There’s not much that beats carving a pumpkin this time of year. Except of course, if we are cutting it up to bake a freaking cake inside! That my friends, might just win my – “favorite thing of all time” award. Can you imagine? The awesomeness of our beloved fall pumpkin + a cake! Perfection.

This cake is not only baked inside the pumpkin, but as the pumpkin bakes, it’s skin becomes soft, sweet and ready to eat. So every bite can be sweeter for holding the mixture of these two favorites.

Here’s how to bake a cake inside a pumpkin!

You will need: pumpkins (we used two 5″ diameter pumpkins and one 7″ diameter pumpkin), your favorite cake mix, a knife, spoon, foil, and a skewer.

Thoroughly clean pumpkin with a vegetable brush. With a knife, cut open the top of your pumpkin – make sure it is wide enough to scrape out the insides. Once you have completely cleaned out the insides, pour in the batter. Save the seeds and toast them for later.

Wrap each pumpkin in tin foil, except for the opening on top.

Follow instructions to make your cake mix. Pour batter into the pumpkin cavity but don’t overfill in case your cake rises during baking. Filling a few inches below the opening is a safe bet. Repeat with other pumpkins.

Once filled, place pumpkins on a baking sheet and put into a preheated 350F oven. Baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your pumpkin. The 5″ pumpkins took about 70 minutes to bake through; the 7″ pumpkin, about an hour and 50 minutes. Use a skewer to check for doneness around an hour, and check every 10-15 minutes thereafter. Make sure to insert the skewer all the way through without piercing the skin.

Remove pumpkins and let cool completely. The skins will be soft so take care in moving them. Enjoy the cake by cutting slices or eating straight from the pumpkin with a spoon. The pumpkin is nice and soft – it can be eaten alongside the cake. This recipe is especially good with chocolate cake!

Produced and photographed by Athena Plichta for A Subtle Revelry.