Pumpkin Cake Recipe
This warm, comforting, perfectly-spiced pumpkin cake topped with a sweetly tangy caramel cream cheese frosting is pure heaven. Every bite tastes like fall! This gorgeous cake makes an impressive finale for any elegant holiday meal.
I love pumpkins! In my opinion, it’s one of the most underrated fruits! So when my neighbors asked me to provide some goodies for our community bake sale, it had to be pumpkin for a perfect fall treat. However, I needed something I could make a day ahead, and that was easy to transport. Plus, I wanted it to be memorable!
After a few experiments, my son and I came up with a dessert that delivers big on warm fall flavors with a tangy, creamy frosting that takes it over the top. The short ingredient list and the cake’s simplicity made it ideal for the bake sale. It was one of the first desserts to sell out, and the feedback was a huge YUM!
The Secret to Awesome Pumpkin Puree
Pumpkin puree is cooked pumpkin blended or mashed to create a smooth pulp. However, store-bought canned pumpkin puree gives you a smoother finish than what a home blender, or even a Vitamix, gives you. Most canned pumpkin purees are made with different varieties of winter squashes, such as sugar pumpkins or Dickinson squash. But they all work fine in this recipe.
How to Make Pumpkin Cake
The Cake
- Mix eggs, sour cream, sugar, pumpkin, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. (Photos 1-2)
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a separate bowl. (Photos 3)
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. (Photo 4)
- Divide your cake batter between 2 9-inch cake pans or pour it into a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly brown, and set aside to cool. Make the frosting while it cools.
The Frosting
- Combine butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the caramel into a mixing bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes so it can cool. It should thicken slightly, but if the caramel gets too hard and is difficult to work with, add another tablespoon of heavy cream.
- Whip the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and softened butter. Then stir in the caramel sauce until smooth.
- Frost your cooled cake.
Recipe Notes
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, substitute 1½ teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ⅛ teaspoon ground clove. Or use a tablespoon of ground cinnamon if that’s all you have on hand.
- For bake sales or class picnics, make it as a sheet cake. It’s also fun to top it with candied pecans or candy corn for more delicious fall yumminess!
- While canned pumpkin pie filling doesn’t work well, sweet potato puree can substitute for pumpkin puree! Bake the sweet potatoes until soft, let them cool, then remove the peel and puree.
- As tempting as it is to frost and eat the cake right out of the oven, allow the cake to cool completely first. Frosting the cake when it’s too warm will melt the icing and make a mess.
Making It Ahead
Part of this cake’s charm is that it’s easy and forgiving. You can bake it, store it overnight on the counter, or store it in the fridge for 2-3 days before serving.
It can be frosted before you stick it in the fridge, or refrigerate it unfrosted and frost it after it’s reached room temperature.
This cake is a dream to freeze, even if it’s frosted! It can be stored in the freezer for three months and then thawed overnight in the fridge.
More Decadent Fall Recipes to Try
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
This blog post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
The Cake
- 4 large eggs
- ⅓ cup (75g) sour cream
- ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon (6g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda
- 3 teaspoons (6g) pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon (5-6g) salt
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
The Frosting
- ¼ cup (60g) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup (150g) brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30g) heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon (1-2g) salt
- 8 ounces (113g) cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 3½ cups (420g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon (2-3ml) vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (75g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
Instructions
The Cake
- Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃). Grease two round 9-inch cake pans.
- In a medium bowl, mix eggs, sour cream, sugar, pumpkin, and butter.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Add vanilla extract and mix.
- Divide the batter between two prepared cake pans and bake for about 35 minutes or until slightly brown, and set aside to cool. Then make the frosting while the cake cools.
The Frosting
- Make the caramel by combining the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the caramel into a mixing bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, so it can cool (it will thicken slightly). If the caramel gets too hard and is difficult to work with, add another tablespoon of heavy cream.
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and softened butter.
- Fold the caramel sauce into the cream cheese mixture and stir until combined.
- As soon as possible, before your frosting hardens, smooth a little over a quarter of the frosting over the first cooled pumpkin cake layer, top with the second cake layer, and finish frosting the cake. Decorate as desired.
Tips & Notes:
- Room temperature ingredients, especially the eggs, cream cheese, and butter, will make your cake lighter and your frosting creamier.
- Pumpkin puree adds lots of moisture to a cake, which means it can be hard to tell when it’s done. I suggest using a probe thermometer (the cake should reach 200°F or 93℃) or a skewer to test the thickest part of your cake.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on the products used.
I just made this and it was so delicious!
Awesome!!! Thank you much for your feedback.
Following the wave of gluten-free foods, I suggest you replace the wheat flour with cassava, sweet potato or banana flour, although you would have to test the quantities because each one has a different density…
Thanks for the suggestions, Pedro. Will definitely try that out.
This was delicious! I made it 2 days ago, and I’m going to make one again today lol. I know its not Fall, but this good to me all year round! Fantastic recipe:)
This looks soo goof, I can’t wait to try it. Can you make this with sweet potatoes inatead of pumpkin? If so, can I just puree the sweet potatoes. P.S. The shrimp ettouffee recipe is amazing
Aww thanks. Yes you can use puree sweet potatoes with good results. Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks again.
Delicious. I actually baked it in a bread pan so I guess its a pumpkin-cake bread? Anyway it was so delicious. I left out the cream. Perfect with tea or coffee. Thanks.
Fall is my favourite time of the year just for the pumpkin love !
I completely agree. My son is always asking for pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin all season long!