We’ve all had pumpkin bread, but have you ever considered stacking pumpkin bread into a three layer pumpkin spice cake? Okay, so it’s not the EXACT pumpkin bread recipe. It’s a bit fluffier as a cake, but gosh it sure does taste just as good. With Halloween just days away, I wanted to make sure to get this recipe up! It’s such a fun seasonal cake, and the decoration is absolutely stunning. Not only does the decoration look great, but it’s also the EASIEST thing to do in the world. Seriously, if you have marshmallows, heat, and fingers, you can make your pumpkin spice cake look just as spooky as mine with little to no effort.
It’s the perfect autumnal cake
I think that this cake is so cute. I had seen someone make spider web cookies, and I knew I just had to try this method out for myself. The idea of adding black frosting to a cake is so fun to me! Especially for this one to make the spider web really pop. But, I know the consequences of eating black frosting. You wind up with a dark, black hole for a mouth. So, in order to minimize the consequences, I only dyed about 1/3 of the frosting. I only used the black frosting on the outside of the cake and kept the inside pristine white. I thought this was a nice way to easily avoid eating the black frosting for those like my Dad who truly despise dye stained mouths. All in all, this is such a perfect cake for autumn. The spices are so warm and the cake is so fluffy. It is truly a dessert I will be making again and again.
Three Layer Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 ⅔ cups Cake Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¾ cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ⅔ cup Unsalted Butter
- 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Ginger
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon Cardamom
- ⅛ teaspoon Cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon All Spice
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 ⅔ cups Pumpkin Puree
For the Frosting:
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (softened and at room temperature)
- 16 ounces Cream Cheese (2 cream cheese blocks)
- 6 cups Powdered Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
For Decoration:
- Black Food Dye
- 10-15 Marshmallows
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line three 6 inch cake rounds with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, add the cake flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, spices and salt. Use a hand mixer to beat on high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to incorporate. Add the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree and mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat on a low speed until no streaks of flour remain. Be careful not to over beat the batter or else you will wind up with a tough cake!
- Divide the batter evenly amongst the three prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before assembling.
For the Frosting:
- Beat the butter until very smooth and no lumps are there. Add the cream cheese and beat together until they are fully mixed together.
- Add the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix on high for 2-3 minutes to whip until light and fluffy. If you want to decorate the cake with a spider web, dye ⅓ of the frosting black and save to cover the outside of the cake.
- To make the spider web decoration, microwave 10-15 marshmallows, until sticky and gooey. Place your fingers into the goop, close together, and slowly pull your fingers apart, stretching the marshmallow into web shapes. Place gently on a cold, frosted cake. Enjoy!
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