High Altitude Pumpkin Earthquake Cake
Pumpkin earthquake cake, with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans and coconut, and a tangy cream cheese swirl.
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
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Swirl
- 8 oz block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
Cake
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 7 ½ oz canned pumpkin puree (1/2 of a 15-oz can, or a little more than 3/4 cup)
- ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp (scant) baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
Getting Ready
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Lightly grease a 9x9 inch square baking pan with non-stick baking spray.
Cream Cheese
- In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk. Use a whisk or an electric mixer to beat everything until smooth.
- Set aside until needed.
Cake
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, for about 5-10 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 pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla and browned butter.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk the batter until combined.
- Combine the coconut, chopped pecans, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, and set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture. Add the remainder of the mix-ins to the cake batter, folding them in with a spatula.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and dollop the cream cheese mixture over the cake batter. Use a knife to gently swirl in the cream cheese, then sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/2 cup of the mix-ins.
Bake
- Bake the cake for about 40-45 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, and cool the cake for several hours before serving warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
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