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This Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake is the perfect mix of moist chocolate cake and creamy pumpkin cheesecake. The combination of flavors and textures is delicious – even better than I expected! I think chocolate & pumpkin is my new favorite flavor combination thanks to this tasty layer cake!
Hungry for another delicious pumpkin and chocolate treat? You should try my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes!
Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake
So after our trip, it has been good to be back in the gym the last couple of days. I hadn’t worked out for almost a week, and I have absolutely no control when on vacay, so it has been much needed.
The only problem is that I’m a bit sore. Not from the gym, but from the trip. My niece was really into doing handstands while were there and it reminded me not only of my younger self, but of my cheerleading days. I cheered competitively for 8 years and it had me missing it.
So I made the brilliant decision to get up and do handstands with her. Which then turned into cartwheeling into a handstand. I hadn’t done those in like, a long time. It was actually a lot of fun and I could’ve kept on doing it. But surely I should have stretched or something first. My 29 year old body has clearly decided to punish me. That was Thursday, and my hamstring in my one leg is still sore. My shoulders are finally getting better. #ImNot10Anymore #ThisIs29Almost30 #Dangit #WhatHappenedToMyBody
Oh well! Cake makes it all better. And this cake in particular. Oh. Em. Gee. There are so man things about it to love.
Why I Love This Pumpkin Cake
First of all, it uses my favorite chocolate cake. It’s the moistest, most delicious chocolate cake ever. Moist for daaaaaays.
And the pumpkin cheesecake rocks. It tastes awesome and baking it is a breeze because it doesn’t need a water bath. Normally, I’d advise to use one because it makes a bigs a difference in the way a cheesecake bakes. This cheesecake is the one exception that I know of. And because it’s getting stacked into a cake, you don’t even have to make a crust. #winning
And then the pumpkin icing. It doesn’t get any better than this icing. So pumpkin-y but still thick and perfect for icing a cake. It’s so good I’m trying to think up a mother recipe to use it in so that I can make it again. Mmmmm…
If you’ve made some of my ice cream cakes or millionaire cakes, then it must be said that stacking this cake is even easier than those. Because the cake and cheesecake layers are nice and solid, you stack them just like any other cake. No need to stack them in a springform pan or anything like that. Just stack then with the ganache between the layers to help hold them together. Easy peasy.
Seriously, while the directions look like they might be tough at first glance, this cake really isn’t hard to make. There’s just more steps involved. Just trust me – it’s worth it. When you combine the delicious chocolate cake with the creamy pumpkin cheesecake and then add the pumpkin icing? Whoa. Just whoa. So good.
You might also like
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Layer Cake
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
Pumpkin Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Butterscotch Pumpkin Cake
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PrintChocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 53 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 18 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake is the perfect mix of moist chocolate cake and creamy pumpkin cheesecake. The combination of flavors and textures is delicious – even better than I expected! I think chocolate & pumpkin is my new favorite flavor combination thanks to this tasty layer cake!
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CAKE
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup boiling water
PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE
- 3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
PUMPKIN ICING
- 3/4 cup butter
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 + 1/8 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- Chocolate sauce, if desired (I used Hershey’s Fudge Topping)
CHOCOLATE GANACHE
- 4 oz chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 1052
- Sugar: 97 g
- Sodium: 592.3 mg
- Fat: 62 g
- Carbohydrates: 121.1 g
- Protein: 10.7 g
- Cholesterol: 163.5 mg
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Enjoy!
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Your cheesecake cakes are so amazing. This will be the 5th one I’ve tried.
For this one, I’m wondering why you use oil? Can you just increase the butter instead of using oil in the cake mix and frosting? Just curious as to what difference it makes when you use butter only. Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoy the cheesecakes!
As for oil in the cake, it’s just an oil-based cake. Oil-based cakes are often more moist and while I don’t always prefer that with a vanilla cake, I tend to prefer it with a chocolate cake. This is a super moist chocolate cake. If you were to use butter instead of the oil, it would completely change the texture of the cake, and it would likely be much more dense. I hope that helps!
Hi! Can this be made in 8” pans? Do you have suggestions for how long to bake them in 8” pans? Thank you so much
They could, I’m just not sure if all the cheesecake batter would fit in that size pan. You may not be able to use it all. And I’m not sure on bake times.
Can I make this chocolate cake 3 “6 pans?.
For cheesecake i thinking go to your recipe 6 inch pans.
I would probably cut the cake recipe in half and use two 6 inch pans. If you look at my guide for adjusting cheesecake sizes, I talk about adjusting for 6 inch cheesecakes. https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/guide-to-adjusting-cheesecake-sizes/
Question for you what type of shortening are you using for the pumpkin icing. Im about to try this recipe for thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie. Want to make sure i use the proper shortening in the recipe. Crisco, liquid? Not sure what is used thank you
I used crisco vegetable shortening, but you could also swap it out for additional butter.
Another winner!
I made this for our annual”Friendsgiving” dinner and it was a stunner. The dark chocolate cake is absolutely delicious . I liked the “subtle” pumpkin flavor of the cheesecake and the frosting. Was gone by the next day. Everyone loved it! Thank you for another fabulous recipe.