Pumpkin Spice Cake: Swirled with Cinnamon |Cooking With Amanda

I have a confession: I am not typically a fan of pumpkin.

I know, I know! Blasphemy! But hang in there with me: most "pumpkin" flavored foods end up disappointing me. The "pumpkin" flavor is lackluster at best, leaving you with mostly the flavors of pumpkin pie spice. As much as I love cinnamon and nutmeg and all of those fall spices, they just aren't the same thing as pumpkin to me.

However, I broke all of my pumpkin rules for this cake. What is so amazing that makes it worth breaking rules? Let me count the ways:

The pumpkin really stands out. Because the pumpkin is swirled into the batter, what you end up with is a cake-pumpkin pie hybrid. Each bite gives you a little bit of moist, cinnamon-y yellow cake with a bit of creamy, spicy pumpkin. I just can't get enough of it.
We achieve a moist cake with homemade cake mix and homemade vanilla pudding mix. This also means that this cake is incredibly easy and also lacking in suspicious preservatives. I just can't get enough of it.
Two words: Cinnamon chips. Have you baked with these guys yet? They impart little bursts of cinnamon-y goodness into every bite. Folding them into the cake batter means that your cake is full of cinnamon flavor, which pairs perfectly with the pumpkin. I just can't get enough of it.

Pumpkin and I are on speaking terms now, and we have this cake to thank for it.

Looking for more easy desserts using homemade cake mix recipe and vanilla pudding recipe? Check out my dump cake recipe!

Pumpkin Spice Cake Recipe

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Ingredients

1/2 homemade yellow cake mix, 3 1/2 cups
1/2 cup homemade vanilla pudding mix
3 eggs, one with egg yolk and egg white separated (you will need both)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cinnamon chips
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13x9-inch pan. Set aside.
Measure out 1/4 cup of the cake mix. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining cake mix, pudding mix, 2 whole eggs, egg yolk, and milk with an electric mixer until combined. Mixture may still be slightly lumpy; that is ok. Gently stir in the cinnamon chips. Pour into the prepared pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, add the pumpkin puree, reserved 1/4 cup of cake mix, egg white, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix with the electric mixer until combined. Dollop the pumpkin mixture on top of the cake batter, then use a knife to swirl it through the batter, leaving large streaks of pumpkin throughout the batter.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake (in one of the cakey parts, not the pumpkin swirls) comes out clean. Allow to cool, then cut into pieces and serve. Dust with powdered sugar to serve with sweetened whipped cream, if desired.