The BEST Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
I love just about anything Pumpkin but let me tell you, this Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is the BEST Pumpkin dessert I have ever had. It is so deliciously moist, perfectly spiced, an has the perfect amount of pumpkin and sweetness from the frosting.
I promise you that this is the BEST Pumpkin Cake recipe. It will make the perfect addition to all of your Halloween, Thanksgiving, or any Autumn event you have this year.
I used a 9″ x 13″ baking dish to make this cake. This size cake can be cut into even squares.
Decorating The BEST Pumpkin Cake
If when you’re decorating this cake and have a hard time finding the perfect spots to pipe on the pumpkins, you can frost the uncolored frosting on top of the cake then slice the cake into even squares. Once you have even squares, go ahead and pipe a pumpkin in the center of each one.
Key Ingredients
- Cinnamon – There are very few spices as warm and cozy as cinnamon. Cinnamon is complex in that it’s spicy and adds depth to our baked goods while also providing a pleasantly sweet contrasting flavor all at once. We use cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice in this recipe to make it the perfect combination of flavors.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – Pumpkin pie spice consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Cinnamon is that familiar, warm, and comforting taste and aroma that is so special this time of year. Nutmeg is slightly nutty and has an earth, slightly sweet flavor. Ginger is spicy, zesty and helps to combat some of the sweetness. Lastly, cloves are strong, intense, and helps to add deep, complex flavor to any mixture it’s added too.
- Vegetable Oil – The main purpose of vegetable oil in this recipe is the addition of moisture to result in a soft, moist, tender cake. The oil helps us to avoid a dry, crumbly cake.
- Pumpkin Puree (canned pumpkin) – Yes, we’re using a whole can of pumpkin in here. 15 ounces to be specific. Using both pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin puree help us to really amp up that beautiful pumpkin flavor. The puree works with the vegetable oil to add even more moisture to this cake giving us the most insanely fluffy, tender cake. The pumpkin puree is also responsible for the naturally orange color of the cake while simultaneously adding a natural, earthy hint of pumpkin throughout the cake. And not to toot pumpkin puree’s horn too much but it’s also rich in vitamins, minerals, and fibers like vitamins A and C, so yes this cake is basically a superfood.
More Pumpkin Recipes You Might Enjoy…
Pumpkin Cheesecake With Chocolate Oreo Crust
Pumpkin Spice Gingerbread Cookies
Pumpkin Spice Jack-O-Lantern Cookies
Pumpkin Banana Bread Muffins With A Cream Cheese Filling
Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting & Halloween Hats
Copycat Pillsbury Pumpkin Sugar Cookies
Be sure to mix the batter until everything is nice and smooth. To ensure an evenly mixed batter, scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times. This will ensure that each and every ingredient in the batter is being evenly incorporated into the mixture.
How To Store The BEST Pumpkin Cake
Because this cake is decorated with Cream Cheese Frosting, it needs to be stored in the fridge sealed tightly. Either store the cake in an air tight container or ziplock bag and keep in the fridge for up to 5-7 days or in the freezer for up to a month.
The BEST Pumpkin Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting
12-15
servings25
minutesKeep the screen of your device on.
Ingredients
2 cups 2 all-purpose flour
1 tsp. 1 baking soda
2 tsp. 2 baking powder
1/2 tsp. 1/2 salt
2 tsp. 2 ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. 1 1/2 pumpkin pie spice
1 cup 1 vegetable oil
4 4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup 1 light brown sugar
1 (15 ounce) 1 can pumpkin puree
2 tsp. 2 vanilla extract
- Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounce 8 block cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup 1/2 unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/4 cups 3 1/4 confectioner’s sugar
1/4 tsp. 1/4 salt
2 tsp. 2 vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease and line a 9″ x 13″ pan with parchment paper enough so that the excess parchment paper hangs over the sides of the pan to make the removal of the cake easier later on.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment, mix together the oil, eggs, and brown sugar until nice and smooth.
- Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla to the bowl of wet ingredients and continue to mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, Mix until there are no lumps and the mixture is nice and smooth. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is combining evenly.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan then bake for 25-30 minutes. The edges should be golden brown and the center of the cake should feel just firm enough and shouldn’t jiggle when finished.
- Allow the cake to sit in the pan after baking for about 10 minutes, then transfer the cake to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- While the cake cools, we can prepare the cream cheese frosting. Begin my beating the cream cheese and butter together. You can do this step with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment.
- Once the butter and cream cheese is nice and smooth and there are no lumps, scrape down the sides of the bowl then add in the confectioner’s sugar, salt, and vanilla. Continue to mix until nice and smooth.
- This step is optional, but you can remove about 1/2 cup of frosting and dye it orange to pipe on little pumpkins. You can also remove an additional 2 Tbsp. to make a green leaf and another 2 Tbsp. to make a brown stem on top of each pumpkin.
- Once the cake has cooled completely, spread the uncolored cream cheese frosting on top. Use an offset spatula to evenly spread the frosting on top of the cake.
- Once the uncolored frosting has been spread on nice and even, use a large star tip to pipe pumpkins on top of the cake. You can pipe them evenly for each square slice of cake or you can pipe them on randomly patterned.
- Pipe a leaf and stem on top of each pumpkin.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @thesqueakymixer on Instagram! I love to see what you all create.
I made this recipe, but in cupcakes and mini cupcakes. I used olive oil since I was out of vegetable oil. They turned out great. I baked the mini cupcakes for ten minutes and the regular cupcakes for twenty-two minutes. The cream cheese frosting was delicious. Great recipe
Thank you so much for the rating and comment 🙂 I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I’m so happy that you enjoyed this recipe so much! ❤️