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
This cake is amazing!! I made it with the Chai Tea Frosting and topped it with crushed spice wafers. My guests absolutely loved it!
Have you ever tried with pumpkin curd filling? Sounds amazing!!
Hi Rebecca, we haven’t, but we imagine it would be delicious drizzled on top of the cake!
If i make this in a loaf pan (9×4) would i fill it to half way? Or would i fill it 2/3rds full?
Hi MJ, fill the pan about 3/4 full then discard leftovers or you could use extras for a couple muffins on the side.
The title is absolutely accurate!
What I did different is 2 tsp cinnamon just because there was only a tiny bit left “I thought” and I think 2 tsp was a close description. Also I didn’t bother to make icing because I just wanted a simple cake. OH WOW it certainly didn’t need it. Another thing I did different is I used 2 cups frozen pumpkin puree that I had done last fall. (it was a green/white stripe cooking pumpkin). Where your recipe says it will be dry, mine was like soup. I figured it would be moist. It was fun to finally use what I had done in the fall and had forgotten about. This is probably my favorite cake now. Thank you for your recipe. 🙂
how much cream cheese and butter is needed for the icing, you did not give that .
Hi Sandra! You can see the ingredient details for the cream cheese frosting listed under the rest of the ingredients – under the heading “Cream Cheese Frosting”. Hope this helps!
This recipe is delicious but it’s incredibly bad for you. Unnecessarily so. If you eat clean and healthy and eat even just a piece of this cake…get ready for a shock to your system and to feel the effects of it later. If you don’t care about that then this will be one of the best cakes you’ve ever eaten.
So moist… my family loved this… I will make this again! Extremely easy to make. I enjoyed baking before, but stumbling upon this website has turned me into an addict! Thankyou so much, Sally!
This cake is so perfect. Added the one cup of raisins as my husband really likes them. It was good at first, but even better after being in the fridge overnight. The frosting is perfect. The cream cheese keeps it from being too sweet. Soooo, delicious. Perfect, in fact.
i made this pumpkin cake, made my own pumpkin puree, used half the sugar and no icing as i don’t like sugary foods. The cake is amazing!! Thank you!!
Wonderful. I made half a recipe and used puréed pumpkin I had on hand (last year’s Hallowe’en jack-o-lanterns, cooked and frozen). Incredible texture.
Best cake/frosting ever! Next time I will add golden raisins. Thanks Sally!
Can I add raisins and nuts to this? My son wants it for his birthday cake?
Absolutely. I recommend around 1 cup.
Is it ok if I add the dry ingredients to the wet instead of the other way around? It would be easier with my mixer. Thank you so much
We’ve found it doesn’t make a difference with this recipe– either wet in dry or dry in wet.
Hi,
Will this cake work if I cut the recipe in half?
Hi Julianne, You can cut this recipe in half and bake in one 9-inch round cake pan. Same oven temperature, bake for 25 minutes or until baked through. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Hi. Can you make this as a rolled cake?
Hi Nell, use this recipe instead – enjoy!
I made this today and omg….a keeper for sure!! Tks for the recipe!
Greetings from Australia. We made this with the grandkids today. It is lovely.
We used boiled, strained pumpkin as there is a huge variety of wonderful pumpkins in this country and we don’t really have canned of any sort.
I made this, and it was so goooooood!
Hi Sally! My cake turned out amazing but my frosting was kind of grainy, even after beating it on high for a long time. I used domino’s confectioners sugar and everything was at room temperature. Any ideas?
Hi Mira, We usually don’t find it necessary to sift the confectioners sugar for this frosting, but if you try it again sifting the sugar after measuring should help!
Hi, I want to make a Cinderella cake for my daughter’s birthday in the shape of a coach, so I was planning on using round ball cake forms and then making big sugar cookies for wheels on the side…do you think this will turn out ok in ball cake pans, or can you recommend another recipe?? I thought itd be super cute to have it pumpkin flavour but I dont know if the heavy cake will keep form.
Hi Emily, That sounds like an adorable cake! I have used this recipe in a speciality 3D cake mold and it’s worked beautifully. Let us know if you try it!
Hello Sally, Can we use a loaf pan? I want to send these out as gifts. 8 x 3 7/8″
Hi Luz, Yes you should be able to bake this cake in a few smaller loaf pans. I’m unsure of the exact bake time needed but the loaves will be done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
So delicious!!!! I’m a pumpkin cake and pie snob lol and this is the BEST! Perfect amount of spice, moist, yum!! I added some choc mini chips as an extra touch at my daughters request and it tasted so perfect! Thank you!!
You mention using either dark brown sugar or light brown sugar. Do you have a preference for this recipe?
Hi Karen, You can really use either one here. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses, so it has a slightly richer flavor. It works well in recipes like this, but it won’t make a huge flavor difference if you use light brown sugar instead.
This was delicious, thank you Sally! I made it yesterday with the cream cheese frosting (threw in some pecans too) and it was a hit! Thanks for another great recipe!
Wow! I made this cake for Thanksgiving OMG the compliments just kept coming! What was left only got better the next day! Only thing I did was cut down on the oil and subbed applesauce, about 50/50, and the cake was still very moist and super flavorful. This recipe is a definite keeper!
Thanks Angela. I bet the applesauce will be delish with the pumpkin. I like the idea of pecans added also. Thank you Sally for sharing. I’m experimenting with my cake decorating so I will post the finished product.
I made this for Thanksgiving this year and I did substitute gluten free flour but my husband said it was the best pumpkin cake he’s ever had and he couldn’t even tell it was gluten free. I’ll be making this every year from now on.
Make this cake & your creme cheese frosting for the first time for a dessert with friends. Rave reveiws by all. In fact our friends wanted the recipe and now she wants the recipe for her sisters. I guess she made the cake for a dinner party with her family and again all rave reviews by all. So thank you for sharing your recipe. Will definitely make this again.
This is a serious perfectly moist exquisite recipe from Sally. Made this using 7″ layer cake pans w/parchment. The leftover batter I put into a well oiled ramekin. The 7 ” layer cake was just the right size to give as a gift with Sally’s cream cheese frosting. The ramekin I used to test for quality control-a gift to myself-no icing! Used Sally’s recommendation for spices-rather than pie spice.
It smells amazing!! I did it in two 8×8 round cake pans and layered it with the cream cheese icing . Definitely a heavier cake like a carrot cake but a keeper
Hi Sally! Is the pumpkin required strictly purée and not the pumpkin pie canned filling? I want to be sure I get the right one!
Hi Nicole, You want to use 100% pumpkin here. Pumpkin pie filling is very different, not only is it filled with spices and sugar, its consistency is completely different.