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This beautiful pumpkin and chocolate cake boasts gorgeous flavours of autumn and will be the most memorable finish to your Thanksgiving dinner.
This cake makes a great addition to any Thanksgiving celebration. Find all the recipe ideas you need in our Thanksgiving Recipe Collection!
I’m a huge fan of finishing any holiday meal with a bang. The appearance of a big show-stopping dessert is when a meal goes from a bit of fun to a real celebration!
The inspiration for this cake came when I was getting ready for a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends. I wanted to make something a bit more spectacular than we would normally have.
I knew where I needed to start because my family would revolt if dessert did not have spiced pumpkin somewhere. But I also wanted chocolate because moist, dark chocolate cake is the sort of decadent dessert I can really get excited about!
It may not be not be obvious, but pumpkin and chocolate make a fantastic combination, like with this Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate Swirl! The combination of silky chocolate and spiced pumpkin with make you swoon, especially when layered with luxurious mascarpone frosting!
Pumpkin and chocolate cake
I made this cake for a special occasion, which is why it has a bit more happening than with some cakes. To make this celebratory cake I combined two of my favourite cake recipes and invented a new favourite frosting.
It has two layers of Chocolate Stout Cake and two layers of Spiced Pumpkin Cake. I brushed each layer with a combination of Demerara sugar and the beautiful flavour of Sloe Gin syrup.
The frosting makes me really happy! It is light and fluffy mascarpone frosting with maple and cinnamon. A dream!
If you are like me and are wondering whether spiced pumpkin and chocolate go together you have to make this cake. Make it, make it, make it! This cake boasts all the gorgeous flavours of autumn and will be the most beautiful finish to your Thanksgiving dinner.
Recipe notes
- To make sure your cake is beautifully frosted always start with a crumb coat. Cover your cake with a thin layer of frosting to seal all crumbs and put it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to chill. Then finish it off with more frosting and whatever design you choose.
- Some brands of mascarpone (especially mascarpone available in America) may separate when made into this frosting. To prevent this from happening, combine both mascarpone and cream when well chilled and do not over beat. If the problem persists, try whipping the heavy cream first, then folding it into the mascarpone.
More cake recipes
- Black Forest Cake
- Christmas Chocolate Cake
- Black and White Chocolate Cake
- Naked Cake with Mascarpone Cream and Crushed Strawberries
Spiced Pumpkin and Chocolate Cake with Maple Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Stout Cake layers
- 1/3 cups / 80 ml Guinness or other stout
- 2 tbsp strong black coffee
- 1/2 cup / 115 g unsalted butter
- 1/3 cups / 45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup / 130 g all purpose flour
- 1 cup / 130 g sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup / 120 ml creme fraiche/sour cream
For the Spiced Pumpkin Cake layers
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp / 130 g flour
- 2/3 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp mixed pumpkin spice, (nutmeg, cloves, ginger)
- 2/3 cup / 160 ml vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup / 135 g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, large
- 7 oz / 200 g pumpkin purée
For the syrup
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml simple syrup, sugar and water in equal parts
- 2 tbsp sloe gin or damson gin, not regular gin
For the Maple Cinnamon Frosting
- 2 cups / 500 g Italian mascarpone
- 1 cup / 130 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
- 1/2 cup / 120 ml whipping cream or double cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F/160C.
- Grease 2-8″ round cake pans and line the bottoms with greased parchment paper. Set aside.
Chocolate layers
- In a saucepan heat stout, coffee and butter together until the mixture comes to a gentle simmer, add cocoa powder while whisking continuously to avoid lumps until smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Blend flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a different bowl. Mix eggs, vanilla and creme fraiche with an electric mixer in bowl no 3.
- Now check on your chocolate mixture and make sure it’s cool enough to continue the process.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the egg and creme fraiche mixture and blend them together.
- Add flour mixture a little bit a time and beat on low speed until combined. Pour into the pan and level.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 min. Always test your cakes for doneness with a toothpick or a cake taster. Cool on a wire rack.
Spiced Pumpkin layers
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Then add oil, sugar and eggs, beat well to combine.
- Add pumpkin and mix for 2-3 minutes until well incorporated.
- Pour into the cake pan and level. Bake at 325 F/160C for 25-30 min, cool on a wire rack.
Sugar syrup for drizzling
- Mix sugar syrup with sloe gin or any other liqueur of your choice.
Maple Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting
- Whip cold mascarpone until light, which will take no longer than 30 seconds, add pure maple syrup and icing sugar, beat until well incorporated for 30 seconds longer.
- Add cinnamon, vanilla and whipping cream. Whip for 2 minutes until stiff.
Assemble the cake
- When the cakes are cooled, split each layer in half. Brush each layer with some sugar syrup.
- Divide Maple Cinnamon Frosting into 4 parts.
- Stack the layers on top of each other so chocolate and pumpkin layers interchange. Fill the layers with 3/4 of Maple Cinnamon frosting.
- Then cover the entire cake with your crumb coat using the frosting from the part you'd set aside. Chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- Then cover the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate with flowers if desired or leave it plain. Alternatively, you can lightly dust the cake with a touch of cinnamon.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can’t wait to try this for Thanksgiving! Instead of gin, I was considering using a bourbon sugar syrup. How do you think this would taste?
I think it would taste great as long as you like the taste of bourbon, Rachel. 🙂
A friend of mine sent me this recipe and we decided to try it out on our monthly baking day. I wasn’t sure if I would care for pumpkin and chocolate and was somewhat concerned about the frosting after reading some of the reviews. However, I am so glad we gave this recipe a try. Both cakes are moist. I love the flavor of the chocolate cake and the spice cake has a very smooth flavor and is not overpowered by the spices. I am in the US and made the recipe for the frosting just as called for and it turned out perfectly. I followed some of the suggestions in the comments and made sure my whipping cream and marscarpone were both chilled. I would make 50% more frosting next time so I could have better coverage on the cake, but I loved it and will most definitely make it again.
So pleased to read your feedback, Janis. The frosting in this recipe is something I make all the time, so I was confident it would work when I posted it and was really surprised by some of the comments. I supposed the difference in the products could be accounted for the difference in results. I am happy to hear yours turned out well. Thank you for letting me know!!
I made sure that my cheese and cream was well chilled and it curdled 🙁
I am pleased to say that the Cake Came Out Perfect! I am a pastry cook and had no problems with the frosting recipe! I used my own chocolate cake recipe, but it came out beautiful! Thank You!
So great to hear, Cheyenne! I love that cake so much and it is so easy to make!
Is there anything else I can use instead of sloe gin? I don’t want to buy a bottle for just 2 tbsp ?
I completely understand, Olga! I wouldn’t either. Sloes are tiny wild plums(or at least they come from a plum family) that grow all over England, they look like big blueberries. Sloe gin is sweet and tastes a bit like plum liqueur (nalivka in Russian :-), so any syrup or liqueur that has a similar taste would be a fair substitute. You can also use vanilla syrup in a pinch.
Sounds good! Would this recipe work to make a 9in cake? Or should I increase the ingredients?
I would do it as a two layer cake if using 9″ pans, otherwise you will run out of icing because cakes are bigger in diameter. They layers will also be thinner.
Im making the cake right now and I’m going with vanilla syrup. By a pinch of it you mean just to add a little of the vanilla syrup to the cake syrup? Just want to make sure I understood right ?
also is this considered alcoholic or does the alcohol get cooked out?
I wouldn’t think 2 tbsp of alcohol diluted by simple syrup and sprinkled over the cake this size makes it alcoholic. Many things contain alcohol like, vanilla extract or mouth wash, but they are not meant to be consumed in huge amounts and that’s what makes it safe. It doesn’t get cooked out but the small amount makes it insignificant. Alternatively, it could be easily omitted if you prefer.
is there a version with out the coffee?
Coffee deepens the chocolate flavour and you absolutely can’t taste it but feel free to skip it if you prefer.
I,m sorry in a chocolate layer it says 1/2 cup – 454g butter?
Olga, 1/2 cup is correct but should have been 115 gr. I quartered the original recipe but the weight of butter in grams never got changed. Good catch! Thank you for pointing it out!
Yum! This looks so good and i can tell the flavors are spot on! Definitely going to make a variation of this on my channel. Have you make a pumpkin with the creaming method as well?
Happy blogiversary!!!
That is one of the most beautiful cakes I’ve ever seen, what a beautiful contrast of colors!
My blog turned 4 last monday and I also made a pumkin cake, not as gorgeous as yours though. :-p
Cheers from Barcelona!
Thank you for stopping by and your sweet comment, Gemma! And Happy blogoversary to you as well!! You cake looks beautiful! 🙂
i just finished making this cake and i too had the same problem with the cream..it curdled i think it was from over beating the mascarpone because i noticed it curdling before i added the heavy cream. so i ended dumping everything cuz it was too runny and then re made it with cream cheese which worked much better and it turned out looking like yours. i did soften my cream cheese too and just added little more powdered sugar. it worked out great. cant wait to try it this thanksgiving.. it was fun making it!
That really sucks, I have no idea what to say except that mascarpone must be different in the US. I’ve never seen mascarpone curdle. Also, I start making this frosting with both mascarpone and cream well chilled. I wonder if it makes sense to make sure the mascarpone is very fresh. Sometimes products that are imported from Europe don’t move as quickly in grocery stores and it really affects their quality.
I did a quick search trying to see why that happened and found that it can happen if mascarpone is overbeaten and it happens quicker if it’s warm. Here is the link to Nigella Lawson’s website where it’s explained-http://www.nigella.com/kitchen-queries/view/Curdled-Mascarpone-When-Making-Tiramisini/5151
Well done on saving it, Lena! Happy Thanksgiving!
It was awesome anyway! love love love it… it’s a keeper, not to sweet just the way i like it. thank you!!
Aw, I am so happy to hear it, Lena!
I have a feeling when they say “curdle” they just mean that there were chunks of mascarpone in the cream? Which can happen if it’s not softened before beating it…
How much cream cheese did you use
Renee, if you are replacing mascarpone with cream cheese you would use the same amount as in the recipe.