Pumpkin Biscoff Cake with Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
Get ready for your new favorite fall cake! My Pumpkin Biscoff Cake is made up of deliciously moist Biscoff cake layers, a no-bake pumpkin cheesecake filling, Biscoff oat and pecan crumble, and Biscoff pecan buttercream.
Table of Contents
Pumpkin Biscoff Cake
Don’t tell peanut butter, but I have a serious obsession with Biscoff. This caramelized crunchy cookie is best known for its appearance on Delta flights, but has become one of the most popular ingredients in my cakes. In fact, my Biscoff Cake, is my most-made layered cake recipe. Once you try it, you realize it’s the perfect flavor pairing to SO many things!
My Favorite Biscoff-Inspired Cakes
See what I mean? It goes with EVERYTHING!
It’s a wonder how I’ve never paired it with pumpkin before today!
Pumpkin and Biscoff are truly made for each other. The spices and flavors in each are a match made in heaven and make for the best fall cake!
What is in a Pumpkin Biscoff Cake?
For my Pumpkin Biscoff Cake, we’ll be making four different elements:
- Biscoff cake layers
- No-bake pumpkin cheesecake filling
- Biscoff, oat, and pecan crumble
- Biscoff pecan buttercream
Sounds dreamy, right? It is!
Moist and Delicious Biscoff Cake
The Biscoff cake layers are incredibly moist and flavorful. We’re using nearly an entire pack of cookies to create the layers, which has a slightly different texture compared to other cakes you might be used to. The texture of my Biscoff cake is first and foremost: MOIST! You’ll also find that with the cookies, brown sugar and two cups of buttermilk, these Biscoff cake layers are slightly more dense.
NOTE: when we talk about a dense cake, it’s definitely not a bad thing. Some cakes are meant to be dense and that dense texture contributes to the overall texture and flavor combination we’re going for in some cakes.
TIP: cake layers are the perfect element of a cake to make ahead of time. Once you’ve baked the layers, let them cool completely, and then wrap them in plastic wrap. Once the layers are wrapped, you can store them in the freezer for a couple weeks. Just make sure to let them thaw for about 30 minutes before you start decorating.
No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
The no-bake pumpkin cheesecake we’re using in the filling is a homerun in not just flavor, but also ease! With no baking time required, you can whip up this cheesecake filling in less than 10 minutes. You can even use it as an actual pie filling and place it on top of a graham cracker or Biscoff pie crust!
Biscoff, Oat, and Pecan Crumble
One thing to know about me, if you don’t already, is how much I love a little “crunch” in my cakes! I think the crunchy texture of a crumble or crust adds so much to a cake. For this cake, we’re using Biscoff cookies, oats, and pecans in the crumble.
To make the crumble, you’ll pulse the ingredients together in a food processor and then bake for a few minutes. Make sure to let the crumble cool completely before using the cake.
Good luck not eating it all before you actually use it!
Biscoff Pecan Buttercream
To finish off the cake, we’re pairing Biscoff cookie butter with pecans in an incredibly decadent buttercream. Below you’ll see easy instructions for making your own pecan nut butter. You can certainly use a pecan paste or another nut butter of your choosing, but I highly recommend pecans. The flavor goes so well with the ginger, caramel, and cinnamon flavors of the cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely. In fact, all of my cakes can be made a day, or two, or three, or ten days early. After you finish stacking and decorating the cake, freeze the cake for 20-30 minutes to set the outer coat of buttercream. You’ll then wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store until the night before you want to serve the cake.
The night before you want to serve the cake, move the cake to the refrigerator. Morning of your party, take the plastic wrap off and let it sit at room temperature to thaw completely. Depending on the size of the cake, it will take 6-8 hours to get to room temperature.
If you have a cake box or a cake dome, I suggest covering the cake as it thaws at room temperature.
Unfortunately, there’s not a great gluten-free replacement for Biscoff. Instead, I’d recommend replacing the Biscoff cookies for crunchy gingersnap cookies and leaving the Biscoff spread out of the buttercream.
If you’re struggling to get moist cake layers, make sure to check out THIS POST.
If you don’t love pecans or have an allergy, you can definitely sub them for another nut of your choice. If you don’t want to use nuts at all, replace the nuts in the crumble with more cookies and leave the nut butter out of the buttercream. In fact, a caramel, vanilla, or pumpkin buttercream can be used in place of the pecan buttercream.
Pumpkin Biscoff Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 18 Biscoff or Speculoos Cookies
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (255 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons (7 g) baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon (3 g) baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon (4.2 g) salt
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (133 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar, packed
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (480 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
FOR THE CRUMBLE
- 5 (40 g) Biscoff cookies
- 1/2 cup (40 g) oats
- 1/4 cup (55 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (40 g) pecans
- 1/4 cup (56.5 g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon (2.6 g) pumpkin pie spice
FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
- 1/2 cup (120 g) heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup (31.25 g) powdered sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (113 g) pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons (25 g) brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) vanilla
- 1 teaspoon (2.6 g) pumpkin pie spice
FOR THE PECAN BUTTER
- 2 cups (300 g) chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon (13.6 g) olive oil
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- Pecan butter recipe above
- 1/2 cup (125 g) Biscoff cookie butter
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar, measured and then sifted
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch pans with non-stick cooking spray, line the bottoms with parchment and spray again. Set aside.
- Place the Biscoff cookies in a food processor or blender and pulse until the cookies are finely ground and resemble flour.
- In a medium-size bowl, combine the Biscoff crumbs, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until the ingredients are well-blended. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- With the mixer on low speed, add ⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Slowly add half of the buttermilk and mix until incorporated. Continue alternating the flour and buttermilk until it has all been incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly mix for another 20-30 seconds.
- Divide the batter evenly among your pans and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before inverting onto cooling racks to cool completely.
For the Crumble
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a food process or blender, pulse all of the ingredients (except for the butter) a few times. We just want to break up the cookies and nuts a bit. This doesn’t need to be as fine of a consistency as you use in the cake layers.
- Add the butter and pulse a few more times to create clusters. Spread the crumble over the parchment paper and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring the mixture to break it up halfway through. Let it cool completely and then crumble the mixture into smaller pieces, if needed.
FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
- In a chilled stainless steel bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin puree, vanilla, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix until smooth.
- Fold in the heavy whipping cream into the cream cheese mixture.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.
FOR THE PECAN BUTTER
- Combine the pecans and oil in a food processor and blend until you’ve created a nut butter.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the pecan butter and Biscoff cookie butter. Mix until well combined and smooth.Gradually add the powdered sugar.
- Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat the buttercream for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Before spreading on your cake, spend a couple minutes mixing the buttercream by hand with a wooden spoon to push out the air pockets.
Assembly (Option 1: Six Layers, Naked Cake)
- Divide each cake layer in two, horizontally, using a cake leveler or serrated knife. You should have six thin cake layers.
- Place a dollop of frosting on the cake board or cake plate. Place the first cake layer, top-side up, on the cake board or cake stand.
- Spread about ½ cup of buttercream across the cake layer, leaving about an inch clear around the edge of the cake.
- Pipe buttercream dollops around the entire edge of the cake, using the Wilton 8B tip.
- Fill the center with about a half cup of the pumpkin cheesecake filling.
- Sprinkle ⅓ cup of the Biscoff crumble on top and pat into place.
- Place the second cake layer on top of the filling and repeat these steps with the remaining 5 layers of cake.
- Place the final cake layer, top side down, on the filling.
- Decorate the top of the cake using the remaining buttercream and crumble.
ASSEMBLY (Option 2: Three Layers, Fully Frosted)
- Place a dollop of frosting on the cake board or cake plate. Place the first cake layer, top-side up, on the cake board or cake stand.
- Spread about ½ cup of buttercream across the cake layer. Pipe a rim of buttercream around the edge of the cake.
- Fill the center with a generous cup of the pumpkin cheesecake filling.
- Sprinkle a half cup of the crumble on top and pat into place.
- Place the second cake layer on top of the filling and repeat these steps.
- Place the final cake layer, top side down, on the second layer of filling.
- Apply a thin coat of buttercream around the entire cake. This is the crumb coat. Freeze the cake at this stage for 15 minutes to set the crumb coat and lock the crumbs into place.
- After the crumb coat is set, finish frosting the cake with the remaining buttercream, and decorate with crumble.
Help! Making this now! For the cheesecake filling—you have granulated sugar listed but in the instructions it’s powdered sugar listed??!!!
It’s fixed
The ingredients for the cheesecake filling doesn’t list powdered sugar like it says in the instructions. Should the granulated sugar be powdered instead?
It does say powdered sugar.
Absolutely amazing cake! All the elements taste delicious together. I made this for Canadian thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Thank for the great recipe!
I made this for my birthday yesterday and it was delicious! I had to omit the crumble and used caramel buttercream instead. I might try some of your other buttercream suggestions but the caramel was pretty perfect! I’ll be making this every year for my birthday from now on.
Makes me so happy
I don’t have that piping tip. What one would you recommend instead? I have 1M and 4B?
Fantastic recipe! It’s perfect for fall without being sooo much pumpkin and I love the tang of the cheesecake filling. And it also worked great at 6000 ft elevation (always my biggest concern when it comes to cake). 🙂
This cake is absolutely delicious!! The cake is moist and the flavors blend SO well together. I baked this cake and made the three tier fully frosted version, with a cookie butter drip, for our church’s Dessert Auction. The Dessert Auction raises money for missions, this year it was for a missionary couple who are planting churches and building a Bible University in Tanzania. This cake raised $1,050 toward missions!! It was shared with many many people who were there; all of them raved about how delicious this cake was!
Yay I love this
I made this for a pumpkin carving party and it was a hit!
Your cakes are my “go-to” cakes! I’m never disappointed and love the uniqueness of your cakes!!
Thank you!
Quick question: how much pecan butter does this recipe make? I actually have pecan butter in my pantry and would love to use it for this! I am just wondering how much to put in.
One cup
Question: what type of oats do you recommend? Quick, old fashioned, steel cut?
Do I make the cookie butter the same as the pecan butter?
No you buy it at the store.
This cake is fire. I made it for Thanksgiving and got sooo many compliments. I’m buying your cookbook today. Thank you Courtney
Thank you so much!
So excited to make this! Do you feel that Biscoff cookie butter could be subbed for the Biscoff cookies? The cookies are hard to find by me.
No, you can’t sub the cookie butter for the cookies unfortunately.
I would like to make this cake as a two layer 9×13. I am unsure how to do this. Can you give advice. Also, what can I make ahead so the assembling goes quickly?
I am looking forward to sharing this cake with a crowd.
Hi Destiny, sorry to respond so late. I’m sure you figured something out and I can’t wait to hear how it went.
I purchased biscoff sandwich cookies in order to make this cake next week – but after reviewing the recipe I’m thinking I purchased the wrong item. Are the cookies plain biscoff or would biscoff sandwich cookies be ok in this recipe?
Made this cake for my mother in laws bday right after thanksgiving. OMG. So good!!!! Everyone loved it. My son said it was the best cake I ever made.
I’m so glad!!