A stunning Pumpkin Bundt Cake made with homemade pumpkin purée, and drizzled with an orange glaze.
Pumpkin Patch
On a recent visit to the Jucker Farm, a pumpkin patch just outside of Zurich, I treated myself to a slice of their famous pumpkin cake which was topped with lemon icing and pistachios.
My husband rolled his eyes at the sight of this city-slicker drinking a latté macchiato on a farm and indulging in an American-inspired cake. But the Swiss love American culture, and having spent a few years living in the US, I am rather grateful for it too.
Pumpkin Bundt Cake
But despite pumpkin cake being an American invention, the recipe for this beautiful Pumpkin Bundt Cake comes via the British Nigella Lawson from her cookbook, Simply Nigella.
Nigella makes no secret of her love for all things Americana, so I wasn’t surprised to see a recipe for this Pumpkin Bundt Cake in Simply Nigella.
How to Make Pumpkin Cake
Nigella suggests grating dark chocolate over the orange frosting but, inspired by my recent afternoon tea at the Jucker Farm, I instead sprinkled chopped pistachios over the cake for a bit of crunch and colour.
Nigella also uses canned pumpkin purée in her recipe, whereas I am making the most of the newly seasonal pumpkins by making my own homemade pumpkin purée (see Kitchen Notes below).
In any event, canned pumpkin purée is not readily available where I live, and having fresh pumpkin purée to hand is also rather convenient when preparing meals for my little ones.
I’m not sure how canned pumpkin purée compares to freshly made pumpkin purée in the finished cake, but as homemade pumpkin purée is usually more liquid (this also depends on what type of pumpkin you use), I daresay that it makes for a softer cake.
The result I had was an incredibly moist and moreish cake, heady with autumnal spices. The children loved it so much that they had seconds 🙂 I only wish they ate their roasted or steamed pumpkin with the same enthusiasm!
I can’t think of a more impressive cake to serve this autumn.
Bundt Pan
The bundt pan I have used for this pumpkin cake is a Nordicware Heritage Bundt Pan, but you can use any other bundt pan with a 10 cup or 2.4 litre capacity.
As I have had many disasters with cakes sticking to the intricate grooves of various bundt pans, I highly recommend using a non-stick baking spray for bundt pans, as well as lightly flouring the pan for extra reassurance.
More Pumpkin Recipes
If you are looking for more pumpkin recipes, you might also enjoy the following:
Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Pecans & Chocolate
PrintPumpkin Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 60 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 mins
- Yield: Makes 10-14 slices
- Category: Cakes
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
A stunning Pumpkin Bundt Cake made with homemade pumpkin purée, and drizzled with an orange glaze.
Print
Pin Recipe
RateIngredients
For the pumpkin cake
- 300g (1 ½ cups) light muscovado sugar (or soft light brown sugar)
- 250ml (1 cup) sunflower oil
- zest and juice of 1 orange
- 3 eggs
- 400g (3 ⅔ cup) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 300g (1 ¼ cup) pumpkin purée (see Cook’s Notes below)
For the orange glaze
- 200g (2 cups) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 2–3 tablespoons orange juice (from the same orange above)
- 3–5 tablespoons pistachios (shelled and unsalted), finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Generously spray the bundt pan with a non-stick cooking spray and then dust with flour. Invert the bundt pan over the sink and give it a tap to shake off the excess flour.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, oil, orange zest, and 2 tablespoons of orange juice.
- Beat on medium speed until everything is combined and smooth.
- Add the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the pumpkin purée.
- Add the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon and allspice.
- Beat on light speed just until everything is well-combined.
- Pour the mixture into the bundt pan.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Leave the cake to cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes.
- Gently loosen the cake around the funnel, and then carefully turn the cake out onto a wire rack.
- Leave to cool completely.
- Make the orange glaze by whisking some orange juice into the icing sugar (powdered sugar) until you have a consistency which is runny enough to ice the cake, but thick enough to stick to the cake.
- Spoon the glaze over the cake and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.
Kitchen Notes
HOMEMADE PUMPKIN PURÉE
* Peel and remove the seeds from about 500 g (1 lb) of pumpkin.
* Cut the pumpkin into large pieces of roughly equal size.
* To boil, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the pumpkin and cook for about 30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
* To steam, bring a large pot of water to the boil, place the pumpkin in the steamer basket and steam for about 50-60 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
* Place the cooked pumpkin into the bowl of a large food processor and blitz until you have a fine purée.
* Leave the purée to cool completely before using in this recipe.
* Any leftover pumpkin purée can be kept in a covered container in the fridge for a few days.
RECIPE CREDIT
This recipe is adapted from Simply Nigella by Nigella Lawson
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Nutritional info per slice
- Calories: 421
- Sugar: 36.5g
- Sodium: 240.6mg
- Fat: 18.1g
- Carbohydrates: 60.5g
- Fiber: 1.7g
- Protein: 5.3g
- Cholesterol: 42.4mg
#eatlittlebird
Update
This recipe was first published on 19 October 2016. It has been updated with new photos and more comprehensive recipe notes.
Such a beautiful bundt! I love the orange in there!
Thanks, Katrina! I think the orange also adds a lovely note to this cake 🙂
Is the cup measurement for the flour correct?
I thought 400g would be nearly 4 cups of flour?
Hi Emilye,
I confess to cheating a bit and used the American measurements for this recipe from this website: http://www.thesocial.ca/Food/Recipes/Pumpkin-Bundt-Cake-recipe
But I have just checked and measured the flour myself, and you are quite right … 400g flour is just under 4 cups of flour. In fact, it is 3 2/3 cup. I have amended the recipe to show this.
Thanks for pointing this out to me!
This is beautiful! I typically don’t enjoy bunds cakes because of their dryness, but this recipe doesn’t seem like it would be dry – maybe because of the pumpkin? Love the icing, too!
Hi Mimi,
This cake is definitely not dry. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by how soft and moist it was. And being a moist cake, it also keeps well over several days 🙂
This looks so delicious, I love the colours and I love that heritage bundt tin! It’s a beauty.
Well done!
Thanks, Angela! I love using this bundt tin – it makes any cake look so glam 🙂
What a beautiful pumpkin cake, Thanh! And I love that you did the chopped pistachios instead of chocolate here. It’s so novel and such a great pop of color! <3
Thank you, Beeta 🙂 I had made some pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips the week before, so I thought I would try something a bit different with this cake. We all loved it!
Where can you buy allspice in Zürich?
Hello,
I buy allspice from the food hall downstairs at Jelmoli. It is called Piment in German. Hope this helps!
Holy enchilada, this is BEAUTIFUL! (:
Thanks, Macy! 🙂
This is a delicious and moist cake! One of my favourite recipes from Simply Nigella!
★★★★★
What a fantastic idea! This looks really good! I like this! Thank you for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Hello, which bundt tin did you use – I am looking at purchasing the Williams Sonoma Bundt tin in this shape. Would love any opinion on the Williams Sonoma GoldTouch range, or your suggested brand?
Hi Marliese,
The majority of my bundt tins are from Nordic Ware, including the one used for this Pumpkin Bundt Cake, which I can highly recommend. I also have many non-stick cake pans from Gobel, which I also really like. Otherwise, if the bundt tin has a non-stick coating and feels quite hefty for weight, that usually signals that it is good quality. Hope this helps!