Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake – Our Secret Family Recipe
This pumpkin chocolate chip cake is a family tradition, and has become synonymous with holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. First, it was just for family dinners, and Tart’s grandmother would bake one for dessert, along with a couple of pies. Later, the Tart used this as one project in her seventh grade cooking class (the other being the overnight cookies). Now, as the family has grown and spread out, holiday dinners span several homes and we make this cake in larger quantities. Last year, the Beard made about six of these cakes at Christmas. This year, for Thanksgiving, I passed out three.
For a very long time, Tart firmly believed it was a SECRET FAMILY RECIPE, the release of which was punishable by death and banishment from the family for all eternity. Maybe not banishment from the family, but almost certainly back to the kids’ table.
The Secret
Nanny wrote the recipe for this cake, in that unmistakable grandmother handwriting, on an index card that yellowed and faded with age. Years ago we asked her where she got the recipe from. “It’s a family recipe,” she told us.
The real secret was that the pumpkin chocolate chip cake recipe wasn’t a secret at all. When we inherited all Nanny’s cookbooks and recipe cards, we found the source of our secret family recipe. Tart found a newspaper clipping stuck in a recipe box, barely more than a small column on a cooking page. It was a reader-submitted recipe, sent in response to another reader’s quest for the recipe of her husband’s favorite cake.
Pumpkin and Chocolate
Whenever Tart would describe the cake, most people would scrunch their nose up in disgust. Pumpkin and chocolate? Why ruin a perfectly good chocolate chip cake by adding pumpkin to it? Why not save the pumpkin for a pie? However, if they give it a chance, everyone loves it, even those people who initially balk at the combination. So now, we’re sharing it with others in hopes that you all will enjoy it with your families the way that we enjoy it in ours.
The Perfect Pan
This recipe makes a LOT of batter and it rises quite a bit. You’re probably going to want to opt for a plain old bundt pan, instead of one of those fancy decorative castle things. It also works nicely in mini-bundts, if you’re looking to make a dozen or so, just adjust your cooking time accordingly. For easier removal once the cake has cooled, you should both grease and flour your pan, but a liberal application of butter or cooking spray should suffice.
In our house, there is a very specific bundt pan that needs to be used. This particular pan was one of Nanny’s pans, and makes picking the size of your slice perfect – there’s a thin slice, and a thick slice. Once, when we bought a new pan, we gave it to Tart’s sister because the slices weren’t right.
(Sorry, Danielle!)
Tips for Making It
Unless you’re a glutton for punishment and want to stir this by hand for a while, you’ll want a decent mixer. One of those $5 jobbers from Walmart will do the job (once), but this batter is heavy as hell and you really want something with some power to it. Maybe even something with a pull-start.
Be sure to check the size of your bag of chocolate chips. You want the smaller bag that’s about 12oz, not the larger bag. Nanny’s original recipe card just said “1 bag choc. chips”. Tart’s cousin once made it with double chips; we all ate it even though it was insanely sweet. Her fiancé was obligated to eat two slices.
Once made, the pumpkin chocolate chip cake is really easy to store. Wrap it in plastic and leave it on the counter, or wrap it in foil and store in the fridge. It’s survived sitting in the break room at Tart’s job for a week. She firmly believes it could survive the apocalypse and should be included in pantries of fallout shelters everywhere.
Our family has their own preferences for eating it. It’s dense enough to be eaten right out of your hand, for cake on the go. Most of Tart’s family will top it with Cool Whip. Whipped cream is also acceptable, but there have been wars started over smaller things. Several family members also swear by toasting slices in butter in a small frying pan.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 small can of pumpkin 14-15 oz
- 1 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
Making It
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Preheat your oven to 350°F (because everything cooks at 350°F) and grease and flour a bundt pan.
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Mix all ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes.
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Add the bag of chocolate chips and blend with a spoon (give your beater a rest). If your bag is bigger than 12oz, you should use about 2 cups of chips.
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Bake it for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let it sit for about 15 minutes in the pan. At that point, providing that the pan was sufficiently greased (because everything’s better with lube) pop it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool for another 2 hours before serving.
Recipe Notes
This makes a LOT of batter and rises a quite a bit, so you’re probably going to want to opt for a plain old bundt pan, and not one of those fancy decorative castle things. It also works nicely in mini-bundts, if you’re looking to make a dozen or so.
I’ve also got it on good authority that it’s very tasty if you slice it, butter it, and fry it.
The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things. She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.
