High Altitude Mini Pumpkin Cake
A high altitude tested recipe for the most delicious and moist pumpkin cake with vanilla buttercream, in a mini size that's just enough for 2-4 people.
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
- 4-inch Round Cake Pans (x2) (or, one or two 6-inch Round Cake Pans)
- Disposable Piping Bags
- Piping Tips 1M, 4B, 6B & 16
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 tbsp light or dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp whole milk or buttermilk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp (scant) baking soda
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground allspice
Buttercream
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- orange, yellow and warm brown gel food coloring
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Lightly spray the bottoms of two 4-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.Baker's Note: If you only have 6-inch pans, you can divide the batter between two pans for thinner layers for a layer cake, or bake all the batter in one pan for a simple one-layer cake.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until the water has evaporated, and the butter is forming nutty, fragrant golden brown solids at the bottom of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and let the butter cool for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the browned butter with the pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, milk and vanilla, until smooth.
- Separately, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk just until combined.
- Divide the batter between the prepared 4-inch cake pans. Bake for about 18-22 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently touched, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes completely before frosting.Baker's Note: If using two 6-inch pans, the baking time will be less; if using one 6-inch pan, the baking time will be more.
- If the tops of the cakes are domed, use a sharp knife to slice off a small portion of the dome, to make the cakes level for stacking.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by spoonfuls, the meringue powder, salt and vanilla. Increase the speed and whip for 4-5 minutes, until very light and fluffy, scraping the bowl down several times. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Stack, fill and frost the cooled cakes all over with the buttercream, or use the following instructions to decorate your cake like today's photographed cake.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the buttercream. Place one of the cooled cakes on a serving plate, and pipe a generous swirl of buttercream on top of the cake, leaving the sides of the cake bare. Repeat with the second layer of cake.
- Take the remaining buttercream, and divide it into two bowls. Add a few drops of orange gel food coloring to one bowl, and a few drops of orange and yellow food coloring to the other. Now add a small drop or two of warm brown gel food coloring to both, to deepen the colors a little.Then, scoop a small amount of the orange buttercream into a third bowl, and add more of the warm brown food coloring until you have a chocolate brown color.
- Fit two piping bags with tips 4B and 6B, fill with the two shades of orange buttercream, and pipe pumpkins on top of the cake.
- Fit a piping bag with a coupler and tip 16, and fill with the brown buttercream. Pipe squiggly stems on top of the pumpkins.
Notes
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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