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Two different cakes come together to make a beautiful autumn treat

It was my wedding anniversary last week… congrats to us! I wanted to make a special cake that brought together my favourite – chocolate, and one of my hubbie’s favourites – pumpkin. Are they too different? Will they taste weird together? Not at all. Just like us, it’s a perfect union!

O.K. I must say that when this cake arrived at the table it was a bit of a ‘plain jane’. But don’t be fooled my friends by its humble covering, just one slice revealed the glorious beauty that lay inside…

This Pumpkin & Chocolate Layer Cake is amazing!!! For those of you who read my blog for healthy, simple, 30-minute meals… turn away now. The cake layers themselves are simple, you just have to make two different cakes which takes a bit more time and effort, but is totally worth it.

This is the first time I have tried a Whipped Brown Sugar Icing, but I saw this recipe on ihearteating.com and had to give it a try. It’s really really decadent, but the perfect thing to bring these two flavours together.

I hope you enjoy this Pumpkin & Chocolate Layer Cake as much as we did. Cheers to the coming years and all the delicious cakes ahead!

Pumpkin & Chocolate Layer Cake with Whipped Brown Sugar Frosting

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Ingredients

PUMPKIN LAYER

1 cup sugar
½ cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup pumpkin purée

CHOCOLATE LAYER

6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pans
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• ¼ tsp + pinch baking soda
• ¼ tsp + pinch baking powder
• ¼ tsp + pinch salt
• 1 large eggs
• 6 Tbsp buttermilk
• 6 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whipped Brown Sugar Icing

• 7 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cup milk
• 1 ½ Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter 2 – 8” layer round pans. Dust one with flour and one with cocoa.

TO MAKE PUMPKIN LAYER:

Combine sugar, canola oil and eggs in a mixing bowl; mix well.
Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in another bowl.
Stir into oil mixture; beating well. Stir in pumpkin.
Pour into the flour prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely before turning out.

TO MAKE CHOCOLATE LAYER

Combine cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a mixer. Beat on low until combined.
Add egg, buttermilk, water, oil and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat until very smooth, about 3 minutes.
Pour into cocoa prepared pan. Bake until set about 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely before turning out.
When both layers are fully cooled, take the one pumpkin layer and cut it in half, then the one chocolate layer and cut it in half so you have 4 sections of cake. Frost with Whipped Brown Sugar Icing alternating one chocolate section, pumpkin, chocolate and finish with pumpkin.

Whipped Brown Sugar Icing (from ihearteating.com)

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Stir in vanilla.
While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy on medium high, about 3 minutes. Add the completely cooled milk mixture.
Beat for 5 minutes on medium-high to high until it looks like whipped cream.

Sweet of the Month 2015 is sponsored by the awesome folks at Manitoba Canola Growers. All twelve recipes this year will contain canola oil, with it’s clean neutral flavour and powerful omega-3 fats… yah! Thanks in advance for supporting the great products that support EIEO.