Pumpkin Spice-Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream (Video Recipe)

Name: Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Prep time: 90 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 18 Servings
Ingredients: 320 grams All-Purpose Flour; 150 grams White Sugar; 160 grams Brown Sugar; 3 Eggs; 190 ml Cooking Oil; 120 ml Pumpkin Puree; 120 ml Buttermilk; 1 tsp Pumpkin Spice; 1/2 tsp Coffee Powder (instant); 2 tsp Baking powder; 1/2 tsp Baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 2 tsp Vanilla; 1/4 cup Sugar Syrup; 4 cups Maple Buttercream Frosting ((recipe below)); 342 grams Unsalted Butter; 600 grams Powdered Sugar; 80 ml Maple Syrup; 2 tsp Vanilla Extract; 1 tsp Maple extract; 2 drops gel-food color (optional ); 100 grams Orange fondant; 50 grams green fondant; 50 grams brown fondant

November 12, 2018 *Updated* March 25, 2019 By Veena Azmanov 46 Comments

Recipe Video Print

Pumpkin Spice-Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream

The rich flavor of pumpkin spice latte beverage in a cake makes it a pumpkin spice-latte cake. Combine with a maple buttercream frosting this cake is a perfect fall dessert you’ve been craving. Oil-based cake batter makes for a light and airy cake infused with warm spices, coffee, and maple syrup. Rich decadent and perfect for a celebration or festive dessert. Topped with fondant pumpkins this cake is ready to be placed as the centerpiece for your next celebratory family dinner.

Celebrate the season of fall with pumpkin spice latte cake and maple buttercream frosting.

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Three years ago I had a customer request me to make a pumpkin spice-latte cake. At first, I was confused about what’s a pumpkin spice-latte cake. I’ve made pumpkin spice cake for years but what’s a pumpkin spice latte cake? Of course, my American husband told me all about the famous Starbucks Pumpkin Spice-latte. It was a refreshing new flavor for me.

So I took my favorite pumpkin cake which already had pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree in it, and I added a dash of coffee powder to it. Voila!! Pumpkin Spice-Latte cake. The customer was thrilled. She said it was the best pumpkin-spice cake she ever had.

Three Pumpkin Layer Cakes

I shared a few pumpkin fall-inspired recipes with you the last year and quite a few this year. Including three layer cakes.

The pumpkin spice latte with maple syrup is to die for. The pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese is full of wonderful spices and melts in your mouth with the cream cheese. The pumpkin cream cake is a variation on the vanilla cream cake which is not just popular on the blog but also among family and friends. It has fresh cream in it. So, the flavor is luxurious, and it’s frosted with more whipped cream buttercream. Need I say more.

A collection of three pumpkin cakes pumpkin spice, pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin cream cake.

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About this cake

This week I made both cakes my Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting and this pumpkin spice-latte cake with my maple buttercream frosting. I took it with me to a family gathering, and the verdict is that they liked both. I’d love to know from you which of these two are your favorites.

Now, I must admit that my spice-latte cake has a touch of coffee, so it’s not overly coffee flavored. I wanted to make sure the maple flavor does not get lost with the coffee. The truth is that both these cakes are very different in taste as well as in texture and process.

My pumpkin spice cake is butter-based and uses all white sugar. It has no coffee of course but a tad more of the pumpkin spice. I frost it with a no-butter cream cheese frosting or sometimes with Swiss Meringue buttercream. My pumpkin spice latte is oil-based with half white and half brown sugar. The coffee flavor is subtle, but it’s there. Today, I have frosted it with maple buttercream frosting, but I have tried it with coffee as well as caramel buttercream. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I love the combination of pumpkin spice with caramel. If you haven’t tired, you absolutely must.

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Let’s talk ingredients and substitutes (Save/Pin)

All-purpose flour – Yes, plain flour works great for this recipe. No need to use any cake flour or self-rising flour
Sugar – I have used both white and brown sugars. These add flavor and texture to the cake. The color and hint of molasses flavor from the brown sugar adds to enhance the flavor of the pumpkin spice.
Pumpkin Spice is a blend of warm fall spices. Pumpkin spice is readily available from most supermarkets these days, but you can make your own with spices you probably already have in your kitchen. You can find my recipe for pumpkin spice here.
Vanilla extract – A good quality vanilla goes a long way in enhancing the flavor of your baked goods.
Maple syrup – This is an expensive ingredient but one that will add so much flavor to your buttercream. Often a maple extract is a great substitute. I prefer a good quality maple syrup. You may choose to use 1 tsp maple extract and substitute the maple syrup in the recipe with fresh cream.
Coffee Powder – I use instant coffee powder, but you can use regular coffee powder. I like a subtle hint of coffee, so I’ve used only 1/2 tsp, but you can use up to one tsp.

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Recipe – Pumpkin Spice-Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream (Save/Pin)

Useful Tips and Tools

If you bake often, it would be a good idea to invest in a cake mixer. Because often we try to mix by hand and then we are too tired to give it enough creaming or mixing. So, if you are making this cake go ahead and remove that K-Mix or Kitchen Aid from your kitchen cabinet.You don’t have to buy an expensive stand mixer, a simple hand mixer works great too.
Having said that, a simple Bowl, whisk and Spatula with a little extra effort will do the trick too.
I believe in weighing ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scaleone of the most valuable items when baking.
The same goes for mymeasuring cups and measuring spoons. It’s always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
I think one set of baking pans is a must for anyone a home baker. Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans.
Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly

Ingredients

For the cake

320 grams All-Purpose Flour (2 1/2 cups)
150 grams White Sugar (3/4 cup)
160 grams Brown Sugar (3/4 cup)
190 ml Cooking Oil (3/4 cup)
120 ml Pumpkin Puree (1/2 cup
3 large Eggs
120 ml Buttermilk (1/2 cup)
1 tsp Pumpkin Spice
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Vanilla

For the Filling and Frosting

1/4 cup Sugar syrup
1 batch – Maple Buttercream (recipe below)

For the Maple Buttercream

342 grams Unsalted Butter (1 1/2 cups)
600 grams Powdered Sugar (5 cups)
80 ml Maple Syrup (1/3 cup)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Maple extract
2 drops Maple edible gel-food color (optional – I do not use it)

Decorations (optional)

100 grams orange fondant
50 grams green fondant
and 50 grams brown fondant

Method

Prepare cake

Preheat the oven to 170 C/ 340 F
Grease and line 3 x 6-inch round cake pans or 2 x 8-inch round cake pans
Combine flour with baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice, Coffee powder, and salt – set aside.
Whip the eggs with both sugars until light and foamy.
Add oil and whip a minute more.
Then add the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla.
Lastly, add the flour mixture – combine well.
Divide equally between the prepared baking pans
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
Cool on a wire rack completely before you decorate.

Prepare Maple Buttercream

Cream butter until smooth
Add the salt, vanilla and maple syrup
Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to mix.
Once all the powdered sugar is added, continue to whip the buttercream until light and fluffy
It will become whiter but also light and airy like whipped cream.
If you want a maple color, you will need to add a food gel color because maple syrup does not have any color.

Assemble

Once cooled, cut the domes off the cake layers
Brush each layer with the cooled sugar syrup
Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
Top with a big dollop of maple buttercream – spread evenly.
Then top the second cake layer on top followed by buttercream and the last layer.
Place the cake in the fridge if necessary, so the layers hold together.
Spread the remaining buttercream around and top of the cake.
Create a rustic buttercream look by just swirling the buttercream as shown in the video.

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Decorate

I’ve used fondant pumpkin on this cake. I’ve shown you how to make these in this video here.
Alternatively, you can pipe remaining maple buttercream on the top with a drizzle of maple syrup
Enjoy!

Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.

Ultimate Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake, Maple Buttercream Frosting, Pumpkin Cake, Pumpkin Spice Cake.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting

Author: Veena Azmanov

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Layer cake, Maple, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Puree, Pumpkin Spice, Pumpkin Spice Latte

Prep Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Cook Time: 35 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins

Calories: 503kcal

Adjust Servings Here: 18 Servings

The rich flavor of pumpkin spice latte beverage in a cake makes it a pumpkin spice-latte cake. Combine with a maple buttercream frosting this cake is a perfect fall dessert you've been craving for. Oil-based cake batter makes for a light and airy cake infused with warm spices, coffee, and maple syrup. Rich decadent and perfect for a celebration or festive dessert. Topped with fondant pumpkins this cake is ready to be placed as the centerpiece for your next festive family dinner.