This simple and straightforward pumpkin cake recipe is for those of us who want pure pumpkin and spice flavors with nothing else in the way. Brown sugar and 2 cups of pumpkin puree promise big flavor and an extra moist texture. It’s certainly wonderful on its own, but you’ll love the smooth and tangy cream cheese frosting on top!
One reader, Gracie, says: “This truly is the best pumpkin cake I have ever had. I made it exactly as the recipe called for and it was so moist and delicious!”
Details About this Pumpkin Cake
- Flavor: Like I mention above, this cake is loaded with flavor thanks to a whopping 2 cups of pumpkin puree. We add cinnamon and there’s plenty of pumpkin pie spice, too. Like in my pumpkin scones recipe, you can use store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice mix or each of those spices individually—see our recipe note below. Tangy cream cheese frosting is always a lovely pairing with pumpkin and spice flavors. Each bite truly has it all!
- Texture: Like it does in this chocolate cake recipe, oil keeps the cake’s crumb soft and moist. In fact, we like to describe it as “stick-to-your-fork moist.” Our pumpkin cupcakes is essentially the same recipe, but yields a reduced quantity of batter.
- Ease: This is a single layer cake, so it’s pretty easy to prepare since there’s really no assembly required. Prepping the cake batter is similar to our spice cake, apple cake, and zucchini cake—make sure you have 2 mixing bowls and a 9×13 inch pan. The quarter sheet size is also convenient for transporting, storing, and serving. You’ll appreciate this recipe as an easy addition to your holiday dessert menu alongside all those delicious Thanksgiving pies!
How to Make Pumpkin Cake + Video
The full printable recipe is below, but here’s a brief description and a video tutorial.
Grease your 9×13-inch pan. You can use a metal baking pan or a glass baking pan. Use 1 mixing bowl for the dry ingredients and another mixing bowl for the wet ingredients. Combine both, then spread the batter into your pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then make and decorate with the frosting. To make serving easier, refrigerate the frosted cake before slicing.
Overview of Key Ingredients in Pumpkin Cake
- Flour: Because of the thick and wet batter, use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour. Cake flour is usually more ideal for butter-based cakes such as vanilla cake or white cake.
- Pumpkin: Use an entire standard can of pumpkin, which is roughly 2 cups. Readers have found this helpful because nothing from the can goes to waste. (You’ll appreciate that with our pumpkin pie and pumpkin cream cheese Bundt cake recipes too!) You can use fresh pumpkin in a pinch, but we prefer the flavor and texture of the cake when using canned.
- Cinnamon + Pumpkin Pie Spice: These spices are essential for most pumpkin desserts. Instead of prepared pumpkin pie spice, you can use a blend of ground nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger (see notes), or go ahead and prepare a batch of homemade pumpkin pie spice.
- Oil + Eggs: Oil and eggs provide moisture and structure. We use both in these pumpkin bars, but reduce the eggs so the bars aren’t quite as cakey.
- Sugar: This pumpkin cake is sweetened with brown sugar and granulated sugar, but mostly brown because that’s where the best flavor lies!
How to Decorate The Best Pumpkin Cake I’ve Ever Had
Cakes with a similar spice flavor and texture profile like hummingbird cake, carrot cake, and banana cake taste unbelievable with fan-favorite cream cheese frosting.
If you’re looking for other frosting options, try any one of these:
- The brown butter cream cheese frosting from this Banana Layer Cake
- Traditional Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream
- The whipped buttercream frosting from Vanilla Sheet Cake
- Chai spice buttercream from these Chai Latte Cupcakes
- The pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting from these Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies
PS: For decoration/garnish, we love using these little pumpkins. Or you can try these festive fall sprinkles.
More Pumpkin Recipes
- No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Pie
- White Chocolate Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Pumpkin Bars
- Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Pumpkin Hand Pies
For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ best pumpkin dessert recipes and 30+ fall cake ideas.
Print
Pumpkin Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is the BEST pumpkin cake I’ve ever had and I know you’ll feel the same way! It’s supremely moist, soft, rich, and spiced with pumpkin spice flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice*
- 1 cup (240ml) canola or vegetable oil*
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. I always use this glass pan.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk the oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a mixer or whisk until completely combined. Batter will be thick.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-36 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top or edges of the cake is/are browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set the entire pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely. After about 45 minutes, I usually place the cake in the refrigerator to speed things up.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar (I add it). Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This helps sets the frosting and makes cutting easier.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare cake through step 4. Cover the cake tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature, make the frosting, frost, and serve. Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature or serve cold.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Glass Baking Pan or Metal Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Cupcakes: This batter yields about 24-28 cupcakes. Same oven temperature, fill the cupcake wrappers 2/3 full, and bake 18-21 minutes or until baked through. For 1 dozen cupcakes, use my pumpkin cupcakes recipe.
- Bundt Cake: This batter will fit into a 9.5- or 10-inch Bundt pan. Same oven temperature. But for ease, I suggest using my pumpkin Bundt cake recipe. Same great flavor and texture as this cake!
- 2 Layer Cake: Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. Divide batter between the two cake pans. Same oven temperature, bake for 25 minutes or until baked through. This frosting is enough for a 2 layer cake.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/2 teaspoon each: ground allspice, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves. This is in addition to the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that to the batter.
- Oil: Instead of 1 cup of oil, try 1/2 cup (90g) unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 (120ml) cup oil. The cake is just as moist.
- Pumpkin: I strongly recommend using canned pumpkin puree over homemade in this recipe, though 2 cups of homemade would work just fine in a pinch. If using fresh, blot out as much excess moisture as you can using a clean towel. Overall, I found the flavor better with canned. I prefer Libby’s brand for this cake.
Here are my pumpkin cupcakes! Same recipe, just reduced down.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi! I followed your cupcake recipe to make two 4.5” cakes (plus 4 cupcakes) for my daughter’s smash cake (I did a 1/4 cup of applesauce substitution and also opted for 1/2 cup of maple syrup + 1 tbsp of brown sugar). I baked them all at 325 degrees, took the cupcakes out at 20 min and left the cakes for an additional 10. They turned out so great!! Slightly sweet which is what I wanted!
My question is for the icing on this recipe. I’m looking to frost 2 and a half dozen cupcakes plus a little for her small cake. How much would this recipe cover? Should I do 1.5 batch?
Thank you!
I’m so happy that you were able to make the recipe work for you, Mekenzi! The frosting should be enough, but if you plan on piling it very high on the cupcakes then you can try making 1.5 times the recipe. Enjoy!
This was amazing. Simple and very tasty. Had no all purpose flour so used 1 cup plain 1 cup self raising and 2 teaspoon baking powder no baking soda. Used half cup granulated sugar and half brown. So half cup less sugar and forgot the salt upped the cinnamon and replaced oil with coconut oil. Moist. Dense. Gorgeous. Thank you
I made this as a layer cake for Christmas and frosted it with maple cream cheese frosting. It was AMAZING! My college kid even asked me to make it again before she went back to school!
I was looking for a pumpkin dessert recipe that was not pie and one for which I already had all of the ingredients. This recipe caught my attention and I made it today for Christmas. I followed the recipe as it is written and it turned out perfect! It is moist, spiced perfectly, and the cream cheese frosting is divine. This will be on the list of bakes every year from now on. Thank you!
I made this cake with minor modifications of what was available at home (and less sugar) and without the frosting, and it was amazing!! Hadn’t had such moist cake before!! Congrats for the recipe!
I added about 1/2 cup raisins to my batter!!!!! Yummy
I always forget to give reviews but this was stellar so I wanted to make sure I did. It truly is the best! I would equate it more to a carrot cake, moist, flavorful and the cream cheese frosting sets it off perfectly. I’m not usually a cake person, but I loved this and it was a huge hit to a gathering of discriminating people. I did the 2 rounds with frosting in between. Just delicious and very “seasonal” at thanksgiving time. Also note: I used fresh cooked, puréed pumpkin, using the one we had from Halloween!
Absolutely loved this recipe and my boyfriend couldn’t believe it how good this cake was hahaha. He even asked me to make it for new years for his brother and his wife. You Americans really know your desserts!! Love from Europe xx
I made this cake without the frosting with my preschool kids at school as part of our liquid/solid/gas theme. We didn’t have any spice besides the cinnamon so I added a little extra to the measurement in the recipe. Baked it in an aluminum foil pan with greased parchment paper… It took 50 minutes to bake to perfection. Served it warm and the staff raved that it was the best cake they’d ever tasted. The kids loved it! Thank you!
Really moist and flavorful cake! I made 2 9 inch layers 2 days ahead, cooled, and wrapped at room temperature and it was soo moist and good!
Thanks!
Made this for a birthday party this weekend – even after a week of everyone eating pumpkin-themed foods, the entire sheet cake was gone between 9 people in the course of an evening. Everyone went back for seconds. Birthday boy loved it! Thanks so much.
This was a really nice pumpkin cake!! Thank you
AMAZING!!! I did a 2-layer version for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. My husband literally hid the leftover cake in our back fridge so no one would take it home with them. My kids don’t like cream cheese so did a super light vanilla buttercream and it was perfect. Thanks so much- will definitely be making this one again!!
I followed the recipe exactly as written. I made the cake on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and stored it in the freezer in the glass baking dish recommended. I wrapped the pan completely with plastic wrap. The night before Thanksgiving I thawed the cake on the counter and made the frosting and frosted the cake in the morning. This cake is perfection! What a big help it is to have a make ahead dessert that is foolproof and delicious. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!
Can I make this in two 8 in cake pans?
Absolutely! Pour batter evenly into two 8-inch round cake pans. Same oven temperature and use a toothpick to test for doneness. The layers will be thicker than if you were using 9 inch cake pans. This frosting is enough for a 2 layer cake.
Hi Sally,
I am planning on baking this recipe as a bundt cake for this Thanksgiving. Can I sub the canola oil with either coconut or avocado oil? Thanks!
Melted coconut oil is a wonderful replacement!
I’ve made this twice. The only tweak‘s were that I made it in a Bundt cake pan (using this recipe, not the Bundt cake one) and then simply dusted with powder sugar instead of making the frosting. Everyone loved it so much that we’re planning to bring it to Thanksgiving INSTEAD of pie. Wish us luck as to not getting kicked out
I made this for my dad’s retirement party. I quadrupled the recipe to fit in a huge sheet pan (thankfully I had access to a commercial oven). It was perfect! Rave reviews from all of our guests!
This is a great recipe!! I have made it at least 4 times and it comes out perfectly every time. It is awesome with or with out icing.
Thank you for the yummy recipe 🙂
Will the baking time be different if I make this in a metal instead of a glass pan? Why is a glass pan preferred for this recipe? Thanks
My glass pan is just my personal preference for this size! You can use your metal pan, the bake time might be a few minutes shorter (glass heats up slower) so just keep an eye on it toward the end.
Today was my second time to make this pumpkin cake. Everyone loved it the first time I made it, so I thought I would make it again to take to a church dinner. Hope they enjoy it as much as my family did.
The cake was a hit at work! I followed the cake and frosting recipes with minor tweaks. I prepared 3 6-inch cakes, and I used rum extract and a store-bought spice mix in the frosting. The cake was indeed moist while still being sturdy enough to cut! The cream cheese was just thick enough for piping delicate flowers, but I’ll continue to search for a sturdier recipe that won’t soften as I decorate. Definitely a recipe I will continue to use! Thank you for sharing.
Made this cake yesterday it was delicious had to send it to work with my husband so I could stop eating it, they all loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
Even though the cake took forever to get done, it was a big hit with our family. I did do one goof which may have caused it to take so long. I added the sugars to the dry ingredients instead of the wet and I noticed the batter was thinner than you said it would be. The frosting was good but too much. May half that next time. Nice mixture of spices.
Made this cake last night for a co-worker’s birthday.
Came out delicious, moist and flavorful.
I added 3/4 tsp of cinnamon and a tablespoon of maple syrup to the frosting
and it was really good!
My cake collapsed in the middle. It looks like oven temp was good. I did not overbeat and a toothpick came out clean. I used a glass pan. Should I have reduced the temperature? It is an easy tasty recipe, but I want it to come out as nice as yours.
Hi Nancy, ovens with too high heat can cause a cake to sink as it cools. (You could even double check the accuracy of your oven with an oven thermometer– highly recommended.) Also, make sure you’re making no substitutions in the ingredients. If the batter is too thin, it will rise tall before collapsing.
Can I add chocolate chips to this without any other alterations?
Yes you can! I suggest between 1 and 1.5 cups of chocolate chips. Enjoy!
I made this delicious cake today and my husband and I were thrilled with the end result.
I modified it with double the spices, because I just love the extra pumpkin spices. I also used my own puree from steamed butternut pumpkin. It is a winner for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or any time during the year!
This turned out great and it was delicious. The people at my church were commenting about how delicious it was. I baked for 35 minutes in a 9×13 pan and kept it in the fridge and it was so moist. I would definitely make this again.
I tried the recipe baked using a glass baking tray as i thought it was recommended but ended up totally flopped. The cake turned out to be wet inside but dry on top.