As a new baker, I wanted to challenge myself and, at the same time, wanted to surprise my dad with a homemade cake for his birthday this year. I have never baked a cake before, so I opted to pick a box mix (but I wanted to elevate its flavor). Are you still there? Great, I promise this cake tasted terrific, and I will also share the quick icing that I used for the decoration.
My parents don’t like sweet desserts that much, so I tried my best to limit this cake’s sweetness. If you’ve used a cake mix before, there’s a suggestion of ingredients on the back of the box (typically with water, eggs, oil, etc.). I used 3 eggs, substituted the water with almond milk, and used butter instead of oil. I also added 1/2 canned of pumpkin puree. I only used half because I did not want to overpower the cake with too much pumpkin flavor since I added pumpkin spice truffles on the icing. I also rough chopped a handful of pecans to mix into the batter and for toppings.
Ingredients:
CAKE:
- 1 box of Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix (season favorite)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 (15oz) Libby’s Pure canned pumpkin puree
- A handful of pecan halves (unsalted, chopped to get small to large pieces)
ICING:
- 1 1/2 cup confectioners (Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener)
- 3-5 TBSP almond milk
- 1 TBSP butter (melted)
- 3 TBSP pumpkin spice baking truffles (melted)
TOPPINGS:
- A handful of pecan halves (unsalted, chopped to get small to large pieces)
- 1-2 TBSP confectioners (dusted for extra decoration)
What to do:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Prepare cake mix in a bowl with a hand mixer or stand mixer:
+cake mix
+ eggs
+ Almond milk
+ butter
+pumpkin puree
3. Once the cake mix is all mixed + pecan pieces
4. Grease the bundt cake pan (I used butter to grease a 9in pan)
5. Bake at 350 F, 33-35 minutes
Cool the cake completely before putting the icing.
While the cake is cooling, prepare the icing and toppings:
In a bowl whisk:
+confectioners
+almond milk
+butter (melted)
+pumpkin spice baking truffles (melted)
Put icing inside a pitcher or a container with a spout for easy pouring on top of the cake.
**chopped pecans + confectioner sugar (set aside for toppings)
Decoration time:
- Place the bundt cake on a serving plate
- I did not have a spinning cake stand, so I slowly poured the icing on top of the cake while slowly spinning the plate around (for the natural drips on the side of the cake).
- I topped the cake with the chopped pecans and dusted it with some confectioner sugar, and voila!
I purposely did not make too much icing to fill the middle of the bundt cake because I added a bottle of Corona beer in the middle as it’s my dad’s favorite beer, and after all, it’s his birthday cake.

Pumpkin Pecan Spice Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix
- 3 Eggs
- 1 cup Almond milk
- 1/3 cup Butter
- 7 oz Pumpkin puree
- Handful of pecan Halves (Add this at the end when all ingredients are all mixed)
Icing
- 1.5 cup Confectioners (Lakanto, monkfruit sweetener)
- 3-5 tbsp Almond milk
- 1 tbsp Butter (melted)
- 3 tbsp Pumpkin spice baking truffles (melted)
Toppings
- Handful of pecan halves (unsalted, chopped to get small to large pieces)
- 1-2 tbsp Confectioners (dusted for extra decoration)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees
- Prepare cake mix in a bowl with a hand or stand mixer (cake mix, eggs, almond milk, butter, pumpkin puree).
- Once the cake mix is all mixed, add pecan pieces
- Grease the bundt cake pan with butter (9 in pan)
- Bake at 350F, 33-35 minutes
- Cool the cake completely before putting the icing
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the icing and toppings.
- In a bowl whisk all of the icing ingredients. Put icing inside a pitcher or a container with a spout for easy pouring on top of the cake.
Decoration time
- Place the bundt cake on a serving plate
- Slowly poured the icing on top of the cake while slowly spinning the plate around (for the natural drips on the side of the cake).
- I topped the cake with the chopped pecans and dusted it with some confectioner sugar, and voila!