This pumpkin cake is soft, extra moist, and full of pumpkin and a generous dose of spice flavor. Smooth, tangy cream cheese frosting is the perfect finishing touch. Bake the batter as an easy 9×13-inch sheet cake or divide it among round pans for a pumpkin layer cake.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since updated it with new photos and additional success tips.
This is the pumpkin cake I come back to every fall. The batter is easy to mix, the cake stays wonderfully moist, and you can dress it up or keep it simple depending on the occasion. For an easy dessert to transport and serve, bake it in a 9×13-inch pan and spread the frosting right on top. For a birthday or holiday celebration, use the same batter to make a towering layer cake.
Always love options!
Either way, you get plenty of pumpkin, cinnamon, and brown sugar flavor in every bite. And while the cake is delicious on its own, I always look forward to the cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Cake Details
Here’s what to expect from today’s recipe.
- Flavor: Pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice give this cake its familiar fall flavor. The cream cheese frosting balances the sweetness and complements the spices.
- Texture: This cake is soft and “stick-to-your-fork moist,” thanks to the pumpkin and oil in the batter. If you’ve made these pumpkin cupcakes, you can expect a similar texture… they’re essentially the same recipe with a smaller yield!
- Ease: You need just 2 mixing bowls to prepare the batter, and no mixer until it’s time to make the frosting. The sheet cake is especially simple because there’s no stacking or assembly. The layer cake takes a little more time to frost, but starts with the very same batter.
Key Ingredients You Need & Why
- Flour: All-purpose flour gives this moist cake enough structure without making the crumb heavy. Stick with all-purpose flour rather than swapping in cake flour; cake flour is simply too light to support the pumpkin and oil.
- Pumpkin: You’ll use an entire 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree, so there’s no partial can left over. Be sure to use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling, which already contains sugar and spices. You can use homemade puree, but I prefer the consistent flavor and texture of canned pumpkin in this cake.
- Cinnamon + pumpkin pie spice: A combination of both gives the cake plenty of spice flavor. Use store-bought or a homemade pumpkin pie spice blend, or substitute the individual spices listed in the recipe notes below.
- Oil + eggs: Oil keeps the crumb soft and moist, while eggs help give the cake structure. I use both in these pumpkin bars, too, but with fewer eggs for a less cakey texture.
- Brown sugar + granulated sugar: Both sweeten the cake, but most of the sugar is brown sugar for its light molasses flavor.
You’ll also need to grab baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla.
Prep Your Cake Pans
For the quarter sheet cake, grease a 9×13-inch metal or glass baking pan. For the layer cake, grease three 8-inch round pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment. You could also make this a 2-layer 9-inch cake. Lots of options for this versatile batter!
Whisk the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Combine the two, mixing just until the batter comes together. Spread it into the 9×13-inch pan or divide it evenly among the round pans, then bake as directed below.
Here is the 3-layer cake version:
Let the cake cool completely before frosting. This is especially important with cream cheese frosting, which softens quickly on a warm cake. After frosting, a little time in the refrigerator helps the cake slice neatly.
Same Pumpkin Cake Batter, 2 Ways
One of my favorite things about this recipe is that you can choose the cake’s shape without changing the batter.
9×13-inch sheet cake: Bake the batter in one pan, let the cake cool, and spread the frosting on top. This is my go-to option for an easy fall dessert, potluck, or Thanksgiving gathering.
Layer cake: Divide the batter among three 8-inch round cake pans or two 9-inch round cake pans. Once the layers have cooled, stack them with cream cheese frosting between each layer, then frost the top and sides of the cake. If you need help with this part, see my post (with video tutorial!) on How to Assemble a Layer Cake.
A 2-layer and 3-layer cake require different frosting amounts, so see the recipe Notes below for details.
Cream Cheese Frosting & Decorating Options
Cream cheese frosting is my first choice for this cake, just as it is for carrot cake, hummingbird cake, and banana cake. It’s smooth and creamy, with just enough tang to balance the sweet, spiced cake.
If you’d like to try a different topping, here are a few options:
- Brown butter cream cheese frosting from spice cake
- Chocolate cream cheese frosting from zebra cake
- Classic vanilla buttercream or chocolate buttercream
- Brown sugar cinnamon buttercream from snickerdoodle cake
You can leave the frosted cake as is, or add little candy pumpkins or fall sprinkles before serving. I got the pictured candy pumpkins from Etsy, and on the layer cake, I added some Biscoff cookie crumbs around the base and on top.
Pumpkin Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This pumpkin cake is soft, extra moist, and full of pumpkin and a generous dose of spice flavor. Smooth, tangy cream cheese frosting is the perfect finishing touch. Bake the batter as an easy 9×13-inch sheet cake or divide it among round pans for a pumpkin layer cake.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons store-bought or homemade pumpkin pie spice*
- 1 cup (226g/240ml) vegetable oil (or avocado oil)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 (15-ounce/425g) can pumpkin puree*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a metal or glass 9×13-inch baking pan. (For a layer cake, see instructions below.)
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla extract together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a mixer or whisk until completely combined. The batter will be thick.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-36 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top or edges of the cake is/are browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover the cake with aluminum foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set the entire pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving to help set the frosting.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare cake through step 5. After the cake cools, cover it tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature, make the frosting, frost, and serve. Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature or serve cold.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Glass Baking Pan or Metal Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand)
- Cupcakes: This batter yields about 24-28 cupcakes. Same oven temperature, fill the cupcake wrappers 2/3 full, and bake 18-21 minutes or until baked through. For 1 dozen cupcakes, use my pumpkin cupcakes recipe.
- Bundt Cake: This batter will fit into a 9.5- or 10-inch Bundt pan. Same oven temperature. But for ease, I suggest using my pumpkin Bundt cake recipe. Same great flavor and texture as this cake!
- Layer Cake: You can make this as either a 2-layer or 3-layer cake. For a 2-layer cake, divide the batter evenly between two greased and lined 9-inch round pans and bake at 350°F (177°C) for 26–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For a 3-layer cake, divide the batter evenly among three 8-inch round pans and bake for 22–26 minutes. To make enough frosting for a 3-layer cake, scale the frosting above by 1.5x. So you’ll need 12 oz (340g) cream cheese, 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) butter, 4 and 1/2 cups (540g) confectioners’ sugar, 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a scant 1/4 tsp salt. Before assembling the layer cake, refrigerate the prepared frosting for at least 30 minutes so it’s sturdier and can hold up the layers. I decorated the pictured layer cake with icing pumpkins and Biscoff cookie crumbs.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can find pumpkin pie spice in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice. If you don’t have either and want to use individual spices, use 1/2 teaspoon each: ground allspice, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves. This is in addition to the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon—you will still add that to the batter.
- Oil: Instead of 1 cup of oil, try 1/2 cup (90g) unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 cup (113g/120ml) oil. The cake is just as moist.
- Pumpkin: I strongly recommend using canned pumpkin puree over homemade in this recipe, though 2 cups of homemade would work just fine in a pinch. If using fresh, blot out as much excess moisture as you can using a clean towel. Overall, I found the flavor better with canned. I prefer Libby’s brand for this cake.
Reader Comments and Reviews
My cake did not rise. I am gutted. both baking soda an powder are brad new soooo any ideas?
Hi Daisy, did you happen to make any other ingredient substitutions? If your cake was particularly squat and dense, it sounds like the batter may have been over mixed. An easy fix for next time! This post on how to prevent dry and dense cakes may be helpful to review as well. Thank you for giving this one a try!
Made this today and it has been a huge hit! So moist and amazing flavour. Am in England so used mixed spice instead of pumpkin spice and added a little ginger powder too!
Would love to make it without eggs for vegan family visiting. Has anyone had an success with egg replacements?
Many thanks!
Hi Anna, we’re so glad you enjoyed this one! We haven’t tested an egg-free version, but let us know if you do. If you’re interested, here are all of our egg-free recipes — this pumpkin crumb cake is a favorite egg-free option.
Has anyone tried to make this gluten free? Would it turn out the same?
Hi Nicki, we haven’t tried it ourselves, so we’re unsure of the outcome using a 1:1 gluten-free flour. If you give us a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
Loved this recipe, I added pecans since I had a bunch in the pantry. We like a little crunch. Mine was liquid at 35 minutes, ended up having to give it an additional 15 min’s. Still moist and wonderful.
I made this yesterday following the recipe exactly. Ok, maybe a little more spices and vanilla than called for, but everything else exactly the same. It is wonderful, delicious, pretty. I even added the little candy pumpkins. Big hit at the pot luck dinner I brought it too.
I love how much pumpkin this has in! Do you think it would work as a layer cake? Or is the texture too moist to stack well? Thanks!
Hi Aimee! See recipe notes for layer cake instructions 🙂
Hi Lexi! I’m all about pumpkin recipes in the Fall and I made this Pumpkin Spice cake for my family and they raved about it! It was absolutely the best pumpkin spice cake we’ve ever had, and my mother in law HAD to have the recipe before she left. Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe!
Such a simple, wonderful recipe. I used pumpkin pie mix, so I cut back on the sugar a bit, and used more of the mix than you might have suggested. I baked the batter as a bundt cake at 350 F. for 45 minutes or so and will experiment with a higher temperature in future. The cake was quite moist, but not unpleasantly so. I think many would enjoy it this way. I’m still deciding whether or not I need to use a drizzle.
I’ll be baking this cake for our family’s upcoming Thanksgiving dinner.
Is it possible to reduce the amount of oil and substitute applesauce for it? How would that affect the texture of the cake?
Hi Linda, you can do that, but the cake may taste a bit more dense. If you try it, let us know how it turns out!
Love this recipe! Most pumpkin recipes barely use it at all. You truly commit and deliver on this recipe. I once made it for a sick friend and she said, ¨This is the best carrot cake I´ve ever had.¨ I let her know it was actually the pumpkin cake recipe from Sally´s Baking Addiction Recipes. You have a new fan now!
I would like to try this recipe but in a smaller quantity. Can you halve the recipe and bake it in a 9 inch pan?
Hi Sandy, half the recipe should work well for a 9 inch round. Or you might also enjoy our pumpkin cupcakes. Very similar recipes!
Thanks, Lexi, for the advice for halving the recipe. The cake turned out perfectly in the 9 inch round pan. I followed the above recipe and the only item I didn’t halve was the pumpkin spice (and even added more) but I used fresh pumpkin puree (baked and strained) not canned. Baked it for about 25 minutes and it was delicious.
Hello Sally, thanks for all these lovely recipes. It makes overseas baking like home a treat. Maybe a stupid question but we don’t work with cups here and I’m not the best baker…. it says 2 cups of flour but behind it it says, 250 grams. The cups I have are 250 grams. So is it 1 cup of 250 grams, or 2 cups of 250 grams of flour needed? Would love to hear from you so I don’t poison the family haha. Thanks!
Hi Emma, you want 250g total flour for this recipe. We test all of our recipes multiple times using both metric weights and cups (since that’s standard where we live). While spooning and leveling our flour does get us 125 grams per cup, we always say that “A cup isn’t always a cup, but a gram or ounce is always a gram or ounce.” Basically, when in doubt go by the weight!
Thanks so much Lexi! It came out amazing 🙂
This is the best pumpkin cake ever! I followed the recipe exactly, with 1 exception, I added a cup of raisins ! I made this twice last week! Love it!
Hi! This recipe looks so yummy. I was wondering if you think it would come out alright if I baked it in a nordicware bundt pan?
Hi Raeesa, this batter will fit into a 9.5- or 10-inch Bundt pan. Same oven temperature. But for ease, we suggest using this pumpkin Bundt cake recipe. Same great flavor and texture as this cake! You can leave out the chocolate chips.
This recipe is amazing!!! Huge hit with everyone. The cake is super moist. I used two 8×8 pans and layered the cake with toated Walnuts and icing in between and on top. I also only used 3/4 cup of icing sugar in the icing and it turned out great.
Loved this cake- it’s so moist! Mine took a bit longer to bake, but as recommended I covered the top loosely with foil for the extra time. The icing makes a lot for a very thick layer. I added the recipe to my binder to make again and again!
Ok this got rave reviews! I made it with the brown butter icing from the other recipe recommended which I totally recommend but jus t know you only need to make 1/2 icing. I also had to cut the recipe down to 80% as our cans of pumpkin in Canada works out to about 13.5oz. But just made in a 9×9 pan and it worked out well.
I made the cake this weekend and everyone lived it. But for some reason the center seemed softer looking in the oven, and when the cake cooled the center sagged. Can you think of a reason that might have caused this?
Hi Barbara, When cakes sink in the middle, it usually means they are slightly under baked and could use an extra minute or two in the oven. This sounds like it was the case if the center still seemed too soft. You can use a toothpick to test for doneness and try extending the bake time if you wish to make this recipe again. Thank you for giving it a try!
Amazing cake with delicious cream cheese icing! Going to make it for our Michigan Thanksgiving. The directions and tips were very helpful as well. Thanks, Sally; your recipes are always my go-to first choices. Happy Holidays!
By mistake I put 1 cup and a half of pumpkin purée instead of 2 Cups .Would this make a difference?
I made it before and used the right amount and it was delicious
I made this cake and it turned out wonderful. I added 2 tsp Saigon Cinnamon instead of the 1 1/2 tsp called for. While this was delicious, I will make exactly following recipe next time. I plan to make these as 6″ Bundt cakes for our Church Fall Festival Cake Walk. Such warm spices for this time of year.
I absolutely love this cake and have made it multiple times! I’d like to bake it for a friend who can’t tolerate eggs… would there be a good substitute for eggs in this recipe? Thank you
I’ve not make this cake before but I know vegan recipes often call for flax eggs. I have used it with success in other recipes. One flax egg= 1tablespoon ground flaxseed and 2 1/2 tablespoons room temperature water. You just mix it together and let it sit for 7-8 minutes. It is a one to one swap.
This recipe was great! I made it to take to a church event, and everyone thought it was fantastic!
Hi, my name is Yana and I want to try cook this pumpkin cake, but l’m not sure which oil need to use Inside?
Hi Yana, We recommend using canola or vegetable oil.
I had oven baked my pumpkin to reduce moisture and puréed it rather than use tinned pumpkin. All other ingredients and baking suggestions down to the baking tray were followed however the bottom half of the cake appeared almost uncooked with an odd texture while the top half was cooked. U fortunately I had to throw it out. Not sure what went wrong.
We love this cake! So moist and delicious! A winner as always.
Very Good. I added chopped toasted walnuts to the batter and soaked the finished cake with black spiced rum syrup. No frosting
I want a pumpkin cake but not overly pumpkin. Will the cake be less moist if the pumpkin puree is reduced?
Yes, changing the amount of pumpkin will change the texture. For a bit less flavor you could slightly reduce the pumpkin pie spice in the recipe.
Hi. Can I used melted butter instead of vegetable oil? Thanks
Hi Marianne, For the best results and texture we recommend sticking with oil, but the same amount of melted butter should be fine in a pinch.
A simple and very moist cake. A great recipe for a crowd.
Good morning! I just had to share….I made the bars for my bible study and my friend took the extras to work….Sally’s got a shout out on their website 🙂
https://florida.thejoyfm.com/morning-cruise/home/2022/09/19/pumpkin-cream-cheese-bars/
Y’all are the BEST….thank you so much for sharing your gifts with our community! Have a great day!