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Chocolate-Pumpkin Marble Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

adapted from My Recipes.com

Dessert | Servings: 12-16
Prep time: 35 min | Cook time: 55 min | Total time: 1 hour 30 min

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened*
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups cake flour, divided
• 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. baking powder, divided
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda, divided
• 1 tsp. salt, divided
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/3 cup regular or low-fat buttermilk, divided

Cream Cheese Glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 4 oz. (1/2 cup) regular or low-fat cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3-4 tbsp. milk (or more if you want a thinner glaze)

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Rub a 10 inch tube pan or 12-cup bundt pan with butter (or spritz with cooking spray) and dust with 1 tbsp. flour until the interior is covered. Tap lightly to shake loose extra flour. Set aside.
2. Spread pumpkin puree over two layers of paper towels and press two more layers on top. Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large mixer bowl cream butter until light. Add both sugars in a steady stream and mix on medium for about 5 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at time, mixing well after each. Add in vanilla.
5. Transfer half of the mixture into another large bowl (another mixer bowl would be helpful, but any large bowl will work). Set aside.
6. Scape the pumpkin off of the paper towel and add it to the first bowl. Mix well.
7. In a smaller bowl combine 1 3/4 cup flour, pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.
8. Add half of the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Mix in 1/3 cup buttermilk. Then add the remaining flour and mix until combined. Set aside.
9. In the smaller bowl combine 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.
10. Add half of the flour/cocoa mixture to the other large bowl and mix well with a whisk or your mixer. Mix in 1 cup of buttermilk. Then add the remaining flour and mix until combined.
11. Spoon 1/3 of the pumpkin batter into your prepared pan. Drop heaping spoonfuls of the chocolate batter around the pan (not completely covering all the pumpkin). Spoon in the remaining pumpkin and chocolate batters. Gently swirl a knife around the pan several times.
12. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs (make sure you’re checking in both the pumpkin and chocolate parts, I noticed large chocolate sections needed a few additional minutes). Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool for another 10 minutes on a rack.
13. Meanwhile, to make the glaze, mix powdered sugar and cream cheese until well blended. Beat in vanilla and milk, 1 tbsp. at time. Drizzle on the warm cake. Let cake cool completely.

Recipe Notes:

After I initially posted this recipe I decided the cake was coming out a bit too dry so I increased the amount of butter and sugars. If you’d prefer to make a healthier version of this cake (and you don’t mind if it’s a bit on the dry side) you can reduce these ingredients to their original amounts: reduce both sugars to 3/4 cup and the butter to 1 cup.