Comments on: Pumpkin Cake with Balsamic Cinnamon Meringue and Bittersweet Ganache

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 19:59:05 +0000

In reply to Susan. Yes you can! Start off with 30 minutes and test to see if it's done. Enjoy!

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:04:06 +0000

Can I make this cake in a 9×13 pan? How long would it bake?

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 14:16:27 +0000

In reply to Cynthia. Hi, yes! It should work in three 8-inch round cake pans. Please let us know how it goes!

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 15:47:44 +0000

Hello….Im considering making this cake but the linked cake recipe is a chocolate pumpkin marble cake that is just a little too much work considering all the othere elements of this cake. Would this pumpkin cake recipe (baked in cake pans) work instead? https://www.zoebakes.com/2013/10/07/pumpkin-cake-for-halloween-or-thanksgiving/

By: Faith VanDusen

Faith VanDusen — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 01:13:53 +0000

Hi Zoe,

This truly was a “show stopper”! It was so impressive to serve for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it…so delish! The recipe was very easy to follow, even though it was involved. Directions were very clear. One thing…when I added the balsamic to the meringue it took some of the stiffness out of the meringue. Not sure if I should use less balsamic next time or add it into the meringue sooner. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much Zoe! Wish I could post a pic here…I’m pretty proud of it, lol.

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 14:25:17 +0000

In reply to Stacy w. Hi Stacy, we are thrilled you enjoyed the recipe and the show! Thank you for letting us know and making our day. Cheers!

By: Stacy w

Stacy w — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 22:10:11 +0000

In reply to Tammie.

Thank you so much for your infectious inspiration to create beautiful and delicious desserts

I’m not a baker at all, but finding you on discovery channel has changed my no can do attitude to why not try!!

I made this last night and dare I say it came out fantastic!!
If I could insert a pic in here I would show you but THANK YOU!

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 22:41:15 +0000

In reply to Madalyn Nones. Hi Madalyn, so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe the first time around! Generally speaking you can’t swap cake flour in a recipe written for AP flour because the protein content is so different. A recipe written for AP flour won’t have enough structure if you replace all of it with cake flour. In terms of switching to one large pan, it's likely too much weight for 1 single pan, which is why you had the issue with the bottom crumb. Happy baking!

By: Madalyn Nones

Madalyn Nones — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 15:04:47 +0000

I’ve made this cake twice now. This first time I made the swirled chocolate Bundt cake version, and it was AMAZING. Then, I wanted to create a cake more similar to this style, but I baked the batter in a single, deep-set pan because I thought it would be easier for me. The second time I also used cake flour (locally milled) instead of an AP flour (also locally milled). I believed I baked the cake for long enough, but the crumb on the inside had a very uneven texture. Toward the top it appeared how I expected, but toware the bottom the crumb was very very dense and the texture was almost gluey. I still think this is an INCREDIBLE recipe that I will be making again, but I was hoping to get some feedback as to why I got wildly different results after only changing the pan type and flour type. Thanks!

By: Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team

Stephani from The ZoeBakes Team — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 20:00:33 +0000

In reply to Tammie. Hi Tammie! We're so glad you enjoyed the cake! The cake should not melt, so the meringue was probably not stiff enough. Did you happen to make it with a hand mixer? It really needs to be quite stiff peaks, which is hard to achieve using a hand mixer.