“Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one. He’s got to.
I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy.
Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.”

—Linus, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

It is certainly a spooky time, this October 2020.
I’d go so far as to say I haven’t been this scared of a vacuous rotting orange gourd for many years.
2020 has been an un-ending scarefest, anyways. Nothing this Halloween could frighten me any more.

So many things are different this year, and every familiar holiday is a punchy reminder of that.
This Halloween, we will, all of us, I hope, venture out with masks on, in order to not scare everyone around us.
With the rising cases in the US right now, my heart and head are laser focused on Thanksgiving, and what that will spell for my family, my friends, my classmates, my neighbors, and all of the webs and webs that extend and connect each of us with so many others.

As for N and me, we’ll be staying in (25 is a bit old for trick or treating, anyways), baking some pumpkin treats and making basghetti à la What We Do In The Shadows. And, of course, eating immoderate amounts of candy.

We’ll skip the Halloween parties. We will strive to not succumb to “Fear Of Missing Out,” and instead try to find the Joy In Missing Out.
But no matter how many times as I reassure myself that we are living in unprecedented times and must take each day by day to care for ourselves and for our communities, I still ache for normal celebrations, for parties and careless abandon amongst crowds of our friends.

Pumpkin cakes are ubiquitous, on this blog and the internet and pretty much everywhere you turn in autumn.
This one is a worthy addition to their endless ranks, however.

Brown butter and a high egg ratio keep the cake close-textured, moist, and flavorful. It is spiced well and enrobed in a chocolate chili ganache that kicks the whole thing up a notch. The cutest marzipan pumpkins I could have dreamed of making sit on top.
I made the ganache with a standard cream base, but then whipped butter and powdered sugar into it. With this extra body, it allows the ganache to get really firm when applied, and a hot palette knife around the edge will make it extra gorgeous and smooth.

When I brought this to my best friends’ place to have them try it, I admitted that I believed it to be the best pumpkin cake I had ever made. I still think that’s true. I doubt I’ll go back to omitting brown butter from my pumpkin cakes. It’s a perfect place to take advantage of its the nutty, warming flavor.

Happy Halloween, guys and ghouls.

Halloween and pumpkin cakes, previously:

Edward Gorey-inspired skeleton cat and bat cookies
Ghosts trapped in chocolate ganache on a pumpkin cake
Pumpkin cake with spiced meringue buttercream and dulcey ganache
Pumpkin and condensed milk cakes, reminiscent of trés leches
Bats, eyeballs, and pumpkin-moji cookies
Old, old peanut butter cup cake with Reese’s
Of course, this ludicrous bleeding heart cake.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Chili Ganache
makes 1 3×6″ layer cake

ingredients:
for the brown butter pumpkin cake:
225 grams (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch ground anise (optional)
200 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
240 grams (2 cups) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
420 grams (15 ounce) can of pure pumpkin puree

for the chocolate chili ganache frosting:
336 grams (12 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
224 grams (8 ounces, 1 cup)  heavy cream
50 grams (4 tablespoons) butter, slightly cold
60 grams (1/2 cup) powdered sugar, sifted
white food coloring, if desired

to assemble:
marzipan, tinted and shaped into decorations as desired

directions:
Make the cake: grease and flour 3 6-inch round cake pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place butter in a saucepot and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned and nutty.
Remove from heat and stir in spices.
Place in the bowl of a stand mixer with the sugars and salt.
Mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between additions, until the mixture is thick and glossy.
Whisk flour and baking soda and baking powder together.
Alternating with the pumpkin puree, add the dry ingredients to the batter.
Scrape the bowl well and mix one last time.
Divide the batter equally among the prepared pans.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until fragrant and a tester comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
Allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate chili ganache: place bittersweet chocolate and salt in a heatproof bowl.
Heat heavy cream and chili powder until just under simmering.
Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit until the chocolate is mostly melted.
Whisk the ganache until it is shiny and smooth.
Meanwhile, whip the butter and powdered sugar until fluffy and smooth.
Pour the warm ganache into the frosting while whipping on high speed.
Beat for 1-2 minutes, until smooth and homogeneous—it may be slightly liquidy at this time, but this is fine as long as there are no butter chunks or sugar knobs. .
Allow the ganache to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until hardened.
Whip the ganache again—this time, it will become very fluffy.
Frost the cake as desired.
To make the swiss dot and spiderweb decorations, hold back 1/4 cup of the frosting.
Tint with a few drops of white food coloring, just to lighten it enough to have contrast.