5 from 20 votes

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake | ZoeBakes by Zoë François

I made this Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake with my friend Andrew Zimmern. You can watch us working pumpkin magic in the kitchen together in the video below.

I recently made a pumpkin pie and roasted several pumpkins and squash, so I have lots of great gourd puree on hand and this is one of my all-time favorite cakes, so I wanted to share it with you.

The chocolate pumpkin bundt cake I made with Andrew has a rather thin line of chocolate streusel and I went for a bolder chocolate layer when I put the recipe in my book, Zoë Bakes Cakes. That is reflected in the recipe and directions below. You can roast your own pumpkin or use canned, either is terrific for this easy and tasty cake.

I also made half of this recipe in a fancy loaf pan and look at these results. I love how it turned out! Here is a similar pumpkin themed loaf pan. It just needs to be a 6-cup capacity for half the recipe. Here is the exact pan I used in the photos. If you have a little extra batter you can make an additional mini loaf!

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake | ZoeBakes by Zoë François

Here is a video of me making the cake (with a slightly different chocolate layer) with my friend Andrew Zimmern.

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake | ZoeBakes by Zoë François
Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake

Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake

I made this Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake with my friend Andrew Zimmern last year. I recently made a pumpkin pie and roasted several pumpkins and squash, so I have lots of great gourd puree on hand and this is one of my all-time favorite cakes, so I wanted to share it with you.
5 from 20 votes
Course: Dessert

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil
  • 1 cup (215g) sugar
  • 1 cup (235g) brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 15 oz. (425g) canned or roasted pumpkin puree
  • ¾ cup (185g) sour cream (whole milk yogurt or creme fraiche also work)
  • tsp vanilla extract make homemade vanilla extract
  • 2 ¼ cups (295g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp all-spice
  • ½ tsp ginger

Chocolate Layer

  • 2 tbsp (20g) dark cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Topping

  • ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt Pan (in the video). I used a Kugelhopf Bundt Pan in the photos in this post, because I like the shape, but it is slightly smaller and I trimmed the bottom before flipping it out of the pan.
  • Prepare the cake batter in a large bowl, combining the oil, sugar, brown sugar, and eggs. Once they are well combined add the pumpkin puree, vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix until it all comes together in a smooth batter.
  • Pour 1/3 of the batter into a separate bowl and stir in the cocoa powder and cinnamon.
  • Pour 1/3 of the pumpkin cake batter into the prepared pan. Pour in 1/3 of the chocolate batter over the pumpkin batter. This layer will be thin. Repeat this layering with remaining pumpkin and chocolate cake batters in 2 more additions.
  • Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes (If you use the kugelhopf pan, it may bake a bit faster, so check closer to 50 minutes) or until a tester comes out with moist crumb.
  • Allow to cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then turn cake out onto a serving dish. Once the cake is cool combine confectioners’ sugar and pumpkin spice for the topping and sprinkle it over the top of the cake.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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32 thoughts to “Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake”

  1. Delicious, lite and moist cake, looks pretty impressive with the swirls. I followed the recipe exactly, baked for 1 hour and it came out perfect.

  2. I made this yesterday with my 4 year old daughter. She enjoyed tasting all the ingredients, cracking eggs and grating nutmeg. I love that this cake is not too sweet and the pumpkin really shines through. It’s delicious and I will be making it again. We have also really enjoyed watching your show together. Thanks for the recipe!

  3. 5 stars
    I made this for Thanksgiving this year, it was a hit! My s/o especially loved it and has requested that I make it again. The cake is moist but not stodgy. I cooked it in a large bundt pan for 15 more minutes, checking with a skewer to see if it is done, and also rotating the pan halfway through baking. I think I will experiment with more chocolate layers next time. I also got a really lovely “swirl” through the different layers, it was so pretty!!! Thank you for the recipe!

  4. 5 stars
    I’ve made this twice, once as a bundt and the second time divided into two loaf pans. Especially when made with Valrhona cocoa powder, this bread is so moist and delicious! We love it.

  5. 5 stars
    I was slightly intimidated by the look of this cake because I thought the swirl would be complicated. It could not be easier and it is such a delicious, moist cake. It’s my new go-to for fall!

  6. I am confused; in your book you call for evaporated milk but this (updated) version calls for sour cream..which am I to use?
    Also, the book’s recipe calls for espresso powder but this recipe omits that
    and calls for cinnamon to be combined with the chocolate.
    Please advise…I want to make this today.

  7. 5 stars
    Delicious! I made it in a 9×13 for simplicity and used 5% Fage yogurt instead of sour cream. The flavor and texture were both incredible! My whole family gobbled it up!

  8. 5 stars
    I made the cake using the sour cream called for in this recipe (modified from Zoe’s book)..I used 1 tsp instant espresso called for in the book and 1 tsp cinnamon for the mocha batter. Instead of the 1 Tbsp vanilla called for in the book, I used a generous 1 1/2 tsp (think it could have used a bit more). I baked it in the Nordicware gold anniversary bundt pan (on a sheet pan as recommended in the book) for 1 hr & it was perfectly done. I would make it again and slices frozen for 1 week & thawed overnite before serving were just as good, maybe even better. I sprinkled the spice & confectioner’s sugar over the cake while it was still warm so it could better infuse.

    1. Hi Uma, any vegetable oil will do! You can also make it with avocado oil or canola oil. Enjoy!

    1. Hi Judy, we know a few people have made this cake into mini bundt cakes! The bake time will depend on the size of your cupcakes and your oven, but perhaps start checking them for doneness around 20 minutes. Usually you don’t want to fill the batter up more than 2/3 of the cupcake liners. Please come back and let us know how it goes!

    1. Hi Jk, Zoe hasn’t tried it herself, but she thinks this would be a good cake to try with a gluten-free 1 for 1 flour. If you do end up trying it, please come back and rate the recipe to let us know how it went! Happy baking!

  9. 5 stars
    I made this cake earlier this week, and it was fantastic. It was moist and delicious and even better on the second day. This one is a keeper and will definitely be in my fall rotation.

  10. 5 stars
    This is an excellent recipe. I made this for a church coffee & people loved it. I was asked to give the recipe for this. I highly recommend it. Easy to make & moist.

  11. 5 stars
    This is perfect- moist, great flavor, holds up well, beautiful and easy to make! I followed the recipe as written (this version, not the Zoe Bakes Cakes version!)

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