Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
on Aug 28, 2018, Updated Oct 21, 2020
Add this Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Butter Cream Frosting to your fall baking list. We combine pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice with a devils food cake mix to create an easy fall and Thanksgiving dessert.
Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
I have been whipping up quite a few fall recipes these past couple of weeks. I shared my Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting recipe that I shared here on my blog. When I made it, I was not quite sure if I was going to frost a cake, cookies, or brownies. Since chocolate and pumpkin pair so well together, I used my homemade pumpkin buttercream to frost this super easy Chocolate Pumpkin Cake.
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I like to offer a fall cake each year for one of our Thanksgiving desserts. I usually make my from scratch Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I plan to experiment with a few new cakes this fall to see if we find something a bit different. Cakes work perfectly for feeding a crowd. You can cut a normal 9X13 cake into quite a few smaller pieces. 
I am very happy with the results of my Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting. I added in some pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to a store bought Devils Food cake mix. The amount of pumpkin and the spice was perfect. The pumpkin flavor is not overwhelming and even non-pumpkin fans will like the flavor combination. The cake itself was very moist. After frosting it with my Homemade Pumpkin Butter Cream, the fall flavors were spot on.
The contrast from the dark chocolate to the orange colored frosting makes the cake look amazing too. Now that I am thinking about it, this could make for a great Halloween cake too. You could dress the cake up with some chocolate curls for a nicer Thanksgiving dinner or add on some Halloween themed candies to give the cake a fun twist. I did add some red and yellow food coloring to my frosting to make it pop. You could keep the pumpkin butter cream with it’s natural color and the cake will still look and taste amazing.
My Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting would be great for a fall bake sale or potluck for the office holiday parties. I considered making my chocolate pumpkin cake from scratch but decided I would just keep this recipe simple with a store bought cake mix. I have always found boxed mixes save me so much time. Most of the time, I can create a really great recipe with using the mixes for a foundation.
The ingredients needed to make a Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting are quite simple. You will need a boxed Devil’s Food Cake mix (plain chocolate could work too), butter, eggs, oil, powdered sugar, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. You could also make Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice. If you would like to achieve a brighter more orange color, you will also need some red and yellow food coloring.
INGREDIENTS TO MAKE CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN CAKE WITH BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
Cake:
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix
15 oz Pumpkin Puree
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 1/2 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Frosting:
1 cup softened Butter
4 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 tsp Pumpkin Spice
several drops Red Food coloring (optional)
several drops Yellow Food Coloring (optional)
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN CAKE WITH BUTTER CREAM FROSTING
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 11×13″ pan. Set aside.
Mix all cake ingredients in a large bowl until just blended.
Transfer to prepared pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool.
Frosting:
Whip butter until fluffy.
Add pumpkin and pumpkin spice and mix until blended.
Optionally add food coloring to acheive desire orange color.
Gradually add powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency.
Frost cake.
Do you have a favorite fall cake that you make for Thanksgiving dessert?
Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 box Devils Food Cake Mix
- 15 oz Pumpkin Puree
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 3 1/2 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Frosting:
- 1 cup softened Butter
- 4 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 cup Pumpkin Puree
- 1 tsp Pumpkin Spice
- several drops Red Food coloring, optional
- several drops Yellow Food Coloring, optional
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Grease 11x13" pan. Set aside.
- Mix all cake ingredients in a large bowl until just blended.
- Transfer to prepared pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
- Allow to cool.
Frosting:
- Whip butter until fluffy.
- Add pumpkin and pumpkin spice and mix until blended.
- Optionally add food coloring to acheive desire orange color.
- Gradually add powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency.
- Frost cake.
Nutrition
This sounds fabulous Jen! Thanks for all the great tips and shortcuts – I can’t wait to try it!
The only thing better than pumpkin by itself, or chocolate by itself, is putting them together! I can’t wait to try this recipe! I’m delighted to be featuring your post at our pumpkin palooza at Tuesday Turn About this week! Pinned!
Congratulations on the feature at Funtastic Friday. The chocolate pumpkin cake looks fabulous.
Hello-this looks delicious. Just wondering if the pumpkin spice is really 3 1/2 Tablespoons or is it teaspoons? It just seemed like a lot….and I wanted to make sure before baking
Thank you!!