This layered pumpkin spice cake with buttercream frosting has a caffeinated twist. Made with delicious espresso buttercream, every bite tastes like a pumpkin spice latte.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, coffee, and sour cream until blended.
Add in the cake mix, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg, whisking until just combined.
Divide the batter into (3) 6 inch cake pans or (2) 8 inch cake pans.
Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean. Note that 6 inch cake pans will take about 5-10 minutes longer than the larger sized cake pans.
Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove the cakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
Frosting
In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip together the butter, salt, and espresso powder until fluffy. This should take about 1 minute.
Add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, blending well between each addition. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Add in a tablespoon of milk and the vanilla. If needed add in a little more milk. Beat until light and fluffy in texture.
Ganache
Add heavy cream to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Remove it from the microwave just before it starts to bubble up.
Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and place a plate over the top of the bowl. Let rest for 3-5 minutes.
Whisk together the cream and milk until it comes together into a nice and smooth ganache.
Assembly
When the cakes have cooled, stack and layer them with the espresso buttercream as the filling and outer frosting.
Have the ganache cool to room temperature before drizzling over the top of the cake.
Slice and serve.
Notes
Substitutions
Sour Cream. If you would like to, you can swap out the requested sour cream for plain flavored Greek yogurt. Regular yogurts will not work out because they're too sweet and have too much liquid content but Greek yogurt is thick and perfect.
Coffee. This pumpkin spice latte cake recipe makes sense to include coffee in the actual cake batter but you can swap it out for regular water or milk if desired.
Spices. If you do not wish to use cinnamon and nutmeg you can swap them out for two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice instead.
Recipe Tips
After you make the espresso frosting the texture will be slightly grainy (as a result of the coffee granules) but thanks to the added milk in the frosting, the granules will be softened and after several hours or a day the frosting will be smooth in texture.
If you omit the milk in the buttercream and do not add in any liquid (making the frosting very thick) the coffee granules may not soften at all as they need to use that extra moisture.
You can make this cake in (2) 8 inch round cake pans or in (3) 6 inch round cake pans.
Storage
The frosting once made can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months before thawing overnight in the fridge and being used.
This cake is good for up to 5 days if stored in an airtight or well-covered container in the fridge. The frosting should be kept chilled to prevent the cake from spoiling.
Once you have frosted the cake you can freeze it if desired. You can also freeze the cake layers instead and this would make the frosting and assembly be much easier as the cake crumbs are less likely to get into the frosting layers. If freezing a frosted cake, do so for up to 3 months, but do not add the ganache until closer to serving time as it will "sweat" as it thaws.