Pumpkin Cake
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My soft, spiced, melt-in-your-mouth pumpkin cake recipe takes just 20 minutes to prep before baking. Top it with a simple cream cheese frosting, and you’ve got yourself a seasonal showstopper! Recipe includes a how-to video!
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This pumpkin cake is based off of my popular pumpkin cupcake recipe, with just a few tweaks to make it suitable as a layer cake. It’s perfect for fall birthdays, Halloween parties, and of course, Thanksgiving (have you planned your menu yet?!). Everyone will love how sweet (but a balanced, not overpowering sweet), soft, and moist this recipe is!
I chose to frost mine with cream cheese frosting (I don’t know about you, but to me, the two are inseparable), but some other good options include Swiss meringue buttercream, vanilla frosting, or even brown butter frosting. While I’m usually a frosting fanatic, I think a thin layer here pairs perfectly with this richly flavored cake (and it looks so pretty this way too!).
You’re just an hour away from a slice of sweet, spiced goodness… let’s get started!
What You Need
There’s quite a few ingredients up there, so I’ll highlight the important ones:
- Unsalted butter. I opt for unsalted butter so that I have 100% control of the salt flavor in this recipe. If you only have salted butter on hand, see my post on substituting salted for unsalted butter.
- Pumpkin puree. Use plain, 100% pumpkin puree. Pumpkin pie filling looks very similar and is sold in the same section of the grocery store, but it includes spices and additives that we don’t want in our pumpkin cake. I’m starting to sound like a control freak, but we want to have complete control over the spice and sweetness of our cake, not rely on whatever Libby happened to add to that can!
- Cream cheese. Use brick-style, full-fat cream cheese for your frosting.
- Powdered sugar. You may notice this recipe has a little less sugar than my traditional cream cheese frosting; this makes the frosting a bit silkier, which I love here. You can vary the amount of sugar you use based on whether your frosting needs to be thinner (good for sheet cakes) or thicker (best for layer cakes). If you’re looking for an even thinner/softer frosting, you can reduce the sugar to 2.5 cups.
- Vanilla. A bit of vanilla extract flavors our frosting nicely. To be honest, I really love to use a scraped vanilla bean in this recipe, but they’re just SO expensive right now, so extract it is!
SAM’S TIP: Using butter and oil makes this pumpkin cake both flavorful and moist. I don’t recommend substituting one for more of the other–you need both for the perfect balance!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pumpkin Cake
- Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then stir in the oil and add the pumpkin.
- Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and milk.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Divide the batter between two greased, floured, and lined pans. Bake for 35-45 minutes.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes before inverting to a cooling rack.
- Level the completely cooled cakes and set them aside.
- Prepare the frosting.
- Spread frosting on the first cake layer, top with the second layer, and frost as desired.
SAM’S TIP: Once you are ready to combine the wet and dry ingredients, switch over to a spatula. Using a mixer for this part could cause your pumpkin cake to become too dense or dry.
Frequently Asked Questions
You only need a small portion of pumpkin from your second can, so you’ll have a good bit leftover after making this cake. You can use it to make pumpkin snickerdoodles, pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pancakes, or any of my other pumpkin recipes!
I baked my pumpkin cake in two 8″ pans because I like my cakes a bit taller, but three 8″ pans, two 9″ pans, or a 9×13″ pan would also work. I would recommend making my pumpkin bundt cake or pumpkin cupcakes instead if you’re looking for either of those.
If you’re comfortable with leaving it out (I am, personally), you can store your pumpkin cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours. Otherwise, you’ll want to keep it refrigerated in an airtight container and enjoy within 5 days.
This pumpkin cake officially wraps up my pumpkin recipes for this year. I hope you enjoyed them all 🧡
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Pumpkin Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (120 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil, or vegetable oil
- 2 cups (488 g) pumpkin puree*
- 4 large eggs, room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60 ml) milk
- 2 ½ cups (310 g) flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 3 ½ cups (435 g) powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and prepare 2 8″ cake pans by lightly greasing and flouring the sides and lining the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric mixer). Beat until well-combined and light and fluffy.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- Add oil and beat to combine.½ cup (120 ml) avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil
- Stir in pumpkin.2 cups (488 g) pumpkin puree*
- Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition.4 large eggs
- Stir in milk and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure ingredients are evenly combined.¼ cup (60 ml) milk, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon).2 ½ cups (310 g) flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 teaspoons pumpkin spice, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined (be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl). I prefer to do this with a spatula to avoid over-mixing the batter.
- Divide batter evenly into prepared cake pans and bake on 350F (175C) for 40-45 minutes, or until centers spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with few moist crumbs or clean.
- Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes and then invert onto cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting**
- In a large bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and salt and beat until smooth, creamy, and well-combined.8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, 1 vanilla bean, scraped, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add powdered sugar to mixture until well-combined, smooth, and light.3 ½ cups (435 g) powdered sugar
- Once cakes have cooled, ice/assemble cakes by first leveling the cakes (I linked th the leveler I used in the "equipment" section above), generously icing between layers, applying an even layer on the top of the cake, and then applying a scant, semi-naked layer around the outside of the cake.
Notes
Pumpkin note
This is slightly more than one 15oz can of pumpkin puree. Make sure that you buy “100% pumpkin” and not “pumpkin pie filling”Baking in different sized pans:
Baking times will vary in different pans, but the following are best estimates. Please always keep an eye on your cake and use the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs) to test if a cake is done. 13×9 pan: Start checking cake at 35 minutes. If using a glass pan, the cake will take longer to bake. 9″ pans: 35-40 minutes. You may also bake this cake in three 8″ or 9″ pans, the baking time will be reduced, expect approximately 28-35 minutes. Bundt pan: Readers have reported this cake baking in approximately 45 minutes in a bundt pan. Cupcakes: Please see my pumpkin cupcake recipe, instead.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for several hours or covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Related Recipes
Note: I originally shared this recipe in 2017. I’ve added new photos and a video and have updated the text, but the recipe remains the same!
I made a few adjustments to this recipe that I think made my cake even lighter! Instead of milk, I used buttermilk and added it when I added my dry ingredients, alternating in 1/3rds starting and ending with the dry. I also separated the egg yolks and added each one at a time, then whipped the egg whites and folded them into the batter at the very end. I found so many compliments on this cake and it was so delicious.
Does the cream cheese frosting work well to decorate and pipe on a decorative border?
Hi Holly! If you want to pipe decorations I would probably add another half cup of powdered sugar. This is a slightly silkier frosting. 🙂