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!
Absolutely wonderful cake ! Family loved it !
Hi Sherry! I’m so happy your family enjoyed this!
This is amazing ! Made it this morning , so moist & light at the same time ! Thank you so much for the recipe !
You’re welcome, Sherry! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
One word: DELICIOUS!! Light, fluffy and moist and I cant wait to make massive amounts for the holidays. Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe!
This would be perfect for the holidays! Thank you for this wonderful review!
This looks absolutely delicious and easy!!! I am going to make it for a fundraiser this week! 😉
That’s so great, Tanya! I’m so happy you liked it!
This cake taste Delicious! Thank you Natasha for a wonderful recipe.
You’re so welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I’ve been making this cake for years. My mother-in-law always made it, only she put a cup of chocolate chips and one of chopped walnuts in it and omitted the frosting. Very good snack cake. I will try it with your frosting, looks amazing. And you are adorable! Love your site and have made quite a few of your recipes. Always delicious!
You’re so nice! Thank you for this feedback Karen!
All of the tasty choices You are the best you bring to view
I uses these all the time I am making your Pumpkin Cake for a party
I am A forever follower
I’m so glad you enjoy our recipes and I hope you love the pumpkin cake!
Awesome recipe! Thanks so much!
You’re so welcome Tammy!
Can i use grapeseed oil instead of olive oil?
Hi Dana! Although I haven’t tried grape-seed oil in this recipe I think it will hold up well if you used it.
I regularly replace olive with grapeseed oil in baking and it ALWAYS works very well…I even prefer it over olive oil. 🙂
Hi Natasha! I am so happy to follow your recipes thank you so so much! I read you can use three ripe bananas instead of the pumpkin. I wonder if I can do this recipe using sweet potatoes? thank in advanced!
Hi there! That is a great question but I honestly have never tried that so I can’t say. I think mashed sweet potato may work! If you experiment I would love to hear how you like it!
thank you Natasha! I will try and keep you posted! xoxo
How do you think this would work as cupcakes?!
Hi Katie! It sure does. One of our readers let us know this worked great for cupcakes. She did cut the bake time to 20 minutes however.
My eldest grandson hates veg.. when I made carrot his reply was who puts carrots in a cake lol .. so I sent him to work with a large piece of pumpkin cake and was shocked to hear he wanted more lol so your cakes a winner all round
That’s so awesome! I love that! Thank you for sharing that with me, Toni!
I made this cake for a fundraising dinner, and it blew everyone’s mind! They even took home leftovers. To be completely honest, I didn’t use the frosting from this recipe, I made my own tried and tested version, but the cake itself was phenomenal, light and full of flavour. I used home made pumpkin puree from organic pumpkins I had at home, which is a bit more work but worth it for the quality
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review, Silvia! 🙂
My fiancé, soon to be husband, loves all things pumpkin 🎃 I would try a pumpkin cake. I was intrigued by the recipe but fearful of making a homemade cake. I thought I would give it try since it was his birthday. The batter appeared not to be as smooth as your batter in the picture so I add three tablespoons of milk, of course it made it thinner. I made your frosting. The results were amazing! We loved it. So moist and tasty. I believe this will be the recipe that stays in this family! Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe Karla! Thank you for sharing this with all of us!
Can you by any chance substitute for the sugar?
Hi Sandy! I haven’t tried that yet but one of my readers has and here is what they wrote “I baked this cake for my husband who is watching his sugar levels. I used stevia instead of the sugar and of course skipped the frosting. It turned out perfect! Tastes great! He loved it!” I hope this helps.
Wow. I was blown away by how easy and yummy this was. Even though I hate the word – really “moist”. Even loved by some very skeptical children.
That’s so amazing! Thank you for sharing that with us, Zara!
This recipe is such a winner! I had organic pumpkins, so I just steamed half a chopped up pumpkin over boiling water till it was very soft, then blended it up with electric beaters along with the eggs and oil. Easy as! I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve made a pumpkin cake. It’s just come out of the oven and the smell is UNBELIEVABLY DELICIOUS!!
Thank you for the amazing review, Amy! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Just made your pumpkin cake and wow it’s lush ty
I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
Can we use plain flour?
Hi Ella, all purpose flour in this recipe is the basic flour used in most recipes. Are you referring to something else?
Hi Ella. Plain flour is all purpose flour. Hope that helps. I grow my own pumpkins, then cook and mash them too. Beautiful recipe that I continue to use again and again.
Thank you for the wonderful compliment, Leonie!
Thank You for this recipe
I just baked yet another one
I have stuck pineapple chunks into the top before baking
Very good
You’re welcome! That sounds interesting, I’m glad to hear the recipe was a success. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
This is an amazing cake! Definitely a keeper. It’s so good, I can’t stop eating it! I used a little lesser oil and added half tsp of nutmeg and it still turned out moist and delicious. Next time, I’ll reduce the sugar a bit. Any suggestions for substituting the pumpkin with another fruit and still getting this awesome taste and texture?
Thank you for the nice review 😀. Three ripe bananas can be used instead of pumpkin puree.
ohhhh I might try that! thank you!!
You’re welcome!
Hi Natasha! Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. The cake is so moist, yet light. This is the first time making a homemade cake and it came out perfectly! I look forward to trying some of your other recipes. Kara
You’re welcome Kara! I’m glad to hear the recipe is such a success. Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
We have a problem! This cake is sooooo delicious, that I have made 3 in 3 weeks time.It’s one of those cakes that just get better as the days go by. Not that too many days go by before it’s gone. Thanks so much for sharing. This is a fall favorite now!!!!!
LOL!! You’re welcome! I’m glad to hear how much you love this recipe! Thanks for sharing your fantastic review!