Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Swirl Cake

This time of year, I love cooking with pumpkin. My house enjoys a wonderful aroma and my family and friends get a sweet fall treat. Since Thanksgiving is only a week away, I thought you might be looking for a new dessert for your guests. Once everyone takes a bite of this Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Swirl Cake, they’ll be so thankful they’re eating at your house! Heck, they may even start to hound you for the recipe. This cake is good!

 

I’ve always been a big fan of mixing chocolate and pumpkin. To me, those two flavors are perfect for each other. They’re a match made in Kitchen Heaven. 😉 But even that beautiful combination is no match for the glaze on this sweet cake. Everyone in my family thought it was the absolutely the best part.

 

Can you see those little flakes of orange in that beautiful glaze? Can you believe that’s pieces of orange? Yep, it’s true! A little splash of orange juice and orange zest makes this regular confectioners sugar topping extraordinaire!

You may think getting the “swirls” in this cake would be hard to do, but it’s really quite simple. Once you have your batter completely mixed you divide it half. Then add your cocoa and chocolate to one of the halves. You then alternate between the pumpkin batter and the chocolate batter as you are filling your loaf pan. Last step is to take a knife and gently swirl it through the batter. The end result, a beautifully swirled cake!

 

You may have noticed that I made my cake with gluten-free flour. If gluten is not a problem for you, regular all purpose flour will work just fine in this recipe. I hope you’ll give this Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Swirl Cake a try.

 

 

Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Swirl Cake {Gluten Free}

Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 55 minutes
Makes 12 Servings

Ingredients:

For Cake:

• 1 3/4 cups gluten free flour (I use King Arthur Gluten Free Flour)
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 oz. dark chocolate chips, melted
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

For Glaze:Amb

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
• 2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:

For Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line pan with parchment; coat with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add butter and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Fold in canned pumpkin.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients all at once, whisk just until no lumps remain.

Divide batter in half. Add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to half the batter; stir to combine.

Alternately add batters to pan. Using a knife, swirl through batter. Bake 55 to 65 minutes until cake has risen and crackled, and a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove from oven; let cool for 20 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack; cool completely.

For Orange Glaze:

In a small bowl stir together powdered sugar, orange peel, and orange juice. Spoon over cooled cake.