula and mix gently until combined. Scoop about 1 1/4 cups of the batter into a medium bowl and stir in the cocoa powder until smooth.

5. Scoop alternating dollops of each batter into the prepared pan and use a skewer to swirl the batters together as you scoop. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to settle the batter in the pan.

6. Bake the cake until puffed and golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs 40-50 minutes.

7. Let the cake cool in the pan set on a rack for 15 minutes. Then carefully invert the pan back onto the rack. Let the cake cool completely before glazing.

8. When the cake is cool, make the glaze: whisk the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder and salt together in a large bowl until no lumps remain. Add the butter, then whisk in the boiling water until smooth. Add more water as needed to make a thick glaze, the texture of white school glue.

9. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and let it sit for a few minutes before slicing. Alternately, dust the cake with 1/4 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder.

I’m not a gift guide gal, but a Nordicware Bundt pan is a great gift for any baker in your life. Not sponsored, just a big fan. I have streamlined pretty much every item in my kitchen, but I definitely have more bundt pans than any one person could ever need. This one is the Party Bundt.

substitutions

• don’t have pumpkin? use any sweet orange squash or sweet potato

• don’t like glaze? dust with confectioners sugar or nothing at all

• don’t have granulated sugar? use light brown

• don’t have a bundt pan? this amount of batter would make 2 small loaves, or one big one

p.s. Next week is COOKIE WEEK and since I care about you all so much, here’s a little preview. I’ll be sharing 5 new recipes, a few old standbys, and a few of my favorite recipes from other recipe developers. Now would be a great time to become a paid subscriber if you haven’t already.

See you next week!