This Easy Pumpkin Cake is our favorite, fluffy, moist and absolutely delicious pumpkin cake. It has a tender, moist and delicate crumb. The marshmallow-like whipped cream cheese frosting takes it over the top.
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I invited my sisters and their families over for dinner this week and everyone really enjoyed it, especially the kids. I asked if they would be more likely to re-make this as a double decker fancy cake or an easy peasy sheet cake and the consensus was: EASY. Like 4 steps easy, including frosting!
Pumpkin Cake Recipe
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 Autumn. Plus, it’s not overly sweet so there’s no avoiding that second helping ;).
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! Some of our favorite recipes have been shared by our readers, like this persimmon bread. I love it when you all write in sharing your favorite recipes and tips. Those are my favorite kinds of emails! Thanks for thinking of me :).
Ingredients for Easy Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour *measured correctly
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)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (or make your own!)
*Watch our easy video tutorial on how to measure correctly
Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package (8oz) Cream Cheese, room temp, cut into quarters
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter butter, room temp
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp real vanilla extract
Pecans to decorate, optional
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 (like this one) 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.
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.
2. In a second medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: 3 large eggs, 1 cup oil and 1 can pumpkin, until well combined.
3. 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 cake cool completely in pan then spread the top with frosting (see below) and decorate with pecans or sprinkles.
How to Make Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
1. Combine all of your frosting ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer (here’s the mixer I use) 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.
More Dreamy Pumpkin Recipes:
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with the same dreamy frosting
- Pull-Apart Pumpkin Bread just melts in your mouth
- Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel
- Pumpkin Flax Granola – we keep a steady batch on hand
Watch Natasha Make Pumpkin Cake:
You’ll be surprised how easy it is to make this pumpkin cake!
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Easy Pumpkin Cake Recipe

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 9x13 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) and decorate with whole or chopped pecans. I sprinkled pecans over individual slices since my son doesn't eat them.
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.
Notes
**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
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Now the question is when are you going to be making this? At the very least, pin it for later. This one’s a keeper!
Make this cake! I just made this cake and it’s so delicious. The frosting is perfect and the cake is outstanding. I made it as a 2 layer cake with the Carmel sauce and frosting in the middle and I drizzled the Carmel on top. A new favorite cake!
I’m happy to hear how much you love the recipe Beth! Thanks for sharing your excellent review with other readers!
I just made the Easy Pumpkin Cake, but I made it into muffins. Got rave reviews on it and will make it again soon. There is a lot of dough for 12 regular muffins. Next time I will make 18 muffins.
I also love! the Cream Cheese Frosting. It is so much better than the too sweet frosting that calls for more powdered sugar!
I’m glad you enjoy the recipe Maureen! Thanks for sharing your great review with other readers!
I made this over the weekend and WOW!! This cake is soooooo moist and tons of pumpkin flavor!! I can’t believe how easy it was to make. It really is one of the tastiest pumpkin cakes I have ever made. The cream cheese frosting amount was just perfect too. I can’t wait to make this again! KUDOS!!!
I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for sharing your excellent review Connie!
I used whole wheat flour and on cup of applesauce instead of the oil and reduced the sugar to 1 cup. I also added 1 tsp of nutmeg and 1 tsp of vanilla. With the cream cheese frosting it is plenty sweet enough.
Thanks for sharing your tips with other readers Lori!
This cake is SO GOOD! I love the clear and easy to follow instructions. This recipe is fool-proof even for absolute beginners 🤣
I’m glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe Lesya! Thanks for sharing your great review with other readers!
I make this cake alot but add one cup of white raisins and one cup of chopped walnuts. Rave reviews.
Yum, what great additions! Thanks for sharing Linda!
The 1 cup powered sugar has me wondering? My recipes for cream cheese icing call for 4 or 5 cups..and have discovered less than stick of butter works better too.
Hi Pat, yes, it really is only 1 cup. It whips really well and if you want the frosting firmer, frost the cake and refrigerate until it stiffens a bit. The cake will be super soft chilled or at room temperature and the frosting is just wonderful. If you like REALLY sweet frostings, you can add more powdered sugar but we love it the way it is.
I made this cake twice and both times it was dense and not fluffy as described. The flavor was delicious but really wanted a fluffy texture. I checked my ingredients and none were expired.
Hi Amarie, I haven’t had that experience so I suspect possibly your leavening is no longer active? This cake is normally super soft and fluffy and rises really well. I would suggest trying again with some fresh baking soda. It can expire sooner than the package date depending on how it is stored (i.e if it is left open, or left open and refrigerated), or maybe baking powder was used by mistake?
Had something similar, but they had added some orange zest to batter. Sort of refreshed the taste.
That’s a great suggestions Jo Dee! Thanks for sharing!
Can you make this in a bundt cake pan??
Hi Toni, I haven’t tried in a bundt pan so I can’t provide advice on that, but I think it’s worth and experiment! If you test it out, let me know how you liked it.
Hey Natasha this is kristina I am 12 years old I made this cake 2 times (this is a really good cake by the way)😍
Hello Kristina! I’m happy to hear you enjoy the recipe! Thanks so much for following and sharing your wonderful review! 🙂
This was delicious!
I’m glad you love it Sara! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I am not usually good at baking, but to my surprise this came out perfect! So delicious 🙂 Thank you for this recipe Natasha!
My pleasure Victoria! I’m glad to hear the recipe was a success! Thanks for sharing your great review! 🙂
I made this cake this afternoon, I can’t even get icing on it! It’s so moist and delicious, iced or not, definately a must bake for anyone.
I’m glad you love the recipe Kara! Thanks so much for sharing!!
This is an AMAZING cake! SO SO good! PS- Don’t let the cost estimate turn you off — it has never cost me anywhere close to that to make this cake. It uses staples I almost always have on hand, which I love!
Awesome! I’m happy to hear how much you love this recipe! Thanks for sharing your excellent review Kristin!
Thank you so much for sharing the pumpkin cake recipe. I made it and it was superb.
God bless you.
Diana
You’re welcome Diana! I’m glad you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing and God Bless!
I made this for my coworker’s birthday because she loves anything pumpkin. It was a hit! I love that it’s not overly sweet and I love that it makes just enough frosting. Love this recipe and will make it again for sure!!!
Awesome! I’m glad to hear that Erin! Thanks for sharing your great review!
Hi Natasha! I made this easy and delicious cake yesterday for my Uncle who loves chocolate…so, following your comment on a review, I substituted 1/2 cup of Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder for a 1/2 cup of the flour. It came out fantastic!! Moist and tender. I frosted with chocolate buttercream and it was a big hit with Uncle. A true Keeper Recipe!!
Hello Annette! I’m glad to hear how much you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing your great review!
Hi! I have tried so many pumpkin cake recipes all so dense!! I was about to give in my search for a good recipe until I found this one! thank you so much for sharing!! I am making it right now and I know it probably wont come out like it is supposed to be. I realized my baking powde and baking soda were expired (ouch lol), and I did not measure the flour properly (ouuuch), so I know it will be another dense cake for these reasons lol. On top of all I did not have enough pumpkin puree ( maybe a little over 1/2 of the can. However, I will give it another try with the right amounts, measurements and expiration dates ingredients and will keep you posted. I tried the batter and it was already delish!!!
I’m glad to hear you’re giving this recipe a shot! I hope you enjoy it even more the second time around! 🙂
Really good and easy recipe, turned out quite tasty. However, it was quite dense, not light and fluffy. Any clue on what I must have done wrong?
Hi Ann, that is definitely unusual. It is supposed to be very soft and fluffy. I am always happy to help troubleshoot. Be sure you are measuring flour correctly and not substituting any of the ingredients. Also, be sure your baking soda and baking powder are still working and not expired. Those sound like the most likely culprits if it did not rise. I hope that helps for next time!