Turn your favorite Fall beverage into a showstopping cake with this Pumpkin Spice Latte Bundt Cake! Pumpkin & coffee flavored cake with a milk & sugar glaze.
It would not be a lie if I said this was one of my favorite Fall cakes. Just LOOK at how stunning this cake turned out! I’m not one to toot my own horn, but this cake exceeded my expectations, both in look and flavor.
I made this Bundt a year before one of my most popular cakes, the Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake. That one is my favorite for Fall (those fondant pumpkins! ), but this one is such a close second, and the world needs to know.
The inspiration for the styling of this Pumpkin Spice Latte Bundt Cake came from none other than Martha Stewart.
I found the cutest Nordic Ware Pumpkin Bundt set at my local Homesense and was itching to use it. It’s the only time of year that I can.
In my search for pumpkin cake, I came across a cake from Martha (Update: The original cake from Martha’s site has been removed, similar to this one, but more round and had the white glaze covering it).
How to Make This Pumpkin Cake
I tweaked my Pumpkin Bread recipe for the Bundt cake, got rid of the ginger, and added pumpkin pie spice and espresso powder. I was nervous about the flavor of the espresso powder and the pumpkin together, but it does taste good in a Pumpkin Spice Latte, so it should work.
I started with 1 tsp of instant espresso powder but couldn’t taste it in the batter, so I added another. If you dislike coffee, you can leave this out entirely.
I baked the Bundts at 375F, which caused them to dome too much. I had to push the crowns down and trim some excess, so I adjusted the recipe to 350F.
Decorating this Pumpkin Bundt
For the pumpkin stalk, I cut the stem from an actual pumpkin. I trimmed the orange pumpkin part so it was small enough to fit in the center but large enough to support the stalk from tipping over. I should have taken a picture of this, sorry!
The glaze would be tricky, and I was nervous about it. In the video on the Martha Stewart site, she glazes each Bundt separately and then, I presume, stacks them once the glaze dries — they didn’t show that part.
It’s this stacking post-glaze I was worried about. I could imagine the glaze on the bottom Bundt cracking due to the weight of the top one. So instead, I stacked them first and then glazed them all over.
I first put a bit of glaze between the two Bundts to help them stick together and seal any remaining gaps, then doused the whole thing with a LOT of ice. More than you’d think you need.
The glaze was much thicker than I’d generally do, but I wanted it to look white. I hoped it would cover the entire thing well, and it did! I had to nudge it into a few places near the bottom, but overall it worked perfectly. I left it to set overnight.
Since the glaze had dried, it wasn’t fascinating and not the look I wanted. I contemplated doing another thinner layer of ice over the top for photos, but I didn’t want to do that. If I had a spray bottle, I could mist some water over it to get that shine, but I didn’t have one.
I was just about to make more glaze to pour over when Ryan suggested painting the ice on instead of pouring it, and I had a lightbulb moment. Instead of re-glazing, I just dipped a pastry brush in water and brushed it on. It worked like a charm!
That’s a great tip if you want to make this in advance but have it look pretty right before serving.
INSTRUCTIONS
Pumpkin Spice Latte Bundt
Preheat oven to 350F and grease & flour two 6-cup Bundt pans (or two 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pans or one 12-cup Bundt pan).
Whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Whisk together sugars, melted butter, pumpkin, and eggs in a large bowl.
Add dry to wet and mix until just combined.
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean (about. 40-45 mins).
Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10mins, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Sugar Glaze
In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the sugar and milk until completely combined (I actually use a fork to do this). The glaze will be thick.
Assembly
Trim off any domes on the Bundts so you can stack them evenly.
Flip one Bundt over so it’s flat side up. Place onto a cooling rack over parchment (to catch the glaze).
Pour some glaze over the flat part and spread evenly; place the other Bundt on top.
Pour glaze over the top, nudging with a spoon to cover the entire Bundt.