Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

Name: Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 2 large eggs (room temperature); 1 cup butter (melted and cooled); 1 ½ cup brown sugar (packed); ½ teaspoon sea salt; 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract; 2 cups pumpkin puree; 1 cup buttermilk (room temperature); ¾ cup sour cream (room temperature); 3 cups all purpose flour (360g); 1 cup natural cocoa powder; 2 tablespoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 cup chocolate chips; 1 cup butter (softened); ¼ teaspoon sea salt; 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract; 3 ½ cups powdered sugar (icing sugar); ½ cup pumpkin puree; 5 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (sifted); 3-6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream; 1-3 drops green food colouring (or matcha powder); 1-3 drops orange food colouring (or turmeric)

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This pumpkin chocolate cake is packed with pumpkin puree and topped with the silkiest pumpkin chocolate buttercream. It's chocolatey, rich, moist, and has a subtle spice to it. It tastes like pumpkin and chocolate! The cake batter is an easy one bowl recipe. It's baked in a sheet pan - no need to stack and frost the sides (options for turning this into a layer cake are in the recipe notes). There are mini pumpkins piped all over the top. The perfect cake for a fall celebration!

Chocolate cake with frosting and mini pumpkins

Jump to:

🥧 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
📝 Key ingredients
👩‍🍳 How to make pumpkin chocolate cake
✔️ Expert pumpkin cake tips
🥄 Make ahead and storage
🎃 Why pumpkin is so good in cake
📖 Recipe FAQs
🍁 More related fall recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

🥧 Why you'll LOVE this recipe

Pumpkin: This recipe uses over 2 cups of pumpkin to get all the pumpkin flavor and moisture.
Texture: It's like a cross between a chocolate cake and a fudgy brownie with a hint of pumpkin. Rich, chocolatey, and so addictive.
Chocolate pumpkin frosting: The pumpkin inside the buttercream makes it extra silky smooth!
Mini piped pumpkins: The cake has mini pumpkins piped all over the top. They're so fun and easy to pipe making this the best pumpkin theme cake for fall.
Easy: The perfect easy, one bowl pumpkin chocolate cake to whip up for a party.

📝 Key ingredients

Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.

Pumpkin puree: The cake batter has a whole two cups of pumpkin. Use a store bought canned pumpkin puree or make your own. Make sure that the puree is very thick, like a thick Greek yogurt. Either reduce the puree or strain it with a cheesecloth.
Pumpkin spice + cinnamon: A touch of cinnamon and pumpkin spice let the pumpkin flavor shine through the chocolate. It makes for a lightly spiced and fragrant cake. If you can’t find pumpkin spice you can make your own pumpkin spice .
Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk you can make it by combining 1 cup of room temperature milk and 1 tablespoon white or apple cider vinegar. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes until it thickens and looks curdled. Do not use hot milk - you will get ricotta.
Sour cream: Sour cream makes the cake rich and moist. Use a full fat sour cream.
Cocoa powder: This gives the cake its chocolate flavor. Use a natural cocoa powder for the best texture. Dutch processed cocoa powder is alkalized and won’t give you that rich and moist texture in this recipe. You want a more acidic (natural) cocoa powder to react with the baking soda in the cake.
Heavy whipping cream: Heavy cream makes the frosting luscious and silky. Use heavy or whipping cream (at least 35%).
All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.

Check out my pumpkin spice cake recipe for a chocolate free version of this cake.

👩‍🍳 How to make pumpkin chocolate cake

Step 1: Whisk together eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.

Step 2: Add pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and sour cream, whisking in between each addition. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon right into the bowl.

Fold the batter well, just until no more streaks remain. It will be a thick batter. Add chocolate chips, fold, and bake in a 9"x12" baking pan, oven preheated to 355°F (180°C), for 50-65 minutes. Let cool completely.

Step 3: Beat softened butter in a large bowl or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) until light and fluffy.

Add pumpkin puree and beat until even fluffier. Set aside half a cup of frosting and three tablespoons of frosting.

Add sifted cocoa powder and beat well. Pour in the cream two tablespoons at a time. Stop adding cream when the frosting becomes silky smooth.

coloured orange and green buttercream for pumpkins

Step 4: Into the set aside three tablespoons of frosting add green food coloring to get a green frosting. Add orange food coloring to the half cup set aside frosting for the pumpkins. Transfer into separate piping bags.

Step 5: Spread chocolate frosting on top. Mark where the pumpkins will be, about 2.5” apart.

Step 6: Snip the ends off the piping bags and pipe pumpkins on the marked areas. Start off with piping a circle and filling it in with lines to make it look like a pumpkin. Pipe a stem on each pumpkin with the green frosting and a little vine swirl.

✔️ Expert pumpkin cake tips

Have all the ingredients at room temperature. This will ensure everything incorporates evenly and creates an even crumb.
Use a scale to weigh the flour for most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
Stop mixing as soon as no more dry streaks of flour remain. Overmixing the batter after flour is added will create a dense, dry cake.
Don't overbake. It's ready when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with a few crumbs attached. I prefer toothpicks over cake testers because they usually work better.
Beat the frosting well: The more you whip the frosting up, the creamier and airier it will be.

🥄 Make ahead and storage

The frosted cake will keep well in a cake container stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let the cake come to room temperature so the butter has time to soften up again.

You can bake the cake a day or two ahead of time - just leave it covered or wrapped at room temperature so that it doesn't dry out and frost before serving. I recommend frosting the cake immediately after making the frosting.

You can even make these pumpkin cake pops out of any leftover cake!

🎃 Why pumpkin is so good in cake

Pumpkin inside the batter gives the chocolate cake a lot of moisture, keeping it rich and moist for days. It took a while for me to get the perfect texture and flavor but the end was well worth it. I hope you love it too!

The frosting is a chocolate buttercream with some pumpkin puree mixed into it. It gives the frosting the silkiest texture. I set aside some buttercream right before adding the cocoa powder to color and pipe the pumpkins on top. If you want to skip the pumpkins on top you can just make it all chocolate flavored.

Try this pumpkin cheesecake roll which is so perfect for pumpkin season too.

📖 Recipe FAQs

What kind of pumpkin puree should I bake with?

I use store bought pumpkin puree in a can. If you use a homemade pumpkin puree, make sure it has the consistency of really thick greek yogurt. You can strain or reduce the pumpkin puree on the stove top to get it to a thicker consistency.

Can I use canned pumpkin pie filling?

Canned pumpkin pie filling won’t work because it doesn’t just have pumpkin in it. The cake will be too sweet and wet. Use 100% pumpkin puree.

How do I make the frosting super creamy?

Start off with room temperature butter. It’s important to beat the butter as much as possible before and after adding the powdered sugar. The more you beat it, the fluffier and less butter flavor it will have. It especially helps if you have a stand mixer but you can just leave it on for 10 minutes. You can also use an electric handheld mixer. Instead of adding milk to loosen the buttercream, add heavy cream. It makes it silky smooth while keeping it thick.

Do I need to sift powdered sugar?

I highly recommend sifting the powdered sugar because it helps to break up any lumps, keeping the frosting extra smooth and fluffy.

Can I make this into a layered cake?

You can cut the sheet cake in half and stack the halves on top of each other. For enough frosting to cover the sides, you will need to double the frosting recipe. Alternatively bake into two 8” round pans or three 6” round pans.

Check out my best pumpkin desserts for more easy pumpkin recipe ideas.

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