Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Easy Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Recipe is filled with Dulce de Leche and a Brown Butter Frosting, you will love this Easy Pumpkin Layer Cake! Step-by-step photos teach you how to bake this cake recipe.

Cake always seems so boring. Dry, overly sweet fake tasting frosting. Not into that. But moist pumpkin cake with dulce de leche filling and a brown butter frosting, yeah I am SOOO into this easy pumpkin dessert recipe.

This baby came to me just when I needed it. It had been about three weeks, my carpal tunnel had been acting up, my lower back had been bugging me at boot camp. Then one morning I brushed my hair. Yes, all I did was brush my hair. And then went my neck. Out it was.

Seriously brushing my hair threw out my neck/ back. It was miserable.

Off to the Acupuncturist, only this was 7:45 am and they don't even open till 9 am. I called about 6 times before 9 hoping someone would answer, no such luck. But at exactly 9 am I booked an appointment, 2:45 pm. That was a looooong way away.

I had acupuncture, cupping and a therapeutic massage, I could finally move my neck. It's still very painful but it moves. Hoping I wake up tomorrow with a new found love for the freedom of looking side to side without a striking pain in my back.

When something like that happens to me I find it an excuse to eat whatever the hell I want. In this case, Brown Butter Pumpkin Dulce De Leche Cake and a few squares of chocolate. Food good measure, ya know?

As my sister, Lydia said this is "Crack". The pumpkin, brown butter, dulce de leche, brown butter frosting and crunchy pumpkin seeds.  I hope you love this Easy Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake Recipe as much as we do.

Let's get to the recipe.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
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Ingredients

I can't sugar coat it, the ingredient list is kind of long but if you're a baker you probably have most of these on hand already.

For the cake part of the recipe you'll need:

• Browned Butter. This butter needs to be softened to room temperature. So you will need to brown it, then chill it to resolidify the butter. Check out my post on how to brown butter
• Sugar. I like to use a mix of both granulated sugar and light brown sugar.
• Large Eggs. To make sure your eggs evenly incorporate into the batter you'll want them at room temperature. To do that place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes before cracking them open.
• Vanilla Extract. Do us both a favor and use real vanilla extract.
• Pumpkin Puree. Make sure you don't accidentally buy the pumpkin pie filling.
• All-Purpose Flour. The recipe calls for all-purpose flour or plain flour. Make sure to measure your flour correctly. I personally always use a scale and measure my flour in grams but if you want to use cups make sure to run a fork through the flour in its container a few times to fluff it up then use a spoon to scoop it into the measuring cup then use a knife to scrape off the dome to give you an even cup.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice. This blend of warm spices is synonymous with pumpkin treats!

You can totally make your own blend of pumpkin pie spice at home with spices you probably already have in your cupboard! Check out my recipe for homemade pumpkin pie spice.

• Baking Soda. This helps the batter rise because we have brown sugar and the acid in it will activate the baking soda.
• Baking Powder. Because there is such a small amount of acid (brown sugar) in this recipe we need more rise/ chemical leavening agent so we use baking powder as well. Baking powder does not need acid to activate it.
• Salt. Salt is imperative, don't skip it! It provides a balance against all the sweetness and also enhances the other ingredient's flavors.

For the frosting you'll need:

• Browned Butter. Must be at room temperature to create a smooth frosting.
• Cream Cheese. If your cream cheese is not at room temperature you'll end up with a lumpy frosting.
• Confectioners Sugar. Also known as powdered sugar or icing sugar.
• Vanilla Extract. Again, only the real stuff please!
• Heavy Cream. Adding a bit of cream helps make the frosting so creamy!

And for the filling, you'll need Dulce de Leche. You can totally make your own as I do in this Banoffee Pie Recipe but you can also buy premade dulce de leche which is what I did here.

And finally, to decorate the cake I have done a sprinkling of Pumpkin Pie Spice or Pumpkin Spiced Pumpkin Seeds. Or leave it just frosted, whatever you would like!

Instructions

Prior to making the cake brown some butter, 10oz to be exact. Then let cool to room temperature. You can expedite the process by putting the butter in the fridge/ freezer after browning. Check out my post on how to brown butter, you will need to brown 10oz even though the recipe only calls for 8oz because when butter browns some of the liquid evaporates.

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and grease two deep 8-inch cake pans, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed or large bowl with a handheld electric mixer beat the browned butter with both sugars. Beat on medium speed for 4-6 minutes, until very light and fluffy.

At first, the butter and sugar will stay separate but just keep mixing for the full time. 

Mix in eggs, one at a time then the vanilla extract.

Add pumpkin puree and mix until fully combined, if the mixture looks a bit curdled at this point don't worry. Make sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl so everything is evenly incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together the all-purpose flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Using a spatula gently mix dry ingredients into the wet mixture, until just combined. Over mixing will over develop the gluten causing a tough cake.

Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 34-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean with no wet batter or when you gently touch the middle of the cake it bounces back immediately.

Let cool on a wire rack until completely cool.

You can make the frosting while the cake is baking and store it in the fridge while the cake cools, then just let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so and remix before using. You can also make the frosting when the cakes have almost finished cooling and use it right away.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or large bowl with a handheld electric mixer beat the browned butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and heavy cream- beat on low until powdered sugar is incorporated then scrape the sides of the bowl down.

Then mix the frosting for another 4-5 minutes on medium speed.

Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread dulce de leche on top of the first layer. Place the second cake layer on top, I like to place the bottom side up so you have a really straight top cake. 

Spread frosting on top and sides to fully cover the cake. I use a straight spatula for the sides and an angled spatula for the top. Then use the angled spatula to create swoop motions in the frosting.

Sprinkle pumpkin pie spice or decorate with pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds on edge of cake for decor. Store the cake in the fridge for up to 5 days, I like to let the cake sit at room temperature for 15 minutes or so before serving.

Thick, soft, full of warm fall flavor you are sure to love this pumpkin cake recipe. If you're looking for a slightly easier cake recipe check out my pumpkin bundt cake recipe.

More layer cake recipes

• Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake. This has got to be one of our family's favorite cakes ever!
• Strawberries and Cream Chocolate Cake. This is a close second to our family, we either want berries or caramel lol but always chocolate and fresh cream!!
• This apple layer cake is absolutely delicious. Another perfect fall dessert recipe.

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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This post was originally published on October 17, 2016 as of September 26, 2020 the photos and text have been updated.