Easy Pumpkin Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting is a must-have Fall dessert that's made with pumpkin and pantry staple ingredients! Topped with a silky smooth and tangy cream cheese buttercream!
Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting is a must-have Fall dessert that’s made with pumpkin and pantry staple ingredients! It’s topped with a silky smooth and tangy cream cheese buttercream!
For more pumpkin desserts that will please friends and family as much as this one, check out my Pumpkin Whoopie Pies! These handheld treats are always a crowd favorite!
That First Bite of Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting!
Relax into the Autumn season with a generous slice of this Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! For a match made in heaven, enjoy it with your favorite cup of coffee or tea!
Pumpkin paired with cream cheese is a classic fall duo that everyone loves! There’s just something incredibly irresistible about the flavors of fall mixing with tangy cream cheese!
Making it an easy choice to bring to Thanksgiving dinner to contribute to the dessert table!
This is the best pumpkin cake I have ever had!
– Megan
Easy Pumpkin Cake Recipe Ingredients
- Pumpkin Cake:
- Baking Powder
- Water
- Granulated Sugar
- 100% Pumpkin Puree
- Vegetable Oil
- Vanilla Extract
- Large Eggs
- All-Purpose Flour
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream Cheese
- Butter
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Heavy Cream
Substitutions & Variations
- Oil – If your prefer, you can substitute 1 cup of very soft butter or 1 cup of applesauce for the oil in this recipe.
- Spices – If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice you can use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg instead.
- Frosting – If cream cheese isn’t your favorite or you just don’t have any on hand, you can top this cake with Brown Sugar Frosting, Classic American Buttercream, or even Chocolate Frosting.
- Frosting Consistency – If you prefer a thinner frosting, feel free to add a splash or two more of heavy cream to thin it out!
How to Make Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Preheat the oven and line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Dissolve the baking powder in water and set aside.
- Add the pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla, and baking powder mixture to a large mixing bowl and beat until combined.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until smooth.
5. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
6. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, mixing until fully combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake.
8. Prepare the cream cheese frosting while the cake cools. Once the cake is completely cool, frost the cake.
How to Remove the Pumpkin Cake from the Pan
Usually, for any cake that my family and I are just going to enjoy at home, I almost always leave it right in the cake pan. But if I’m serving to guests or at Thanksgiving, I prefer to remove it!
This way, I can give the cake a nice presentation on my favorite serving platter!
To be able to remove it easily, I first grease the cake pan with shortening. Then, I layer parchment paper over the greased pan.
This way, the grease holds the parchment paper in place, giving the baked cake those nice clean edges. I also allow the parchment paper to come above the edge of the pan to make removal even easier!
How to store Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Since this cake is frosted with a cream cheese-based topping, it will need to be stored in the refrigerator. Simply tightly wrap the cake pan or place leftover slices in an airtight container.
Then enjoy the cake for 3 to 4 days!
More Amazing Fall Dessert Recipes:
- Apple Cheesecake Bars – Covered in tender cinnamon baked apples!
- Gourmet Pecan Pie Brownies – Two tasty desserts mashed up into one!
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies – Sweet, chewy, hand-held treats!
- Easy Pecan Pie Bars – Only takes 10 minutes to prep this buttery, crunchy dessert!
- Apple Cider Bundt Cake Recipe – Finished off with a cinnamon-sugar topping or an apple glaze!
Steps
Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and line a 9x13-inch pan with parchment paper and set aside. Greasing the pan first holds the parchment paper in place for clean edges.
Dissolved in in a prep bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix together , , , , and the baking powder/water mixture from step #2 and beat until fully combined.
Add the one at a time, mixing after each addition just until incorporated.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together , , , and .
Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated, then mix in the other half until fully combined.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes back clean from the center.
Cool cake for about 1 hour before frosting.
Frosting
In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the , , and until smooth.
Add the , 1 cup at a time, mixing at low speed between each addition just until incorporated. Scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add in the increase the speed to high, and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl about every minute.
Spread the frosting over the cooled cake.
Top with or a dusting of pumpkin spice if desired.
Notes
- The frosting recipe is enough to cover the whole of the cake but I prefer to just do the top.
- This cake is bouncy and tender and pairs perfectly with the thick and soft cream cheese frosting. The cake itself is not overly spiced and has a nice light pumpkin flavor.
- Leaving the parchment edges up above the edge of the pan allows for easy removal from the pan.
Nutrition
- Calories317
- Carbs55g
- Protein3g
- Fat10g
- Saturated fat6g
- Fiber0.4g
- Sugar44g
- Sodium199mg
Estimates per serving, when a serving size is listed.
