The Most Delicious Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake Recipe (2024)

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By Andrea on September 23, 2016 | Updated June 13, 2023 | 12 Comments

Moist and delicious pumpkin cake with chocolate chunks and a cream cheese frosting. This chocolate chunk pumpkin cake is the perfect alternative to a dry boxed cake. Follow the notes to make it gluten free (tested and delicious).

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The Most Delicious Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake Recipe (2)

Yesterday was my daughter’s 10th birthday. She’s an old soul. She’s quiet and kind and brilliant and creative. She marches to the beat of her own drum and doesn’t let others influence the way she thinks. She’s most often found with her nose in a book or doing research on some project she’s creating, for fun. She loves volleyball and basketball and rollerblading down ramps or inventing new machines.

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Last year she asked for a dark chocolate, flourless pear cake. This year she wanted to go out for sushi and be surprised by her cake. So I made her a double layer chocolate chunk pumpkin cake and a vanilla cream cheese frosting. This was the absolute tastiest cake, ever! You’re going to love this recipe! She was so excited!

The Most Delicious Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake Recipe (3)

What’s better? We made this gluten free (you don’t have to) and it was definitely the best gluten free cake I’ve ever tasted. My oldest daughter has Celiac Diseaseso finding gluten free baked goods that aren’t dense is often difficult. If you’ve ever baked gluten free, you’ll know what I mean.

We added some dark chocolate curls to the top to make it prettier. Because, why not? Friends, you MUST make this cake this fall. Don’t delay.

More recipes to try:

Pumpkin Cake Bars
Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes

5 from 42 votes

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Author Andrea

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Fosting Time 10 minutes minutes

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

▢ ½ cup vegetable oil
▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
▢ 2 ½ cups canned pumpkin puree
▢ 4 eggs room temperature
▢ 2 cups flour sifted and leveled
▢ 1 tablespoon baking powder
▢ 2 teaspoons baking soda
▢ 1 ¾ cups sugar
▢ 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
▢ ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
▢ ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
▢ ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
▢ 1 cup dark chocolate cut into chunks

Frosting Ingredients

▢ 24 oz cream cheese softened
▢ 1 cup butter softened
▢ 9 ¾ cups powdered sugar
▢ 1 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract

Garnish

▢ 8 oz dark chocolate bar (optional)

Instructions

Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line the bottom of 2 round 8" cake pans with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves together.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk eggs, oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix gently until dry ingredients are just combined. Do not overmix.
Gently fold in chocolate chunks.
Pour batter into 2 cake pans equally.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean or with dry crumbs on it.
Set cake pans on cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

Frosting Instructions

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer. Slowly add the powdered sugar about ½ cup at a time.

Cake Assembly

Remove cake from cake pans. Using a serrated knife, cut off the top of the cake if it's domed. This will allow the cakes to sit flat and not slide once frosted.
Place one cake on a cake plate. Frost the top of the cake until it's about ½" thick.
Place the other cake round on top of the frosting. Frost around the top and sides of the cake.
Top the cake with chocolate shavings. (optional)

Notes

Gluten Free Substitutions:

I’ve tested this cake as gluten free and it’s amazing. It does not disappoint. Substitute the all-purpose flour for a Gluten Free all-purpose flour that contains xanthan gum. I prefer the King Arthurs or Cup 4 Cup brands. Also make sure your baking powder is gluten free.

How To Sift Flour:

The easiest way to sift flour is to use a spoon to stir the flour well before you spoon it into your measuring cup. Spoon the aerated flour into the measuring cup then level it off with a knife.

Nutrition

Love This Recipe?

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Created by Andrea

Welcome. I started this blog in 2007, when I was sharing mostly daily life, crafts and food. I took a blog hiatus between 2016-2022. I'm back full time sharing my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy!