Honey Butter Pumpkin Cake

Honey Butter Pumpkin Cake

This subtly sweet, perfectly spiced, soft pumpkin cake, with a touch of honey, is perfect for those autumn pumpkin-spice cravings. The delicious honey butter glaze gives this cake the perfect balance and helps to keep it moist for days. The recipe is easy enough to make as a breakfast cake, but elegant enough for afternoon tea. I decorated my cake, fairy-style, with edible flowers and roasted, salted pumpkin seeds. It’s also delicious served with dollops of whipped cream.

Honey Butter Pumpkin Cake

by Mari Vasseur
Subtly sweet and perfectly spiced soft, moist single layer pumpkin cake topped with honey butter glaze
Course Brunch, Dessert
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients
  

Pumpkin Cake

  • 1 cup (128g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg preferably freshly ground
  • â…” cup (132g) granulated sugar
  • â…” cup (150ml) avocado oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons (42g) honey
  • 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (227g) canned pure pumpkin purée not pie filling

Honey Butter Glaze

  • ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons (42g) honey
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) orange juice
  • ½ cup (60g) powdered sugar
  • â…› teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

Instructions
 

Pumpkin Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour the insides.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg until well blended.
  • In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, honey, eggs and vanilla, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until smooth and well blended, Beat in the pumpkin purée. Stir in the flour mixture by hand, just until combined.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 33-40 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool the cake in the pan for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack.

Honey Butter Glaze

  • In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the honey, orange juice, powdered sugar and salt until smooth and well blended. Add additional salt to taste if desired. Brush the glaze generously over the warm cake.
Keyword cake, honey butter, pumpkin

Perfect Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cake

This Perfect Pumpkin cake brings back memories. The tender, moist texture reminds me of the pumpkin cake bars I used to make in junior high. I got the treasured bar recipe from an old children’s cookbook. I lent the cookbook to a neighbor and never saw the book or the recipe again. Through trial and error, I came up with this perfectly spiced, soft fluffy cake, which I think is even better! It’s so delicious it doesn’t need frosting, but the classic pairing with cream cheese frosting takes it over the top.

Perfect Pumpkin Cake

Course Dessert
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

Pumpkin Cake

  • 1 cup (128g) all purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, preferably freshly ground
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • â…” cup (150ml) avocado oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (227g) pure pumpkin purée Not pie filling

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 6 tablespoons (85g) cream cheese, softened
  • 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1-3 teaspoons heavy cream, room temperature

Instructions
 

Pumpkin Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC). Line the bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan* with parchment paper**. Grease and flour the insides.
  • In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg until well combined.
  • In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and pumpkin purée with an electric mixer or by hand with a whisk, until smooth and well blended. Stir in the flour mixture, just until combined.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 38-43 minutes. Cool the cake in pan for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from pan and transfer to a cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer, until creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract and salt until well combined. On low speed, beat in the powdered sugar. Keeping the mixture at low speed, beat in the heavy cream a little at a time until your desired consistency is reached. Stir with a spatula to smooth out any bubbles.

Notes

*To find the cake pan I used, click here.
**To find the parchment rounds I used, click here.
Keyword cake, pumpkin