This Easy Pumpkin Cake is our favorite, fluffy, moist, and absolutely delicious. It’s perfectly spiced with a tender, moist, and delicate crumb. The marshmallow-like whipped cream cheese frosting takes this pumpkin cake recipe over the top.
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Helpful Reader Review
“Very easy to make, cake was moist and delicious. I loved the cream cheese frosting because it wasn’t so sweet. Was loved by all the ladies at the luncheon.” – Mandy ★★★★★
Pumpkin Cake Video Tutorial
I’ll show you how easy it is to make the pumpkin cake and cream cheese frosting. If you aren’t a major pumpkin fan yet, you will be after trying this! We are quite smitten with this cake. It is on the regular rotation at our house in the Autumn. Plus, it’s not overly sweet, so there’s no avoiding that second helping ;).
Pumpkin Cake Recipe
This pumpkin sheet cake recipe was shared by one of my readers, Yulia. Thank you so much for sharing this treasure of a recipe with us! I now use the same base for my Pumpkin Bread Recipe, and some of our favorite recipes have been shared by our readers. I love it when you all write in and share your favorite recipes and tips. Those are my favorite kinds of emails! Thanks for thinking of me :).
The first time I made this, I invited all 4 of my sisters and their families over for dinner, and everyone really enjoyed it, especially the kids. I polled my sisters about whether they would be more likely to remake this as a fancy double-decker cake or this easy-peasy sheet cake, and the consensus was: keep it EASY. Like 4 steps easy, including frosting!
Ingredients for Easy Pumpkin Cake
- Pantry Staples – All-purpose flour (measured correctly), baking powder, baking soda (sifted to get rid of lumps), cinnamon and salt. You can add 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/4 tsp cloves for a more spiced flavor in the cake.
- Granulated sugar – Many of you have asked if it works to reduce the sugar, so I tested reducing it from 1 1/2 to 1 cup, and it still works, although it will be less sweet.
- Eggs – you can quickly bring these to room temperature by placing them in warm water for 10 minutes.
- Oil – use a neutral oil like extra light olive oil, vegetable or corn oil
- Pumpkin puree – use one 15 oz can homemade pumpkin puree.
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting
My homemade cream cheese frosting is so versatile. It has a deeper flavor than buttercream and complements the pumpkin beautifully.
- Cream Cheese – 1, 8 oz package, at room temp, cut into quarters
- Unsalted butter – at room temperature. If you dice it up, it will soften faster.
- Powdered sugar – sweetens the frosting without being gritty.
- Real vanilla extract – I use homemade but storebought is fine
How to Make Easy Pumpkin Cake
Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Using cooking spray or oil, grease a 9×13 non-stick baking pan or a Glass pyrex dish. Tip: If you’re serving it out of a metal pan, line it with parchment paper so you don’t scratch up your pan when serving.
- 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt.
- In a second medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 3 large eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 can pumpkin, until well combined.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer to prepared baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 35-40 min (my oven took 35 mins), or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pan.
How to Make Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Combine all of your frosting ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until combined, then beat on high speed 2-3 min or until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Once the pumpkin cake has cooled to room temperature, spread the frosting over the top.
To make the cake more festive and fun for special occasions, I like to decorate with chopped nuts or sprinkles.
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Make-Ahead Cake: You can pre-bake the cake the day before, let it cool to room temperature, then cover and store at room temperature overnight, or refrigerate up to 2 days. You can also tightly wrap in plastic wrap and foil and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Make-Ahead Frosting: Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days. To use, let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour or just until spreadable or pipeable.
- Storing the Assembled Cake: Once the cake is frosted, it will keep well, covered in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
For the past 10 years, this is the cake I make most often for Fall family gatherings because it’s so well-loved and comes together fast. This one’s a keeper and is a perfect go-to for Thanksgiving and the holidays.
Easy Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for Pumpkin Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, *see note on measuring
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, *
- 1 tsp baking soda, sifted to get rid of lumps
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon, *
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 large eggs, room temp
- 1 cup oil, extra light olive oil, vegetable or corn oil will work
- 15 oz pumpkin puree, can
Ingredients for Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temp, cut into quarters
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter butter, room temp
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Pecans to decorate, optional
Instructions
How to Make Pumpkin Cake:
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9×13 non-stick baking pan or a Glass Pyrex dish.** In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt.
- In a second medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 3 large eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 can pumpkin, until well combined.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer to prepared baking dish and bake at 350˚F for 35-40 min (my oven took 35 min), or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool completely in pan then spread the top with frosting (see below).
How to Make Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Combine all of your frosting ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and using the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until combined, then beat on high speed 2-3 min or until fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Once the pumpkin cake has cooled to room temperature, spread the frosting over the top, then decorate with chopped nuts or sprinkles if desired.
Notes
*If you prefer a less sweet cake, you can use 1 cup of sugar, and the recipe will still work.
*Several of you have reported great results adding 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/4 tsp cloves for a more spiced flavor in the cake.
**If you’re serving it out of a metal pan, line it with parchment paper so you don’t scratch up your pan.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Dreamy Pumpkin Recipes
If you love cozy pumpkin recipes, you will find some new favorites in this list:
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Pull-Apart Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Flax Granola
- Pumpkin Pancakes
- Creamy Pumpkin Soup
- Pumpkin Cake Roll
- Pumpkin Pie
- Fluffy Pumpkin Waffles
Excellent! Easy, fast and delicious.
I was making a pot of beef stew following your recipe and decided to make the pumpkin cake while waiting for the stew.
Excellent late lunch followed by the perfect dessert. Thank you Natasha!
One question about the cake, do you think it would work with apple sauce instead of pumpkin?
Thank you for your good feedback, I’m happy to know that you enjoyed it! I have not tried using apple sauce yet to advise.
I forgot I like to use a Ukrainian buttercream icing no icing sugar not too sweet but very custard buttery soft I use it to make my 7 layer(thin) buckwheat honey cake your recipes are the best Darice Laptuta Darbyshire🙏
What is the recipe for the Ukrainian icing if you’d share it?
I find all of your recipes the best thank you Darice Laptuta
Thank you so much!
Would you suggest any adjustments to make this into a layer?
Hi Lauren! It should work fine to do that without any modifications.
Can I use almond flour & if so should I use came amount as AP flour?
Hi Arlene, I have not tried using almond flour. I imagine it will work but you will for sure need to make some adjustments.
Soooo Good!
Perfect texture and taste amazing
Great recipe I’m making it again tomorrow.gonna add a quarter tsp of ground cloves and half tsp ground ginger and maybe reduce granulated sugar by a quarter cup and replace that with packed brown sugar.also one tsp of pure vanilla extract to cake.maybe a sprinkle of finely chopped macadamia nuts.
First time making this. Sooooo good! We love all your recipes!
Thank you so much, Brad! I’m glad to know you loved this recipe too.
This will now be my go to pumpkin cake. It was easy, delicious, flavorful and the icing is perfect!
Will coconut oil work for this in place of the olive oil?
Hi Jenny! Yes, that would be fine. We use light olive oil because it’s flavorless.
I usually love all if Natasha’s recipes. This one just didn’t work for us. The proportions of cream cheese and butter to the powdered sugar was just too much. Also, it is a huge amount of icing. The cake itself was great.
Hi Dahlia, did you make the cake in a smaller pan? It’s a generous amount of frosting but not too much for a 9×13.
I loved this cake and so did my friends at my September luncheon!! Your recipes are always a hit with my family!! I even got the sprinkles and the candy pumpkins…. So cute!! ❤️
Very easy to make, cake was moist and delicious. I loved the cream cheese frosting because it wasn’t so sweet. Was loved by all the ladies at the luncheon
I’m so glad you enjoyed it and found it easy, Mandy! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Can I make in a Bundt pan if so what is the cooking time
I think that will work but with some adjustments. You may use the same temperature with cooking time of 55–70 minutes. Check for doneness and adjust the time if needed.
Cake not cooked in the centre. Something wrong with the ratio
I’m sorry it didn’t work out well for you. We’ve made this successfully many times. Are you using a convection/fan oven? I tested this in a conventional oven on regular bake mode. Also, be sure to fully preheat your oven and use the recommended pan size.
Loved it. The cake turn out well but it’s a little too sweet for me…I think I need to cut down on the sugar 3/4-1 cup. I used about 1 and half cup pumpkin puree(home made).
I didn’t put any frosting as it is already tasty without it…orelse it would be too sweet. My mum won’t eat with the frosting….😅. Made specially for my 90 year old mum. She loves to eat cake especially during her evening tea time. Thanks for this easy 1 pot recipe…
I’ve made this twice and it’s delicious! Everyone loves it. I want to make 1/2 the recipe, which should be easy except for the 3 eggs. Have you ever made 1/2 the recipe?
Hi Teresa! It would be fine to use 2 full eggs too.
Great recipe came out perfect. Im male and not a baker but a pretty good cook. The wife loved this. I can always trusty you recipes to be spot on.
I’m so glad she loved this! If you made this, you’re officially a baker! Great job!
Foolproof, easy and always a hit recipe And taste great. With or without the frosting
Thank you for your wonderful feedback, Chavela!
Just made this simple and simply delicious cake yesterday!! AMAZING!! Did use 2 cups of powdered sugar in the icing cuz we like it a bit sweeter. Will certainly start following your blog for more recipes. My kitchen is my refuge!!
Hi Donna! Thank you for trying the recipe. I hope you’ll find some recipes that become new family favorites!