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
Delicious, but mine didn’t rise very much. About half of what your picture shows. What did I do wrong.
Hi Del, I would double check all of your ingredients used, also be sure the baking soda and powder were not mixed up and ensure neither is expired. If expired it may not work properly. I wish I could be more helpful from afar.
I want to make for 40 people how much quantity I can use thank you specially for the holidays
Hi Maria! At the top of the recipe card you can change the number of servings and it converts the list for you.
I made it today and is sooooooo good 😍💕Natasha, thank you so much for the easy, quick and delicious recipes🫶 You are the best!
You’re very welcome, Ewelina! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes.
This recipe is amazing!! I changed the oil for 2 sticks of melted butter and it turned out great! So moist yet fluffly at the same time! We used less sugar and a simple vanilla buttercream frosting since one of my boys doesn’t like cream cheese and it was one of the best cakes I’ve made all year!!
Can you bake this as a stacked round cake?
Hi Nora, I have not tried this as a layer cake so I can’t say for certain. I think you could make it work for a 2-layer 8 or 9″ cake and you may need to make some adjustments to the bake time since it will be 2 thinner layers.
I’m so excited to make this! I’m just wondering if I can add some chocolate chips or nuts? If so, when do I add them? Do I just sprinkle them on top?
Hi Andrea, I haven’t tried that but one of my readers mentioned they added chocolate chips to the mix. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
I made this before and it came out fantastic! but I was wondering if there is an alternative to the cream cheese frosting? would just a glaze be okay? I have to make something for a dinner party I was invited to and I have no cream cheese on hand.
Hi Sue, we LOVE this with the cream cheese frosting, but it will work with a glaze as well. One of my readers mentioned in the comments “I made mini cakes with this recipe and added pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Then to top it all off I made a homemade glaze for it. thankyou!!!!!” I hope this helps.
Thank you! I appreciate the link. Can you make these into cupcakes?
Warm regards.
You can use my Pumpkin Cupcake recipes instead. Enjoy!
I would have this in my kitchen daily if I could. I have never served it without someone asking for the recipe. The cake is moist (hate that word) without being too heavy and the frosting is a keeper for many, many other uses.
Made the frosting recipe exactly according to the directions, and it came out chunky. Had to trash it and remake it again, following every step to a t. Same thing happened. Wasted a lot of money on the ingredients. Will make the pumpkin cake again, but will never use the paired cream cheese frosting, using a different one instead next time.
Hi Bri! Cold cream cheese or butter is the biggest culprit! If either is too cold, it won’t blend smoothly, leaving lumps.
They should be softened to room temp, your finger should leave an indent in that butter when pressed on.
I’m glad you loved the cake though.
Thank you Natasha! This cake was incredible, quick and easy to bake. Your recipes are so well written and easy to follow. I added a sprinkle of ground cloves but otherwise followed the recipe exactly as written. The frosting / topping is so easy and tastes fabulous, I will be using it on other desserts. Everyone here loved the cake. I look forward to making it again soon, I appreciate that it uses the whole can of pumpkin as well. I love that you can make it ahead of time. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Thank you so much for the wonderful review. I’m so glad it was a hit.
Looks delicious how far in advance can I make this ?
Hi Olena, yes, you can make this in advance. Cover well and refrigerate for 5 to 7 days. It does keep very well in the fridge
I was wondering if I can use monk fruit instead of sugar and how much should I use?
Hi Sabrina! I haven’t tested that. I would check your package for instructions. If it’s pure monk fruit sweetener it’s overly sweet and can’t be used in a 1:1 ratio, but if it’s a blend it may work.
Turned out great! What is the best way to store the cake? In the refrigerator?
Hi Jacquelyn! Yes, it needs to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese frosting. I’m glad you loved it!
I put the batter into cupcake pans. Turned out delicious! Cake is very moist! Very easy recipe!
My family loved this recipe. The only alteration I made was added “Health Bits” on top of the frosting and voila… a masterpiece.
That sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing that with us.
I don’t have sea salt. Would Himalayan or reg table salt be ok?
Hi, Danielle, ofcourse either of those would work.
Why does ANYONE use box mix when this can be mixed and in the oven in less than 10 minutes??? Hatch is delish, it’s in my oven so I’ll let you know about the final product. I like I cc frosting bursting w cc so I use two blocks to one cup of butter.
Natasha, all your recipes are fabulous!!! Thank you.
It really does come together quickly! I hope you love it, Colleen!
OMG 😋 I just made it and it was fantastic Separated it into 3 tins so I can store them in the fridge. I’ve made the frosting but hubby likes it plain. So who ever wants icing can add when they’re eating 😂 very moist very tasty and super easy to make. I’m glad I stumbled upon this recipe ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Give me all the icing, but it really is good without it too! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Kathy!
I’ve been looking for a simple pumpkin cake recipe and I think this could be it. Can I sub applesauce instead of oil? have you tried with this recipe? Thx
Hi Christine, I haven’t tested that to advise, if you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Natasha, this is an excellent recipe, it came out great when I did it last year and I’ll be doing it again soon. I can’t find the link to that can opener if you would be so kind as to let me know where you got it?
Thank you kindly.
I’m happy to hear that you loved it! Safety Can Opener (affiliate link)