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Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cakes

by Mari Vasseur
Moist pumpkin cakes with cinnamon swirls and vanilla bean icing
Print Recipe
Course Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert
Servings 6 4-inch cakes

Ingredients
  

Cinnamon Swirl

  • ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 pinch fine sea salt
  • ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, melted

Pumpkin Cakes

  • 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
  • ⅔ cup ( 148ml) vegetable oil or neutral oil of your choice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (235g) pure pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)

Vanilla Bean Icing

  • 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
  • ½ cup (60g) powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon meringue powder optional
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 2-3 tablespoons (30-45ml) whole milk

Instructions
 

Cinnamon Swirl

  • In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add the melted butter and whisk until well blended. Make sure there are no lumps.
  • After filling the muffin pan with the pumpkin cake batter, transfer the cinnamon swirl mixture to a piping bag fitted with a 1/4-inch wide round tip. (If the cinnamon swirl mixture has stiffened a bit, warm it briefly in the microwave to soften it before placing it in the piping bag.)

Pumpkin Cakes

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line a 6-serving shallow jumbo muffin pan with jumbo muffin liners.* (The liners will fit by pressing them in around the inside bottom edges.) The muffin pan I used has cups that are 4-inches across by 1-inch deep. A hamburger bun pan for 4-inch buns or six 4-inch cake pans also work.
  • 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, whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Mix in the pumpkin purée. Stir in the flour mixture in two additions, just until combined.
  • Transfer the batter to the muffin cups, evenly dividing the batter among the cups. Pipe the cinnamon swirl mixture in a spiral on the top of the batter of each one.
  • Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake part comes out clean, about 22-27 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Vanilla Bean Icing

  • In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, vanilla bean paste, powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and 1 tablespoon (15ml) of milk until well combined. Whisk in more milk as needed to reach the desired consistency.
  • Brush the icing on the cooled cakes with a small pastry brush or make the icing a little thinner by adding more milk and drizzle the icing on if you prefer.

Notes

To make cream cheese icing, replace 1 tablespoon of the melted butter with 1 tablespoon of softened cream cheese and omit the meringue powder.
*To find jumbo muffin liners, click here.
To find the baking pan I used, click here.
To find 4-inch cake pans, click here.
To find meringue powder click here.
To find the piping tip I used, click here.
Keyword cake, pumpkin cinnamon roll