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
Absolutely beautiful cake!!!
I used 1 cup brown sugar instead of 1 1/2 cups white, I added 1 cup walnuts, and reduced oil to 3/4 cup. I also used egg replacer to make it vegan. It is fabulous!!!! Very highly recommend!!!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for sharing that awesome feedback with us!
Hi Natasha. Made this cake many times and always delicious 🙂 If I was to make a 2-layer cake in 9-in round pans, how would I modify baking temp and time? Thanks!
Hi Alena, I would just be sure the center is done it shouldn’t take much longer then normal bake time
I have been looking for that manual can opener use use on your video. I can’t find it anywhere. Where do you buy one?
Hi Connie, You can follow this link here 🙂
The cake is delicious! Thank you for sharing. I looked for the link to the can opener and it’s probably there, lol, just can’t find it.
Thanks!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Here is that link!
Made this cake numerous times and add 1 c chopped walnuts and 1/2 c of white raisins. Love this cake.
Sounds like you found a new favorite, Linda! I’m so happy you enjoyed that
Would love if the ingredients were in weight
We are currently working on adding metric measurements to all of our recipes but it is taking some time as we have to add them one at a time. Thank you so much for being patient! In the meantime, check out our post on measuring which should help
I have made this numerous times but add 1 c of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of white raisins. Super addition. Love this very easy recipe.
That’s so great! Thank you for sharing that with me!
Love this recipe! I specifically searched for one that didn’t need a lot butter because I only had 1/2 a stick. I made cupcakes instead because I needed individual servings for an event. This recipe made 30 cupcakes filled 1/2 full.
I only had 4oz of butter and 4oz of cream cheese for the frosting. So I used that with the rest of the frosting ingredients then added a small tub of cool whip. Turned out great!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
If I could give this recipe more than 5 stars, I would! I’ve made this 4 times now – twice in the 9×13 pan and twice in a bundt pan. Both turned out so moist and delicious and everyone loved it. (When made in the bundt pan it needs to bake about 50 min.) And this is SO very easy to make. Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
HI! I do love your recipies ! If I only used Pumpkin spice, how would I measure that? Also how long would I bake for 2- 8inch round cake pans please?
Without trying that on my own it is hard for me to give a suggestion but I think that should work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’m eager to try it.
Quick question, I noticed a lot of bakers call for a pinch of salt in their recipes, is there a reason why yours does not?
Hi Jasmin, I’ve never noticed or had any reports that it was lacking in flavor, but you are welcome to add it if you like! I do agree with adding salt to very sweet desserts like cookies and some very sweet frostings – it helps to cut the sweetness but this is not an overly sweet cake. 🙂
I made this cake and added 1 c chopped walnuts and 1 c white raisins. Amazing.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review!
I make this cake and add 1 cup walnuts and a cup of white raisins. Super good.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for the great review, Nancy!
Add
1/2 TSP Cloves
1 TSP Nutmeg
1 TSP Allspice
Add to the dry ingrediants.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Question, I want to add some cheery pie filling to this recipe. Would I just make the cake and before putting in oven, would I then swirl in the pie filling?
Hi there Tim, I honestly have not tried this with a pie filling. But I imagine swirling it in would be best. If you experiment I would love to know how you like that.
Hi! Sorry if this is a stupid question. I am making this cake in advance. Does it need to be refrigerated since the frosting has cream cheese and butter? Or can I leave it out at room temp? Thanks!
Hi Teri, Yes, we do refrigerate it because it has cream cheese. You can serve the pumpkin cake right out of the fridge or let it soften for an hour before serving.
It does not say how big the Pan is for the pumpkin cake,9 inch pan or a 13×9 pan ?
Hi Charlotte. We have it posted in the recipe 🙂 “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.” I hope this helps!
Would I be able to make this in a circular pan instead of the large rectangle?
I don’t see why not! You may have to split it between otherwise it will be a tall cake
My wife asked me to put this together for her. It was great! We enjoyed desert. Next time I plan to try walnuts. I’m thinking 1 cup. Thoughts?
I think that will work great Vic! I’ve read through the comments and it sounds like a few of our readers have used up to one cup of walnuts also!
Can I use a store bought disposable aluminum pan to bake this cake?
I haven’t tried that Amy but it may work! I would love to know how you like it that way!
I used a disposable pan. Be careful removing the pan and transporting it because the cake will crack.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
This was delicious. I usually stick to mixes for baking, so this was a big step. Turned out great—super easy. My husband and I loved that the cake was not too sweet. The texture of the cake combined with the cream cheese frosting was amazing.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!