Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake — Mama’s 43rd Birthday

Mama’s birthday was Friday. We celebrated on FaceTime at seven PM Central because I am twenty weeks pregnant and not flying to Sapulpa this fall — the OB has cleared me for short flights through January but recommends I limit travel as much as possible to reduce stress, and a long weekend in Oklahoma during the middle of junior-year academic work was not the right call. Mama insists this is her forty-third birthday for the seventh year running, which has become a household joke that nobody fact-checks anymore. Mama is fifty. The forty-three is a Mama-thing about not letting age have power over her, and we all play along because the joke makes her happy.

The FaceTime included Cody calling in from Tulsa, Aunt Linda calling in from her house, and Dustin and me from the apartment in Nashville. Mama held up the candle on the small cake she’d bought from the Sapulpa bakery for one. We sang. She blew out the candle through the screen.

Sunday I made pumpkin chocolate chip cake from Carol’s box because Mama’s favorite is pumpkin cake and chocolate chip is the small upgrade Carol used to make for special occasions. The card is dated 1990 in pencil, with the title “Pumpkin Chocolate Chip — Birthday.” Carol had made the cake for Mama’s twenty-second birthday, the year Cody was four and I had not yet been born.

The technique: a tube pan or bundt pan generously buttered and floured. The batter: in a large bowl, three cups of all-purpose flour, two teaspoons of baking soda, a teaspoon of baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of cinnamon, a teaspoon of ginger, a half-teaspoon of nutmeg, a quarter-teaspoon of cloves, a quarter-teaspoon of allspice. In a separate bowl, four large eggs, one fifteen-ounce can of pumpkin pureé, a cup of vegetable oil, two cups of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk the wet into the dry until just combined. Fold in two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The cake bakes in the prepared pan at three-fifty for fifty-five to sixty minutes until a wooden skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs (don’t over-bake; pumpkin cake dries quickly past doneness). Cool in the pan twenty minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.

The glaze: a cup of powdered sugar whisked with three tablespoons of milk and a teaspoon of vanilla into a smooth pourable glaze. Drizzled over the cooled cake.

I FaceTimed Mama at four PM Sunday with the cake on the apartment counter and a single candle lit, and we sang again. The cake is one of those late-fall cakes that holds for three days at room temperature under a glass dome. Dustin had two slices.

Pumpkin pureé, warm spices, chocolate chips folded last. Bundt pan. Three-fifty for under an hour. Here’s the build.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin puree
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and lightly flour it, tapping out any excess.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. Combine wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined.
4. Bring it together. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients and stir gently until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips.
5. Fill the pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips over the top.
6. Bake. Bake for 40—45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a melted chocolate chip on the toothpick is fine; wet batter is not). The top should spring back lightly when pressed.
7. Cool and serve. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature — both are perfect.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 50g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 190mg