Best Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Cake Recipe

Whether you’re throwing a Halloween bash and need a showstopping centerpiece dessert, or just really love the Peanuts gang and want your pumpkin patch to be the most sincere, this is the cake for you—it’s the Great Pumpkin, er, Bundt-kin, Charlie Brown!

Though this cake looks impressive, it’s relatively straightforward to make. To keep things simple, we’re elevating store-bought cake mix and frosting with pantry and fridge staples like pumpkin puree, sour cream, and food dye. All you’ve got to do is bake two Bundts (one right after the other works if you’ve only got one Bundt pan), add some color to your frosting, then go to town decorating however you like. Get the whole family involved, and have fun with it!

The best way to succeed with this cake is to really lean into its campy nature. Want to fill it with candy? Go for it! We went with candy corn, but wrapped or unwrapped holiday minis of any kind would be great here (include some candy rocks among the spoils to really get into the Great Pumpkin theme). Feel it’s not a true pumpkin without a face? Add one on! Want even more Peanuts? We channeled our inner Linus and added a “Welcome Great Pumpkin” sign, but feel free to take it even further—cutouts of the whole gang would be extra cute.

Made this? Let us know how it went (and if the Great Pumpkin appeared) in the comments below.

Cooking spray

2 (15.25-oz.) boxes white or yellow cake mix, divided

2 (3.4-oz.) boxes instant vanilla or pumpkin pudding, divided

(3.4-oz.) boxes instant vanilla or pumpkin pudding, divided

large eggs, divided

pumpkin puree, divided

vegetable oil, divided

sour cream, divided

pumpkin pie spice, divided

pure vanilla extract, divided

plus 3 tbsp. store-bought vanilla or cream cheese frosting (from 2 [16-oz.] containers), divided

Orange and green food coloring

1 cake ice cream cone

Green and orange sprinkles and Halloween candy, for decorating (optional)

to 3 (12") dowels or straws (optional)

Camille Lowder is the digital food producer at Delish, otherwise known as our resident queen of recipe galleries. Previously, she attended the Natural Gourmet Institute for culinary school and worked at/managed a number of New York restaurants. She loves anything vegan, foods masquerading as other foods (hello, cauliflower), and a well-used Oxford comma.

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