Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 (18.25 ounce) box plain German chocolate cake mix*
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Cinnamon-Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted, divided

Instructions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly mist a 13 x 9-inch pan with vegetable oil spray. Set the pan aside.

Cake

1. Place the cake mix, pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter will be thick and should look well combined.
2. Fold in the cinnamon chips until well distributed.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula.
4. Place the pan in the oven.
5. Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 35 to 40 minutes.
6. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting.

Cinnamon-Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Place the cream cheese and the butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until well combined, 30 seconds.
2. Stop the machine. Add the cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract and 3 3/4 cups of the confectioners' sugar. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Add more sugar if the frosting seems too thin.
3. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 2 minutes more.
4. Spread the frosting over the cake in the pan with smooth, clean strokes.
5. Sprinkle the pecans over the top.
6. To make slicing easier, store this cake, lightly covered with wax paper, in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 1 hour.
7. Wrap cake in aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 months.
8. Thaw the cake overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Notes

* 18.25 ounce boxes of cake mix have been replaced by 16.5 ounce and 15.25 ounce boxes. To compensate for the volume loss in a 16 ounce box, whisk 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour into the dry cake mix before proceeding with the recipe. To compensate for the volume loss in a 15.25 ounce box, add 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.