This festive Pumpkin Ganache Spiced Cake is rich with Guinness, molasses and spices, a silky pumpkin ganache and a cardamom foam.
Pumpkin Never Looked So Festive!
This pumpkin ganache spiced cake with cardamom foam will make even the novice baker look like a 5 star pro!
A spiced cake with rye flour, Guinness and molasses, pumpkin ganache with white chocolate and cardamom and coconut cream foam is nothing short of Grand!
The Spiced Cakes We Love For Holidays
As Autumn approaches, days grow shorter, and holiday celebrations begin to occupy the mind.
We naturally ponder exciting menus we hope to share with friends and family.
Nothing tastes more like October, November and December than dark, rich, spices in a dessert.
This cake is so rich with holiday-season flavors that it is sure to become a favorite to make again and again each Autumn and Winter season.
Pumpkin Ganache
Pumpkin is almost always at the forefront of many holiday menu ideas, but what if you wanted to create a dessert that looks and tastes so spectacular that you would serve it to royalty!
Let’s face it, pumpkin desserts often look more rustic and ‘down home’ in appearance.
We’re about to change that with this spectacular, French inspired pumpkin ganache, rich with white chocolate.
This thick and rich pumpkin ganache will be placed on top of the spiced cake using a quenelle method of placing it.
Pumpkin Season
Since I live in the countryside, nestled between the nation’s capital and the Chesapeake Bay, harvest season for crops such as pumpkin and corn are all around me.
My favorite thing to do at the onset of autumn it to take my grandchildren to a pumpkin patch to pick their own pumpkin to take home, and one for grandma to make something yummy.
I decided to experiment on my little ones, by using them as the taste samplers for the pumpkin ganache that would go into the finale of this beautiful dessert.
How could they not love it, with pumpkin, white chocolate, cream and pumpkin spices, I would just tell them it’s a pudding, after all, a ganache sure tastes like a pudding to me.
Oh my gosh was it a hit!
Spiced Cake
Spiced Cake would be the next part I would make ahead of time, and sample the finished cake to see if it would need tweaking.
Never doing that again. I nearly ate them all!
Sure there would be beer in the cake. Like, who puts beer in a cake? Guinness isn’t just a beer, it is rich with dark, molasses notes that were sure to add depth to this cake.
But, why not add little more molasses, to deepen the rich offerings from the Guinness, brown sugar too, instead of regular sugar.
Starting to get the idea how delicious this cake is going to be?
White pepper for a bit of a bite, bourbon or rum to tease the taste buds, and a little rye flour to give it a bit more of a nutty flavor than white flour alone will offer.
This cake is too darn delicious.
Cardamom Foam
What is a foam? Honestly, it’s really just this fancy way of putting a splash or a drizzle of more flavor on either sweet or savory dishes.
Simply mix up whatever the flavor, broth, sauce or cream is you want, toss it into a steel cylinder, fitted with an N20 cartridge, nitrous oxide, and poof, it turns the contents into the consistency of a whipped cream, or lacy foam.
Really it is just a cool kitchen toy, for making sauces and creams look beautiful on the plate.
Think of it as your DIY can of whipped ‘whatever’!
Cardamom spice in a sweetened whipping cream was exactly the extra splash of exotic panache I wanted for this very elegant, yet simple dessert.
Quenelle
There is another cool way to display cream or custard textured ingredients onto a plate and it is called a quenelle method.
It is a technique which makes a three-sided oval shape out of a soft, moldable component, simply by scooping the cream back and forth from one spoon to another, turning it slightly as it goes back and forth.
A beautiful oval cream to place on top this beautiful cake.
Well, are you ready to make this decadent dessert?
There are three separate parts to making this fancy dessert. While each is not difficult, doing them all at the same time can be a little time consuming.
Therefore I make each component at different times, so when ready to assemble, it will seem like an easy dessert.
How To Use Canning Lids As Cake Pans
Since I have a large family I often prefer to make very small individual tarts or cakes for a family gathering.
It makes serving them tidy and easy, and there is less waste than cutting into a large cake or pie and having them look a sloppy mess or begin to dry out.
Mini tart or cake pans can be very expensive, sometimes upwards of $10.00 per pan.
So, my new favorite way to make affordable, easy to serve individual desserts is by using the lids of a Mason Jar!
The lids are designed to withstand heat when canning and immersing in boiling water, which makes them perfect to withstand the heat of the oven.
Simply invert the lid in the metal ring so it is upside down, pressing the rubber ring to the bottom of the ring.
Bake. When the cakes of tarts are cool, simply pop them out.
Ingredients Behind Pumpkin Ganache Spiced Cake
Every element of this dessert leans into the essence of autumn comfort, a balance of spice, depth, and silkiness that lingers long after the last bite.
- Spice Cake:
- Molasses and Guinness create the base notes of the cake, adding rich, dark sweetness and a malty depth that enhance the spices and bring moisture to the crumb. The slight bitterness of Guinness balances the molasses, giving the cake a complex, grown-up flavor.
- Baking soda reacts with the acidity of the molasses and stout, ensuring the cake rises light and airy despite its deep, dense ingredients.
- Rye flour lends a rustic earthiness, while unbleached flour keeps the texture tender and balanced. Together they give the cake both structure and a subtle, wholesome flavor.
- The aromatic blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and white pepper warms the senses, an orchestra of spice where ginger and pepper bring heat, cinnamon and nutmeg add sweetness, and cardamom threads through with its citrusy perfume.
- Baking powder and salt bring lift and balance, letting each flavor shine in harmony.
- Eggs enrich the batter with body and structure, while brown sugar adds caramel depth and moisture that complements the spices. Butter rounds it all out, binding flavor to texture and infusing every crumb with richness.
- Ganache:
- White chocolate provides creamy indulgence, while pumpkin puree gives body and a subtle autumn flavor. Whipping cream keeps the texture smooth and luscious, and pumpkin spice mix ties the filling to the cake’s spiced notes. A touch of butter enhances shine and mouthfeel, while a pinch of salt sharpens every sweet edge.
- Cardamom Foam:
- A whisper of elegance is made from whipping cream and confectioners sugar, whipped just enough to create soft peaks, scented lightly with cardamom. It’s airy yet fragrant, a cloud of spice to crown the richness below.
Equipment Needed
- Mason Jar Lids – the wide mouth size, or removable bottom tart pans
- Saucepan for melting the white chocolate.
- Measuring cup and measuring spoons, as are a staple in a bakers kitchen.
- Plastic wrap used to place tightly across the top of the ganache while it sets.
- Mixing bowls for easy mixing of the various elements of the recipe.
- Refrigerator to set the ganache.
- Oven to bake the cakes.
- Stove top or burner to melt the white chocolate.
- Spoons for shaping quenelles
- Foaming cartridge – optional
- Hand mixer to whip the cream
Pumpkin Ganache Spiced Cake with Cardamom Cream
Equipment
- 6 Individual mini removable bottom pans or a single 9-inch
- Whipped cream dispenser optional
Ingredients
CAKE INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup Molasses
- 1 cup Guinness or dark ale
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 cup Rye flour
- 1 tsp Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg each
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3 Large Eggs separated, egg whites whipped and set aside
- 1/3 cup Brown sugar
- 8 tbsp Butter melted, cooled
PUMPKIN GANACHE INGREDIENTS
- 16 oz White Chocolate melted
- 3/4 cup Pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup Whipping cream
- 6 oz Butter soft/room temperature
- 4 tsp Pumpkin spice mix homemade
- 1/2 tsp Salt
CREAM INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup Whipping cream
- 1 tsp Cardamom
- 2 tbsp Confectioners sugar
Instructions
CAKE PREPARATION
- Preheat oven to 350. Nonstick spray into 6 individual, removable bottom tart pans, or 1 removable bottom baking pan.
- Simmer the molasses and Guinness in a pan twice its depth, until incorporated. Stir in baking soda carefully, and don’t worry when it bubbles and rises like a science experiment. Cool.
- In medium bowl, mix both flours, spices, salt and baking powder. In a separate larger bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in butter and cooled molasses mixture into the egg mixture.
- Fold in dry ingredients until lightly blended. Fold in whipped egg whites. Transfer batter into prepared pan/pans. Bake until tester comes out clean, 25-45 minutes. (Timing will vary depending on the size pans used.) Cool on wire rack.
GANACHE PREPARATION
- In a medium size bowl, place pumpkin puree, cream, softened butter, spices and salt and mix well. Add melted white chocolate and blend.
- Place mixture in a low bowl or pan. Press plastic wrap on top of the ganache, so it does not form a skin. Chill for a few hours or over night, allowing the mixture to set and become firm.
- Allow to set over night
CREAM PREPARATION
- Whip these ingredients together until firm. Store in fridge until ready to use.
ASSEMBLY
- Components are now ready to assemble. Place an individual cake on each beautiful plate. Using the quenelle method (instructed above), place a scoop of pumpkin ganache on one side of the top of the cake. Do the same with the cardamom foam, by either using the quenelle technique or a whipped cream dispenser. A few shaves of freshly grated nutmeg or cinnamon on top will make for the perfect topping!
Video
Notes
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.