Jessie Sheehan—the cookbook author behind Snackable Bakes, The Vintage Baker, Icebox Cakes and, most recently, Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes—isn’t a pumpkin pie person.
“It’s not that I don’t like pumpkin,” Sheehan clarifies on a recent episode of the Wine Enthusiast Podcast about boozy baking. “I don’t love pumpkin custard—the pumpkin custard that is a pumpkin pie.”
Instead, when prompted to produce a pumpkin-based dessert, Sheehan whips up her spiced pumpkin snacking cake, which appears in her cookbook Snackable Bakes. To up the ante, she frosts it with chocolate buttercream—a topping that, she recently found, is especially helped by a few tablespoons of bourbon.
“It’s a no-brainer to put a chocolate frosting on a pumpkin cake, and then it is also absolutely a no-brainer to put bourbon into a chocolate frosting,” Sheehan said. “Obviously, that is just heaven.”
Pumpkin Snacking Cake with Chocolate Bourbon Buttercream
Recipe by Jessie Sheehan, adapted from Snackable Bakes
Serves: 9
Active time: 20 minutes
Bake time: 27 to 30 minutes
For the cake:
- 1 ½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup (118 grams) vegetable oil
- 1¼ cups (250 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ can (213 grams) pumpkin puree
For the buttercream:
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1¼ cups (150 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup (27 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons bourbon*, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Step 1
butter. Line with a long piece of parchment paper that extends up the two opposite sides of the
pan.
Step 2
Step 3
center comes out with a moist crumb or two. Let cool for about 5 minutes until you can safely lift the cake out of the pan by the parchment overhang without burning yourself. Run a butter knife around the edges if it resists. Let cool to room temperature before frosting.
Step 4
Keep the cake wrapped on the counter for up to 3 days.
*For even more delicious bourbon-y flavor, brush the warm or cooled cake with additional bourbon before frosting.
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Published: December 10, 2024
