Friday, October 25, 2013

The Best Pumpkin Cake You Will Ever Eat


We are a bit pumpkin obsessed in our house!  I love pumpkin (along with all of the other fall flavors), and this year John really jumped on the pumpkin bandwagon!  Yay!  We have been enjoying pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread, pumpkin coffee, and pumpkin muffins.  I am trying to get in as much pumpkin flavor in my baking before fall comes to an end!

I always see recipes for poke cakes - where you bake a cake and poke holes in it.  Then you pour either sweetened condensed milk or pudding over the top.  I knew I had to make one of those poke cakes with delicious pumpkin flavor!

This cake is my very favorite alternative to pumpkin pie!

Here's What You Need to Make the Pumpkin Cake:

Yes, the actual cake part of this recipe is only 3 ingredients!!!
  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 1 (15oz) can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling just plain canned pumpkin)
  • 1 generous tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have this in your spice cabinet, you can make your own by combining cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice) 
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • whipped topping (I made my own whipped cream using 1 pint whipping cream and 1/2 cup powdered sugar...but you can sub cool whip or whatever you like)
  • cake garnish - I used chocolate shavings, heath bits, and caramel sauce (just the kind you buy next to the ice cream)


Now Let's Make the Pumpkin Cake:
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease (I used PAM) a cake pan  (I used my Le Creuset Classic Baker, which is 12x9 but you can just use a standard 13x9 as well)
  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix and the pumpkin pie spice - this will incorporate the two ingredients and break up any cake mix lumps
  3. Stir in the can of pumpkin
  4. Spoon into your prepared pan
  5. Bake for 30 minutes (adjust the length of baking depending on the size of your pan)
  6. Allow cake to cool completely in pan
  7. Once cool, use the back of a wooden spoon to poke holes in your cake - all over the top of the cake...don't worry about it looking pretty, you are covering it up
  8. Pour your can of sweetened condensed milk over the top of your cake, making sure to fill the holes - use the back of a spoon to spread the milk around evenly
  9. Allow the condensed milk to soak into the cake by chilling for one hour or more in the fridge
  10. After an hour, frost your cake with the whipped topping - I combined 1 pint of whipping cream with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in my kitchen aid mixer and beat on medium high speed for about five minutes
  11. Put cake back into fridge until you are ready to serve
  12. Before serving, garnish with whatever other topping you want...I used chocolate shavings, heath bits, and caramel sauce
  13. Store any leftover cake in the fridge (but honestly, there won't be leftovers)
I sprinkled the chocolate shavings all over the top of the cake.

Then, I garnished my piece to look like this!!!  Seriously don't you wish you could jump through the screen and eat this! 

If you make nothing else from my blog, go make this!  It is so easy!  And so delicious!  It's the perfect fall dessert!  Happy Friday and Happy Eating! 


The Le Creuset Baker that I use:

24 comments:

  1. Oh my! It looks amazing! I will be trying this! Thank u, Paula

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    1. You're welcome Paula! This cake was so good that it will be taking the place of traditional pumpkin pie at our Thanksgiving dinner this year!

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  2. This might be a stupid question, do you follow the directions and ingredients on the cake box? Or is it just cake mix, pumpkin and spice?

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    1. Hi Kaitlin! Not a stupid question at all! You do not follow the directions on the box...you simply mix the dry cake mix with the pumpkin and the pumpkin pie spice!

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  3. Yum, it looks mouth-watering! Best pumpkin cake ever? I think I should concur. I don’t have to taste it myself. Like you've said: one would want to jump on the screen and eat this. I’ll try to bake something as delightful as this. =) Jason Underwood @ La Patisserie

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  4. What size can of pumpkin do you need

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    1. Hi Michelle! I use a 15 oz can of pumpkin for this recipe!

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  5. The condensed milk is soaking in now! I'm making this for my husbands birthday. I don't think he will be disappointed!

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    1. I hope that your hubby enjoyed his birthday cake!

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  6. I made this in a 9x13 pan and I am finding that the condensed milk did not soak into the cake.......should I have used less??? any suggestions would be appreciated

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    1. I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you Ashley. Maybe poke more or bigger holes next time you make it. Also it takes a bit for everything to soak in (maybe about 10 minutes). I also leave my cake in the pan that I bake it in, so the milk that doesn't soak into the top can run down the sides and eventually soak in that way. I hope this helps!

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  7. What is the texture of the cake suposed to look like after it comes out the oven? To me its gooey, I tried puttin it back in for a few mins and still same out come... I followed the directions to a T. Is this how it is suposed to be or did I mess it up

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    1. Andrea - this cake will definitely be gooey/very moist once you add the sweetened condensed to the top of the cooked cake and allow it to soak in. However, I would say the texture of just the cooked cake would be very similar to any 9x13 cake - maybe even a bit more dry since there are no eggs and oil. Are you sure you used the right size can of pumpkin - 15 oz? The only other thing I would suggest would be to check your oven temperature! Especially when doing a lot of holiday baking, our ovens tend to run cooler since the door gets opened a lot. I hope you were able to get the cake to turn out okay!

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  8. I was happy that someone asked what size can of pumpkin as I was really stumped in the store, but when I got home I found the comments and I did buy the right size. I have to tell you, I followed the recipe to the letter and this is AWESOME. I brought it to my company pot luck and got rave reviews. Thank you for this recipe! It's a keeper and best of all sooooooo EASY!!!!!!

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  10. Very excited to run across this recipe. It sounds so yummy. Enjoyed reading all the comments too. Thanks Lisa and Happy up coming Holidays 2015

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  11. Very excited to run across this recipe. It sounds so yummy. Enjoyed reading all the comments too. Thanks Lisa and Happy up coming Holidays 2015

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  12. When you make your whipping cream with powdered sugar, when do you add your powdered sugar? (This sounds wonderful)!��

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    1. I usually add 1/4 cup right away when I start whipping it. After a minute or two I will taste and add more if I want it sweeter - which I usually do and add about an extra 1/4 cup!

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  13. We used crushed Ginger Snaps, Chopped Pecans, Caramel Sauce and Lightly sprinkled Cinnamon as our garnish and it was wonderful!!!

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  14. Do you add what ingredients it takes to make the cake (eggs, oil ..) or just the mix and pumpkin?

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  15. Do you poke the holes clear thru to the bottom of the cake or just the top surface of the cake? How many holes do you generally poke for a 9x13 cake pan?

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