The weather is so cozy today! Rainy all day with a high of 70. I did in fact wear a sweater, as was the only logical thing to do. I’m really trying to romanticize school, but I just don’t think public high school is a super romantic place. I’ll just have to settle for romanticize doing homework in my room, which is a much easier task because my room is starting to feel real cozy.
As I’m writing this, I have about a million other things I need to be doing. But this is important and only takes 30 minutes or so. Plus, I’m in a peppy enough mood to write a blog post, which has not been the case for a few recent posts I must confess.
I’ve been doing a lot more work on the mysterious project lately. I don’t remember if I said this in my last post, but I’m now in phase 2 of said project. How many phases are there? Couldn’t tell ya. How long is phase 2? Longer than anticipated.
Weekends are so unfair. I know that’s a really random conversation change, but it’s true. Weekends feel so short and packed full of things to catch up on, that those two short days fly by. But then during the week, each day feels like I just kicked a year off of my life. I have so many fun fall activities I want to do, like watching Tim Burton movies and baking pumpkin bread and reading, but I can’t. I just have so much to do.
I do have a long weekend coming up though. I think I’m going to go to Trader Joes. Riveting, I know. But I’ve actually never been and I hear they have all the best fall stuff. Speaking of fall stuff, let’s talk about this delicious fall cake! I am fully aware that I posted a pumpkin cake recipe a few weeks ago, but I promise the two are completely different.
Describe this Cake to Me
Taste: This tastes like your classic pumpkin cake, but even better. It’s swirled with cozy brown sugar walnuts, and topped with a warming coffee buttercream. So it’s kind of got pumpkin spice latte vibes, but with a little more complexity.
Texture: The cake itself is fluffy with a moist crumb. The caramelized walnuts in-between the layers give it a crunch, and the frosting is perfectly creamy and melts in your mouth.
Ease: I would say this cake is pretty easy to make. The walnut swirl is an extra step, but you also don’t have to frost the cake. I think it works better as a naked cake to really let the pumpkin and walnut flavor shine, so assembly is super quick and easy.
The Walnut Swirl
I’m going to be honest, the walnut swirl in this cake is kinda ugly. But, it adds such a unique flavor that I really don’t mind it. It’s got that nuttiness and a little crunch from the walnuts, a note of warmth from the espresso, and caramel notes from the brown sugar. All of this compliments the pumpkin spice perfectly.
The Cake
The cake is very similar to your classic pumpkin bread, but a little lighter. It’s got butter for flavor and vegetable oil for the perfect texture, plus a little apple cider to take the fall flavors to the next level. It’s moist, sweet, and has the perfect natural pumpkin spice flavor.
The Frosting
My first couple attempts at this cake were much too sweet. I determined it was because there was simply too much frosting. So I decided to make this a naked cake, which means there’s no frosting on the sides. The coffee flavor really brings out the pumpkin and the subtle walnut, plus you’ve got a layer of caramelized walnuts for crunch. I like to pipe a little pumpkin patch on top, but you can do whatever kind of decoration you like.
Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Coffee Buttercream
Ingredients
Coffee Walnut Swirl
- ½ cup raw walnuts
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- ¼ cup salted butter melted
Pumpkin Cake
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup salted butter melted
- 4 large eggs divided, at room temperature
- 1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup apple cider
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Coffee Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon +1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1 Tablespoon boiling water
- 3 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup caramelized walnuts chopped
Instructions
Start by making the walnut swirl
- In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until they resemble a meal a little coarser than almond flour. Pour into a bowl and toss with the brown sugar, espresso, flour, and melted butter. Set aside until ready to use in the cake.
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Grease two round 8 inch cake pans with butter, line with parchment paper rounds, and then grease the parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, melted butter, egg yolks (we'll use the whites in a moment) , pumpkin puree, brown sugar, white sugar, apple cider, vanilla extract, and apple cider vinegar until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- In a large bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or by hand), whip the egg whites on medium high speed to stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the batter, trying not to deflate them as much as you can (they will deflate a little though). Divide the batter evenly among the previously prepared pans. Sprinkle the walnut mixture evenly on top of each cake, and use a spatula to swirl it in, folding it into the batter a little.
- Bake the cakes for 20-25 minutes, or until they are pulling away from the sides of the pan and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool entirely in the pans before frosting.
Make the espresso frosting
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. In a small bowl, whisk together the espresso powder and boiling water .Add it to the butter along with the confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, before turning up to high speed and mixing for 1-2 minutes or until combined and fluffy.
Assemble
- Remove the cakes from the cake pans. If desired, slice a thin layer off of the tops to create an even surface. If you do this, make sure it is a very thin layer or else you may lose a lot of that walnut swirl. Place one layer on a cake stand and spread a layer of the coffee buttercream on top. Sprinkle on the caramelized walnuts, and top with the second cake layer. Spread layer of frosting on top of the cake. If desired, dye some of the frosting orange and pipe pumpkins onto the cake. I used piping tip Wilton 4B to do mine, and then I topped each pumpkin with mini chocolate chips as stems.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy! Cake stays fresh stored at room temperature for up to 4 days.