Keep Calm and Bundt On: Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Bundt Cake!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Bundt Cake with Bourbon-Pecan Glaze, a cake lover’s Thanksgiving alternative to pumpkin pie with the added bonus of chocolate!

In anticipation of National Bundt Day, November 15th,

I baked a Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Bundt Cake~

a cake lover’s Thanksgiving alternative to pumpkin pie

with the added bonus of chocolate!

And I’m joining Cuisine Kathleen, for a Bundt Cake Challenge

sharing pans, cakes and recipes, along with a little tabletop fun.

I have The Original Bundt Pan, a classic. No fancy design is required for a Cranberry-Apple-Pumpkin Bundt Cake, the flavors of fall in a cake!

The base flavor of the cake is pumpkin with a filling of apple, cranberry and toasted pecans. If that’s not enough to tempt your taste buds, it’s topped with maple glaze and sugared pecans and pepitas!

You can find the recipe HERE.

I also have a Holiday Bundt Tree Pan, ideal to accompany a sweet story, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree. Cinnamon Streusel Bundt Cake is quick and easy to make with Cinnamon Streusel Bundt Mix, then sprinkled with drifts of snowy confectioners sugar.

In case you need to sculpt a brown sugar sand castle (doesn’t everyone? ;) a Nordic Ware Castle Bundt Pan is a perfect mold. I have yet to bake a cake in it, but have seen it used for adorable gingerbread houses and a haunted mansions for Halloween.

And last but not least I have a Nordic Ware Stump de Noël Pan that was a Williams-Sonoma exclusive. Perfect for celebrating a Fairy Little Christmas with a Stump de Noël Cake, complete with Tootsie Roll Poinsettias and Enchanted Forest Confections!

The pan is no longer available but you could use a tube pan or classic bundt pan, sculpting and carving a cake stump while nibbling on the cake scraps, bonus ;)

How to create Tootsie Roll Poinsettias and Flower Fairy lore, HERE.

I added an Autumn Wreath Bundt Pan to my collection,

also referred to as a Fall Harvest Bundt Pan.

I used Nordic Ware’s recipe for Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Cake, with the addition of a Bourbon-Pecan Glaze and served with some Nutter Butter and Hersey Kisses Acorns to wreath the cake!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Cake with Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

Cake Ingredients

2/3 cups butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 egg

2 egg whites

2 1/3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (15 oz. can) pure pumpkin

1/2 cup water

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 Tablespoon water

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour bundt pan, set aside. (I used Baker’s Joy)

In a large bowl, beat softened butter and sugar until creamy.

Add egg and egg whites, mix well.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin and a 1/2 cup water. Mix on low speed until blended, scraping sides of bowl often. Increase speed to medium for another 2 minutes.

Remove about 3/4 cup of the batter, place in small bowl, set aside.

Spoon remaining batter into bundt pan.

To reserved batter add cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon water. Stir to combine.

*Place spoonfuls of chocolate batter on top of pumpkin batter.

Using a knife, swirl chocolate batter into pumpkin batter to marble.

Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan, remove from pan to invert onto wire rack and let cool completely.

*Next time I would pour half the pumpkin batter in the pan, spoon in the chocolate batter, add the remaining pumpkin batter, then swirl for better marbling.

Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon maple syrup

*2 teaspoons bourbon (substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla if preferred)

1/4 – 1/3 cup chopped pecans

In small saucepan, stir together brown sugar, butter and maple syrup. Bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in pecans. Remove from heat and stir in bourbon (or vanilla). Pour warm glaze over cake immediately.

 Hersey Kisses Acorns are an easy fall treat!

I couldn’t find with mini vanilla wafers, so I used Mini Nutter Butter Bites as the acorn caps.

They’re topped with Butterscotch Morsels. Instead of using frosting or melted chips to attach the Nutter Butter caps and morsels, I used peanut butter as the ‘glue’ for more peanut butter flavor.

Print Recipe

Pumpkin-Chocolate Harvest Cake with Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

A cake lover’s Thanksgiving alternative to pumpkin pie with the added bonus of chocolate!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bourbon, bundt cake, chocolate, dessert, pecans, pumpkin, Thanksgiving

Servings: 10 servings

Equipment

• 10 cup Bundt Pan I used Nordic Ware Autumn Wreath Bundt Pan

Ingredients

• 2/3 cups butter softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 Tablespoon water

Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp bourbon (substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla if preferred)
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour bundt pan, set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat softened butter and sugar until creamy.
• Add egg and egg whites, mix well.
• Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin and a 1/2 cup water. Mix on low speed until blended, scraping sides of bowl often. Increase speed to medium for another 2 minutes.
• Remove about 3/4 cup of the batter, place in small bowl, set aside.
• Spoon remaining batter into bundt pan.
• To reserved batter add cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon water. Stir to combine.
• Place spoonfuls of chocolate batter on top of pumpkin batter.
• Using a knife, swirl chocolate batter into pumpkin batter to marble.
• Bake 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool for 10 minutes in pan, remove from pan to invert onto wire rack and let cool completely

Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

• In small saucepan, stir together brown sugar, butter andmaple syrup. Bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 2minutes.
• Stir in pecans. Remove from heat and stir in bourbon. Pourwarm glaze over cake immediately. Makes about  1/2 cup.

Notes

• For more even marbling, pour half the pumpkin batter in the pan, spoon in the chocolate batter, add the remaining pumpkin batter, then swirl.

Serve with Nutter Butter and Hersey Kisses Acorns to wreath the cake if desired:

• Acorn Caps: Mini Nutter Butter Bites topped with Butterscotch Morsels
• Peanut butter for "glue"
• Hersey Kisses

Substitute frosting of choice or melted chocolate for peanut butter if desired.

 

Keep Calm and Bundt On!

You’re invited to join me at A Proud Tom Turkey Table, HERE.

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