Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

My Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting is a perfect balance of rich, brownie-like cake and light fluffy buttercream. The whole shebang is packed with real pumpkin, cocoa and lots of delicious spices that taste like fall. This cake is a perfect snacking cake, at only 6” in diameter, you won’t have leftovers for days!

Ok, I’ll admit it. When I first made this cake, I was so torn about sharing the recipe with you. Not because it’s amazing and I’m a selfish hoarder, but because it isn’t perfect.

I set out to make a fluffy, chocolaty, spiced cake with a delicate crumb. What I got was…not that.

This cake is dense. It’s fudgy. It’s rich and has a moist, non-crumbing texture. Wait, it’s a brownie. Yup, it pretty much is a brownie.

Here’s the kicker though: it IS perfect. The cake is for snacking. Nothing fussy, nothing fancy shmancy. And it is so simple. And it is perfectly balanced out by a creamy, light buttercream.

Yes, you heard me: a LIGHT buttercream. So isn’t this strangely wonderful? The buttercream isn’t the rich part that makes you shy away from eating another slice! The buttercream is actually really delicious and you kind of want to scrape more off of the surrounding cake just to eat it with your slice…but then the next slice might end up naked and then you’d be really sad!

Ok, getting off track.

BUT you will have a bit of extra buttercream, and I won’t judge you on how that extra buttercream disappears. Just saying though, Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream on my Sorghum Graham Crackers with sliced banana on top…probably your next best bet for a winning midnight snack.

So here’s what we have and exactly why you need to make this cake. We have a gluten free, rich and dense cake that is practically a brownie. It’s a Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Cake and it is only 6” in diameter, so it’s perfect to have hanging out on your counter for a Monday night dessert. This cake is topped with creamy, delicious and light Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting that you make from real pumpkin, powdered coconut sugar (!), a touch of real butter and some delicious spices. You can get fancy shmancy and decorate it with piping tips or you can just plop a bunch of frosting on top and smear it around, your choice. Both have the same flavor result.

WAIT! Did I mention you can make the entire cake batter in the blender?! Yup, no mixing bowl. You’re welcome!

So, I’m done doubting this cake. And I want you to make it and rejoice in how wonderful it really is. Because we’re all perfect in our imperfection. Too cheesy? Hope not! xoxo

Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

2016-10-25 19:12:11

My Chocolate Pumpkin Brownie Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting is a perfect balance of rich, brownie-like cake and light fluffy buttercream. The whole shebang is packed with real pumpkin, cocoa and lots of delicious spices that taste like fall. This cake is a perfect snacking cake, at only 6” in diameter, you won’t have leftovers for days!

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For the Cake

1. ½ cup gluten free rolled oats
2. ½ cup almond meal
3. ¼ cup brown rice flour
4. ¼ cup cocoa
5. ¾ tsp. baking powder
6. pinch of Kosher salt
7. ¼ cup pumpkin puree
8. ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
9. ½ Tbs. apple cider vinegar (or a neutral vinegar)
10. 3 Tbs. soft coconut oil
11. 1 egg
12. 3 Tbs. maple syrup
13. ½ tsp. vanilla extract
14. ½ tsp. cinnamon
15. ¼ tsp. cardamom
16. ¼ tsp. nutmeg

For the Frosting

1. ½ cup pumpkin puree
2. ¼ cup coconut sugar
3. 1 Tbs. organic unsalted butter
4. ½ tsp. cinnamon
5. ½ tsp. allspice
6. ¼ tsp. cardamom
7. ½ tsp. vanilla extract
8. 4 Tbs. organic unsalted butter, soft room temperature
9. pinch of Kosher salt
10. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
11. 1 tsp. cinnamon
12. 2 Tbs. cocoa powder
13. 1 cup coconut sugar
14. 1 Tbs. tapioca starch (or another starch, like potato or corn)

For the cake

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 6” cake pan and line the bottom with parchment (cut a 6” circle, put it in the bottom, then spray with nonstick spray again).
2. In your blender, place the gluten free oats, almond meal and rice flour. Blend until it looks like a pretty even flour (no big oats). Then add the baking soda and salt and pulse to distribute those. Next add all of the rest of your ingredients! Blend until a smooth even batter remains! Just around 30 seconds.
3. Transfer your batter to your cake pan. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a test stick (toothpick) comes out clean and the cake is pulling away from the edges of the pan. Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting

1. In a saucepan, combine the pumpkin, ¼ cup coconut sugar, 1 Tbs. butter, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom and vanilla. Over low heat, stir until the butter and sugar are completely melted in and the pumpkin is a bit thicker (this is around 5 minutes). Transfer this pumpkin butter to a bowl to cool off.
2. In your clean DRY blender, combine the coconut sugar and the starch. Blend for 30seconds to a minute, until you have powdered coconut sugar. You’ll have billows of white sugar trying to escape the blender so you may want to let that settle for a minute after you’re done blending and before you lift the lid.
3. In a mixing bowl or your stand mixer, combine the butter and ¼ cup of the pumpkin butter (you can put the rest in a jar in the fridge for another day…or on a Sorghum Graham Cracker…) and mix until they’re creamy and completely combined. Then, add the powdered coconut sugar and spices and turn the mixer on low…then ramp up the speed as it all combines to get it completely mixed and fluffy.
4. Taste the buttercream. Do you like the spices? If you want more, add more now and mix again, otherwise it is perfect!
5. Put your cake together! Slather on a layer of buttercream on top of the cake. Slice and enjoy!
6. If you want to pipe on the buttercream, I recommend putting it in a piping bag then putting it in the fridge for a few minutes so it is a little more firm and easier to work with. You can also wrap up your cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a day and keep the frosting separate and then decorate your cake the next day, if you prefer!

Notes

1. Finished cake can be kept on the counter for 24 hours (pst I totally kept mine there for longer, but there’s butter in the frosting so I’m not allowed to tell you that) or in the fridge for 5 days.

By melissa @ treats with a twist

Adapted from Cake adapted from Green Kitchen Stories and Frosting adapted from Harvest and Honey

Adapted from Cake adapted from Green Kitchen Stories and Frosting adapted from Harvest and Honey

Treats With a Twist https://www.treatswithatwist.com/