Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake — This easy pumpkin cake is loaded with chocolate chips and drizzled in rich and decadent chocolate ganache. It’s one of the best pumpkin cakes I’ve ever had!! An EASY no-mixer fall favorite cake that everyone just LOVES!
Table of Contents
- Easy Pumpkin Bundt Cake … with Chocolate Chips!
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake Ingredients
- How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
- Recipe FAQs
- Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache Recipe
- More Easy Pumpkin Desserts:
Easy Pumpkin Bundt Cake … with Chocolate Chips!
I originally posted this recipe in the fall of 2012. I had a little girl in the kitchen that day who was just 5 years old helping me. She’s now a freshman in high school. I feel like I remember more about this cake than I sometimes do about the last 9 years that have seemingly passed by in the true blink of an eye.
If you’re lucky enough to have small kids underfoot, bake a pumpkin cake with them! You will thank yourself when they’re in high school and far too busy to be baking cakes with you.
The last decade of blogging hasn’t been like the first few years when I started and (over) shared about my personal life, but I wanted to at least share that memory.
I went on to write a cookbook dedicated to only pumpkin recipes, published in 2014. It’s called Cooking With Pumpkin and I’d love it if you wanted to buy or download a copy! I included this pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake in my cookbook because it’s just THAT good!
The pumpkin puree keeps this chocolate pumpkin bundt cake moist and dense and the spices, including pumpkin pie spice, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves, complement the pumpkin puree and are a reminder that fall is here.
Being the chocaholic that I am, I used chocolate in two ways. Chocolate chips are woven throughout the cake and chocolate ganache is poured over the top.
The ganache is so easy to make and comes together in about 1 minute in the microwave. Chocolate chips, cream, and vanilla. It’ so simple to make but tastes so decadent.
The ganache stays a bit soft and silky, even over time, which is very different from a chocolate buttercream which hardens and dries out after it’s exposed to the air. I love buttercream but not when it gets crunchy.
Between the chocolate chips in the cake and the chocolate ganache on top, if you like your pumpkin with a side of chocolate, this cake will make you happy.
It made me very happy.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake Ingredients
To make this pumpkin bundt cake with chocolate chips, you’ll need:
- Eggs
- Pumpkin puree
- Granulated sugar
- Canola oil
- Sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Butter extract
- Spices
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Cream or half and half
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
Can the Butter Extract Be Omitted?
I added a bit of butter extract to the batter and if it’s not something you keep on hand, don’t worry about it. From time to time, I use butter extract as a flavor enhancer and flavor booster in cookie dough and cake batter.
I wouldn’t necessarily say it makes things taste ‘buttery’. Rather, it rounds out the flavors, complements the existing flavors, and gives food that homey quality, and although you can’t exactly put your finger on what it is, it just makes you want to have seconds.
Just like adding brewed coffee to chocolate cake batter does not make the chocolate cake taste like a chocolate-coffee-flavored-cake and instead intensifies the chocolate flavor, the butter extract principle is similar. It enhances without making you think you just swallowed a stick of butter or anything.
Butter extract is only about $2.99 for a little vial, compared to about $6.99+ for vanilla extract of the same size, and it’s a fun little bargain extract to keep around. I add a few drops of it to the melted butter to be poured over popcorn for really buttery-flavored buttered popcorn.
How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Making a pumpkin bundt cake with chocolate chips couldn’t be easier! Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Whisk together the wet ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in the dry ingredients.
- Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
- Turn the batter into a greased and floured 12-cup bundt pan.
- Bake until the top has set and is golden, or a toothpick comes out clean (due to the chocolate chips, you may hit some chocolate patches with the insertion test).
- Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before inverting it.
- Once the pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake is mostly cool, top with chocolate ganache.
Recipe FAQs
I baked this pumpkin chocolate chip cake in a 12-cup Bundt pan, but it can be baked in a 10-cup Bundt, and you’d probably have success dividing the batter among two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans.
Or, follow this classic pumpkin chocolate chip cake recipe so you don’t have to worry at all about pan conversions!
I love cake as much as the next person, but many of us are cooking for ourselves or small families and we don’t necessarily need ginormous Bundts just laying around and this one isn’t extreme.
This pumpkin chocolate chip cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.
In an effort to duplicate that springy yellow-cake-mix-cake quality, I added sour cream. Sour cream, or Greek yogurt, gives cakes a spongy and springy quality, tenderizes them, and keeps them soft and moist. There is nothing worse than dry cake and I’d rather have nothing than a piece of dry cake.
I didn’t actually use butter in the cake and used oil instead. Oil makes cakes moister, springier, and softer than butter.
I do love the flavor of butter in cookies and pie crust, but in recipes where the butter flavor would get lost anyway, such as this one with the pumpkin, the spices, and all the chocolate going on, may as well use oil to keep the cake moister. Plus, the butter extract makes up for any lack of real butter.
Tips for the Best Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake
I used a mixture of cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, all spice, and cloves in this pumpkin cake recipe. If you don’t have all of these spices on hand, mix and match with what you do have. It will probably turn out fine!
Once the dry ingredients are mixed into the wet, don’t over mix! This is a thicker cake batter, and you can easily over-develop the gluten and create a dense cake.
The pumpkin chocolate bundt cake MUST cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes before it can be inverted. If you try to invert the cake right away, you run the risk of the cake sinking.
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The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup sour cream, Greek yogurt may be substituted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon butter extract, optional
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chocolate Ganache
- ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup cream or half-and-half
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- optionally add 1 to 2 tablespoons rum or bourbon, coffee liqueur, or chocolate-flavored liqueur
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 12-cup Bundt or tube-cake pan with cooking spray (I use Pam for Bakingwith excellent results) or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl combine eggs, pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, sour cream, vanilla extract, butter extract, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, cloves (if you don’t have all of them on hand, just use what you do have) and whisk to combine until mixture is smooth and silky.
- Add the flour, baking soda, salt and stir until just combined (don’t overmix or the gluten will over-develop and cake will be tougher).
- Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula if necessary and give it a slam on the counter to release any air.
- Bake for 38 to 42 minutes, or until top has set (it may crackle, this is okay) and is golden or a cake tester, toothpick, or blade of a knife comes out clean (due to the chocolate chips, you may hit some chocolate patches with the insertion test).
- Allow cake to cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting and releasing cake from pan and placing it on a rack to finish cooling. While cake cools, make the ganache.
Chocolate Ganache:
- Place chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 1 minute to soften chocolate; set aside.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl or measuring cup, heat the cream (I used half-and-half) on high power just until it begins to bubble and show signs of boiling, about 1 minute.
- Pour hot cream over chocolate and let it stand about 1 minute. Whisk vigorously until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth and velvety.
- Add vanilla, optional alcohol, and whisk to combine. Set bowl aside for about 5 minutes, allowing ganache to cool and thicken a bit.
- Whisk mixture briefly before preparing to drizzle it over the cake. Ganache will set up a bit with time, but remains quite viscous and drippy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Pumpkin Desserts:
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting. This easy fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread — This pumpkin chocolate chip bread is truly the best homemade pumpkin bread you’ll ever make. It’s moist, packed with chocolate chips, and tastes like fall!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies — Rich, fudgy brownies topped with pumpkin and chocolate chips!! An EASY, no mixer pumpkin brownie recipe that’s FASTER than using a boxed mix! Bring on pumpkin spice season!!
Cream Cheese-Filled Pumpkin Bread — This is without a doubt the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! This pumpkin cream cheese bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked into the middle. You’ll definitely want a second slice!
Soft and Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies — Between the molasses, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin pie spice extract that I used, these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies beautifully showcase the flavors of fall!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake — This soft and moist pumpkin cake is loaded with chocolate in every bite!! An EASY one-bowl fall dessert that’s perfect for impromptu entertaining or anytime a pumpkin craving strikes!!
Originally posted October 1, 2012 and reposted September 29, 2021 with updated text.
Hi Averie, first, let me tell you, I couldn’t take my eyes off that first photo, it is so-so beautiful. a truly zen one… It made my day…. Thank you!
Pumpkin? Oh yes, I do love pumpkin, actually a lot, but mostly as a vegetable, haven’t tried it in cakes (no surprise, as you know, my sweet tooth forgot to grew, or someone else got it…) :)
Thanks for the compliments on the photos and glad you enjoy the pumpkin…and the Zen :)
I saw this picture and I immediately thought of Sue’s pumpkin bundt bread, and it’s so funny that you made her bread as well, small blog world. I have been making her bread for a year now and it’s one of my kid’s favorites. I actually just made it last week and it was gone within 2 days. It’s just a super easy throw together bread. I always seem to have the ingredients on hand, so I make it often come winter or fall. I do love your addition of the chocolate gnache topping and I’m sure my kids would love the bread even more with that addition. I don’t think it would qualify as an after school snack if I topped it with gnache though, it would be more like a dessert. I may add the greek yogurt next time as wellI. Why not, right? I was thinking of replacing the vegetable oil with coconut oil. What do you think about that? I’m not a big fan of vegetable oil, but don’t know if the coconut oil would change the flavor of the cake at all. Any thoughts?
xoxo,
Jackie
The coconut oil would change the flavor for one thing and because of the viscosity and melting/solidification issues, I worry that at certain temps the cake would take on one texture and at another, would take on different textures. That is the only issue when baking with coconut oil – that at around 78-79F the oil changes and could impact results. Now I don’t know for this cake but just thinking out loud that texturally, you may have issues. Flavor-wise, you definitely will. I do love the flavor of coc oil & with pumpkin can be great but not everyone will like that. Love that you’ve been making her bread for a year! I wanted to add sour cream, add more extracts, add more chocolate, remove the nuts and change things up…I can never just make a recipe as is :)
Hi Averie. Thanks for insight on coconut oil! I have seen it used so many times in recipes and I just don’t know enough about it to feel comfortable trying it myself. I’m going to try the bundt cake with your additions next!
I seriously just want to dig right into that piece of cake!!! The ganache on top is calling my name:-)
And it called my name too…over and over :)
ohhhh and you did just that: made it with oodles of chocolate.
i love the ganache addition.
I should try making a pumpkin something with ganache shouldn’t I?
I so want your crumb cake! And I have a pumpkin project Im doing today which will render me with about 1/2 can leftover..I think I need to make your cake. And find that football team so I can donate some of this stuff to them :)
My favourite fall/pumpkin recipe is Angela’s pumpkin gingerbread with spiced buttercream. I have made it numerous times, and it always gets rave reviews.
Oh thanks for the reminder on her bread! I really need to make that one and have had my eye on it for year! Glad to hear it’s always a hit!
YUM! This looks heavenly!
That looks fantastic. Perfect holiday dessert too. I have yet to break into my pumpkin stash other than one soup so far. Maybe I’ll have time to come up with something yummy this week.
Look how gorgeous this is! I never was a pumpkin + chocolate believer until recently. But now, I’m all about it. And all about this fantastical bundt cake. Look at all that smooooth + silky chocolate ganache! You are the ganache queen, my dear, and everytime I see a picture of it I want to lick my screen!
That’s my goal – is to make everyone want to do that :)
Pumpkin and chocolate are amazing together. I love that you used chocolate chips in the cake batter AND a chocolate ganache. It looks simply divine!!
I figured may as well really get after it!
I’m really loving pumpkin and chocolate together–it’s getting up there with other classic chocolate combos. I love pumpkin in any form of pie, cake, bar, quick bread, etc. but one of my favorite non dessert ways to use it is a pumpkin “chili” (I don’t use a formal recipe but go with a can of diced tomatoes, 1/2 can pumpkin,, 1/2 of a sautéed onion, a can of any white bean, a very generous TBS of garam masala and salt to taste). Sometimes I add cauliflower or ground poultry and just adjust my liquids and seasonings.
Oh years ago I made a pumpkin soup. It’s really, really ugly :) But it was good (from memory!) and I want to make pumpkin chili!
https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/10/savory-pumpkin-potato-and-carrot-soup.html
I’ve also wanted to add a pinch of cocoa powder, espresso powder, maple drizzle and maybe coconut oil, to it too! Ive seen lots of chili recipes with cocoa/espresso pinches and they always sound so good to me!
Oooh-thanks for the link to your pumpkin soup–it looks thick and hearty! And a pinch of espresso/cocoa sounds like a nice touch too. Love that idea!
This looks fantastic Averie!
I totally want to make thi swith Greek yogurt! I actually have a budnt pan that I’ve never used. Glad it came out just as you wanted!! Chocolate and pumpkin rock together
Greek yogurt or sour cream would both work and I know you love your pumpkin! Have fun breaking in that Bundt & lmk if you try it!
i baked a pumpkin chocolate bundt cake too! it is such a lovely combination. the luscious glaze on your cake looks fantastic, A!
Look at that chocolate fountain on that cake!! Pure bliss. The cake looks so moist. Want!
It was SUCH a ridic moist cake and yes, chocolate fountain….that’s a good name for what it really was! I wish I could send you a piece!
I like the cake batter of yellow cake best-then again I seem to like the raw form of any baked good best.
The pumpkin bundt looks deeeeeelicious. Make that capital D delicious. I mean Deeeeeelicious.
I should stop rambling now:)
It’s one of the best cakes I’ve eaten in a long time and I’d give it a capital D, too :)