To celebrate fall and the holiday season, I’m sharing a high altitude recipe for the most beautiful pumpkin shaped cake. This pumpkin bundt cake is soft, moist and tender, rich with nutty brown butter and warm fall spices. Frosted with spiced cream cheese buttercream and decorated with a chocolate stem and chocolate leaves, this cake makes a gorgeous centerpiece for a Thanksgiving dinner dessert table or a Halloween party.
Looking for more high altitude pumpkin recipes? You’ll love this pumpkin crumb coffee cake, pumpkin bread and pumpkin bourbon ice cream.
Published in 2020 and Updated in 2024
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Perfectly Moist. This pumpkin shaped cake is adapted from my popular brown butter pumpkin cake. With its soft, moist texture and buttery, spiced flavor, it’s the best pumpkin cake you’ll make.
Easy but Impressive. Even if you don’t have much experience decorating cakes, you can do a beautiful job frosting and decorating this pumpkin cake. It makes such a pretty dessert to show off to your friends and family during the Thanksgiving holidays. I love my white pumpkin shaped cake, but you can also add orange gel food coloring for an orange pumpkin cake.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
Tools and Equipment
Bundt Pan
- You’ll need a bundt pan to create the pumpkin shape for your cake, and I recommend an “original” 12 cup bundt pan, which has the best shape for this cake. I love my Nordic Ware bundt pan for this project.
- When I first made this recipe 6 or 7 years ago, I owned two identical bundt pans, so I was able to divide the batter between the pans and bake both halves of the cake at once. But the pans were cheap, with a painted coating inside that flaked off onto my baked goods. I tossed those and invested in one Nordic Ware bundt pan. Of course, this means I can only bake half the batter at a time.
- When the baked cakes are sandwiched together with one upside down and the other right side up, the shape resembles a pumpkin.
Leaf Mold
- A pumpkin shaped cake wouldn’t be complete without a stem and leaves, and I love to make mine out of chocolate. Use a silicone leaf mold to make things easy, or see my Maple Spice Cake for a tutorial on making chocolate leaves using real leaves.
- For the stem, I’ve dipped pretzel rods (edible) as well as cinnamon sticks (not edible) in chocolate, and with their uneven, rough texture, they really do resemble a pumpkin stem.
- After the chocolate hardens, I brushed it all with an edible bronze shimmer powder. The shimmer powder not only conceals any bloom you sometimes get on chocolate after melting and cooling it, but gives it a beautiful, luminous finish.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Brown Butter. Besides flavor, the brown butter adds moisture and richness to the cake.
- Pumpkin. Use plain canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Sugar. Brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the cake, and a hint of molasses flavor. You’ll also need powdered sugar for the buttercream.
- Eggs. The eggs add structure and richness to the cake.
- Milk. Adds moisture.
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cake structure and strength.
- Baking Soda. Leavening agent, so the cake rises as it bakes.
- Spices. You’ll need salt and vanilla extract, and cozy spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg for flavor and warmth.
- Cream Cheese + Shortening. When making cream cheese frosting, you’ll be most successful if you also add some vegetable shortening for stability. And while I let the butter soften before making the frosting, I keep the cream cheese cold, which also adds more stability.
- Meringue Powder + Corn Starch. These will help to stabilize the cream cheese and improve the texture of the frosting. If you don’t have meringue powder, you can leave it out, but I always add a little corn starch to my cream cheese frosting.
- Pretzel Rods or Cinnamon Sticks. For making the pumpkin stem. I’ve even seen people break the stem off a real pumpkin and use that to decorate their pumpkin shaped cake.
- Chocolate. You’ll need melted chocolate, either from chocolate chips or candy melts, to make the stem and leaves.
Instructions
Make the Cake Batter
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease all the crevices of an original 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray. If you have two of these pans, you can bake both halves of the cake at once, but if you only have one pan, you’ll have to bake half the batter at a time.
- Place the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Melt the butter, and then continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until nutty brown solids form on the bottom of the pan. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the browned butter with the pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until moistened.
Bake the Cake
- Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing out the batter with a spatula. Cover the bowl of leftover batter, and leave it to rest at room temperature until needed.
- Bake the cake for about 27-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pan onto the cooling rack.
- Spray the pan again with non-stick baking spray, and fill with the rest of the batter (do not stir the batter again, just gently scrape it into the pan). Bake the second cake, cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the cooling rack.
- Let the cakes cool completely before assembling and frosting. The cakes can be baked one day in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap while slightly warm, and kept at room temperature until you’re ready to assemble the cake.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cold cream cheese with the softened butter and shortening until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add 5 cups of powdered sugar, the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, meringue powder, corn starch, vanilla.
- Beat the buttercream on medium speed for several minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until very light and fluffy. If the buttercream is too soft, add up to 1 additional cup of powdered sugar. It should be thick enough to hold its shape.
Assembly
- Remove the cooled cakes from the bundt pans.
- To assemble the cake, place one of the cooled cakes upside down on a cake board or cake pedestal. Spread the flat side with buttercream.
- Place the other cake on top right side up, making sure to line up the pattern of the bundt pan.
- Use a sharp, non-serrated knife to gently carve away the “pointed” parts of the cake. You don’t have to carve away too much; just cut enough to make indents between the rounded parts of the cake, which will give the cake a more realistic pumpkin shape. Save the cake scraps.
- Use a small offset icing spatula to frost the cake all over with a thin layer of buttercream, or a “crumb coat”, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Now frost the cake with another layer of buttercream. You can make it as smooth or textured as you like. I like to let a little of the cake show through the frosting, since pumpkins are rough, scratched up and never perfectly smooth.
- Take the reserved cake scraps, crumble them up, and use them to fill the hole in the center of the cake – this will help to support the stem. Spread a little frosting over the cake scraps, insert the chocolate stem, then decorate the cake with chocolate leaves.
Chocolate Leaves & Stem
- The stem and leaves can be made a day in advance so that the chocolate can set and harden. Start with half a bag of chocolate candy melts, and melt more as you need them, melting them according to the instructions on the package.
- To make the stem, first secure the 3 pretzel rods by tying a piece of twine (or a rubber band) around one end to hold them together. Holding that end, dip the other end in the chocolate, and use a spoon to drip more chocolate halfway up the pretzels. Shake off the excess and place on a piece of parchment paper to cool and harden. Once hardened, repeat and dip the same end a second time for the best coverage. Once that end has hardened, untie the twine. Dip the other end to coat in chocolate, then let that harden. (You can also use cinnamon sticks, but those will not be edible like the pretzels will be.)
- For the leaves, spoon the melted chocolate into your molds, let harden in the refrigerator, and then pop the chocolate out.
- After the chocolate is completely hardened, I like to brush them with bronze shimmer powder to add dimension and sparkle. Just dip a clean dry brush in the powder and dab onto the chocolate decorations.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make this recipe without the cream cheese frosting?
Certainly, see my American buttercream recipe for many other flavors.
Can I add food coloring to the buttercream?
If you want an orange pumpkin cake, I suggest using gel food coloring, not liquid. I would also add a touch of brown, to deepen the orange color so it’s not too neon or pastel.
How should I store the leftover cake?
If using cream cheese frosting, store your pumpkin cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If there is no cream cheese in the frosting, you don’t need to refrigerate the cake.
How much batter does this recipe yield?
This recipe makes about 9 cups of batter, and is scaled up 1 1/2 times from my 8 inch pumpkin layer cake.
What size bundt pan did you use?
I used the Nordic Ware Original 12-Cup Bundt Pan. Since you’ll only be baking half the batter at a time, the pan will not be very full.
Post Updates
- In these two photos, you can see when I frosted this cake in 2020 without carving out the points of the bundt cake. Still pretty!
- In 2024, I updated my assembly method to add the step of carving the points out of the cake before frosting it, and the result is a much more defined pumpkin shape.
You Might Also Like
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High Altitude Pumpkin Shaped Cake
A pumpkin bundt cake that's shaped like a pumpkin! The pumpkin shaped cake is rich with brown butter, perfectly spiced, and covered in cream cheese buttercream. Chocolate leaves and a chocolate covered pretzel stem make the perfect finish.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter
- 22 ½ oz (1 1/2 15-oz cans) canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 ¼ cups light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Buttercream
- 8 oz cream cheese, cold
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup vegetable shortening (or butter)
- 5-6 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 ½ tsp vanilla
- orange gel food coloring, optional
Stem & Leaves
- 3 large pretzel rods
- chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips
- silicone leaf mold for chocolate leaves
- edible bronze shimmer powder
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Thoroughly grease all the crevices of an original 12-cup bundt pan with non-stick baking spray. If you have two of these pans, you can bake both halves of the cake at once, but if you only have one pan, you'll have to bake half the batter at a time.
- Place the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Melt the butter, and then continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until nutty brown solids form on the bottom of the pan. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the browned butter with the pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until moistened.
- Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing out the batter with a spatula. Cover the bowl of leftover batter, and leave it to rest at room temperature until needed.
- Bake the cake for about 27-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out of the pan onto the cooling rack.
- Spray the pan again with non-stick baking spray, and fill with the rest of the batter (do not stir the batter again, just gently scrape it into the pan). Bake the second cake, cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the cooling rack.
- Let the cakes cool completely before assembling and frosting. The cakes can be baked one day in advance, wrapped in plastic wrap while slightly warm, and kept at room temperature until you're ready to assemble the cake.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cold cream cheese with the softened butter and shortening until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add 5 cups of powdered sugar, the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, meringue powder, corn starch, vanilla.
- Beat the buttercream on medium speed for several minutes, scraping the bowl down occasionally, until very light and fluffy. If the buttercream is too soft, add up to 1 additional cup of powdered sugar. It should be thick enough to hold its shape.
Assembly
- Remove the cooled cakes from the bundt pans.
- To assemble the cake, place one of the cooled cakes upside down on a cake board or cake pedestal. Spread the flat side with buttercream.
- Place the other cake on top right side up, making sure to line up the pattern of the bundt pan.
- Use a sharp, non-serrated knife to gently carve away the "pointed" parts of the cake. You don't have to carve away too much; just cut enough to make indents between the rounded parts of the cake, which will give the cake a more realistic pumpkin shape. Save the cake scraps.
- Use a small offset icing spatula to frost the cake all over with a thin layer of buttercream, or a "crumb coat", then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Now frost the cake with another layer of buttercream. You can make it as smooth or textured as you like. I like to let a little of the cake show through the frosting, since pumpkins are rough, scratched up and never perfectly smooth.
- Take the reserved cake scraps, crumble them up, and use them to fill the hole in the center of the cake – this will help to support the stem. Spread a little frosting over the cake scraps, insert the chocolate stem, then decorate the cake with chocolate leaves.
Chocolate Leaves & Stem
- The stem and leaves can be made a day in advance so that the chocolate can set and harden. Start with half a bag of chocolate candy melts, and melt more as you need them, melting them according to the instructions on the package.
- To make the stem, first secure the 3 pretzel rods by tying a piece of twine (or a rubber band) around one end to hold them together. Holding that end, dip the other end in the chocolate, and use a spoon to drip more chocolate halfway up the pretzels. Shake off the excess and place on a piece of parchment paper to cool and harden. Once hardened, repeat and dip the same end a second time for the best coverage. Once that end has hardened, untie the twine. Dip the other end to coat in chocolate, then let that harden. (You can also use cinnamon sticks, but those will not be edible like the pretzels will be.)
- For the leaves, spoon the melted chocolate into your molds, let harden in the refrigerator, and then pop the chocolate out.
- After the chocolate is completely hardened, I like to brush them with bronze shimmer powder to add dimension and sparkle. Just dip a clean dry brush in the powder and dab onto the chocolate decorations.
Notes
Leftover cake can be stored at room temperature for 1 day, then refrigerated for up to 5 days.
If you need to, you can also bake, assemble, frost and freeze the cake in advance, keeping it frozen in an airtight container. The cake should be thawed in the refrigerator, then brought to room temperature for serving.
Awesome pumpkin cake! I call my 1 yr old “pumpkin,” and plan on making this cake for his bday in October. May I ask, what size Bundt pan did you use?
I used two standard-sized bundt pans (12 cup capacity each). I’m sure he’ll love it! 🙂
What size cake does this equate to? Would it replace an 8 or 10” cake?
Can I use chocolate chips (ganache) for dipping the pretzels and making the leaves?
Your cakes are splendid!
It’s 1 1/2 times the size of a standard, three-layer 8-inch cake, so if it were baked as a layer cake, it would work as a 9 or 10 inch cake. Yes, you can use chocolate chips for the melted chocolate.
Baked in 4, 6″ pans, stacked and decorated simply for the cutting cake at a very small wedding. Added caramel filling and your buttercream cream cheese frosting – delicious and perfectly shaped, moist but firm texture … just wonderful.
thank you