Pumpkin Cake

This warm, comforting, perfectly-spiced cake topped with a sweet yet tangy caramel cream cheese frosting is pure heaven. Every bite of this Pumpkin Cake tastes like fall! This gorgeous cake makes an impressive finale for any elegant holiday meal.

Course Dessert/Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings

Calories 766kcal

Author Imma

Ingredients

Pumpkin Cake

4 large eggs
⅓ cup sour cream
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (150g) light brown sugar, packed
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (see notes #1)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

Caramel

¼ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese

8 ounces cream cheese, at nearly room temperature
3½ cups (420g) powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

Instructions

Pumpkin Cake

Preheat oven to 350℉/177℃. Grease two round 9" 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.

Frosting

Caramel: Combine butter, brown sugar, heavy cream, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and once boiling, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Pour the caramel into a mixing bowl and let 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 a another tablespoon of heavy cream.
Cream Cheese: In a separate bowl, combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and softened butter.
Mix the caramel sauce into the cream cheese mixture until combined.
As soon as possible so your frosting doesn't harden, 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.

Notes

If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, substitute 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ⅛ teaspoon ground clove.
Bringing refrigerated ingredients, such as eggs, cream cheese, and butter, to room temperature before using them will make your cake lighter and your frosting creamier.
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 gets a bit messy.
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/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 products used.

Nutrition