This is my go-to pumpkin Bundt cake recipe because the crumb is incredibly moist, the cake tastes perfectly spiced, and you can top it with anything from salted caramel sauce to cream cheese frosting. You can fill it with chocolate chips, a cinnamon swirl, chopped nuts, or leave it plain. I particularly love it plain with maple icing on top!
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips.
Moist and dense, this pumpkin Bundt cake delivers BIG. It’s not quite as heavy as a cream cheese pound cake, nor is it quite as light as my regular pumpkin cake. Instead, it meets somewhere in the middle and this place is called pumpkin euphoria.
I make this dessert recipe at least 2 or 3 times every fall season. It’s oh-so-easy, and I haven’t changed the recipe at all over many years of keeping this cake in my fall rotation. There are so many variations between add-ins and toppings, that you could make a different pumpkin Bundt cake practically every day for an entire year. (And you’ll want to… it’s *that* good.)
One reader, Janet, commented: “This was such a hit Iโve had to make it twice!! Was delicious and easy to make, my friends were very impressed! โ โ โ โ โ ”
One reader, Sherri, commented: “This is the BEST pumpkin cake recipe ever. We leave out the chocolate chips and add pecans. I make the maple glaze recipe and add vanilla and pecans to it. Itโs wonderful! โ โ โ โ โ “
Here’s Why I Know You’ll Love It
- I know pumpkin desserts. From the best pumpkin cupcakes to the perfect pumpkin pie, I know how to make this star ingredient shine. (And complement it with the right ingredients!)
- No mixer required, just 2 bowls and a whisk
- Conveniently uses 1 standard 15-ounce can of pumpkin
- Supremely moistโknife glides right through it
- Generously spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice
- Excellent so many ways: plain, filled, swirled, or frosted
Use These Key Ingredients
Like all of the recipes on my website and in my cookbooks, I endlessly tested various ingredients and ratios to develop a standout cake with excellent flavor and texture. Here are some key ingredients:
- Baking Soda: 2 teaspoons of baking soda seems like a lot, and it is a lot. But think about the size of a Bundt cake… they’re huge, and need to rise quite a lot in the tall cake pan. I remember trying this recipe with a mix of baking soda AND baking powder, and was never satisfied with the result. In addition to leavening, baking soda deepens a baked good’s color and neutralizes acids. (This cake is filled with acidic ingredients!)
- Spices: Generously spiced is not an understatement! On its own, pumpkin is quite bland, so you need a lot of spice to bring out its flavor. You could even swap some of the individual spices for pumpkin pie spice!
- Oil: You can use vegetable oil or olive oil here. Melted coconut oil works, too, but you’ll want to be sure that you bake the batter immediately after mixing (no standing around, please!) because the coconut oil will very quickly begin to solidify and thicken the batter.
- Eggs: Pumpkin, oil, and flour are big, heavy ingredients so you need eggs in the batter to lift and bind the ingredients together.
- Brown & White Sugars: Again, pumpkin is pretty bland without a little help, so you need plenty of sugar to help bring out its flavor. I use a mix of both brown and white.
- Pure Pumpkin: This Bundt cake conveniently uses 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin. For best results and flavor, I strongly recommend using canned pumpkin puree instead of homemade. I prefer Libby’s brand for this cake.
You also need flour, salt, and vanilla extract.
Substitution Tip
Like when making apple cake or chocolate cake, use oil in this Bundt cake recipe, so you’re guaranteed a super moist cake from the start. You can substitute unsweetened applesauce for half of the oil. (1/2 cup each.) Readers have told me they love the cake this way, and it’s just as moist.
Overview: How to Make My Pumpkin Bundt Cake
This recipe actually uses the same base batter as my pumpkin cream cheese Bundt cake. And, like I mentioned above, the process couldn’t be easier!
Combine the wet and dry ingredients separately, then whisk them together. Expect a very thick batter, almost like pumpkin pancakes batter:
And here’s the batter again, but with chocolate chips:
Instead of an add-in like chocolate chips, you could fill the pumpkin Bundt cake with the chai spice swirl from this chai spice cinnamon swirl Bundt cake, or try my cream cheese-filled pumpkin Bundt cake (same batter!).
Favorite Bundt Pan to Use
Do you make a lot of Bundt cakes? I do! You need a Bundt pan that’s 9.5 to 10.5 inches in diameter, and can hold 10 to 12 cups of batter. Let me share two favorite Bundt cake pan options with you:
- Anolon Bundt Pan: Super quality, heavy-duty, great price, never warps, awesome rubber grips. I’ve been using it for years and, honestly, it’s just as durable as day 1.
- Nordic Ware Bundt Pan: Outstanding quality, heavy-duty, and makes beautiful cakes.
Whichever Bundt pan you use, be sure to grease it very generously before adding the batter. Even if the pan is labeled nonstick, due to the size and weight of a Bundt cake, you NEED a lot of greasing so the cake easily separates from the pan when inverting it.
Pumpkin Bundt Cake Toppings
Like the best things in the kitchen life, we’ll shower this pumpkin Bundt with a glaze. There are so many options here (I love a good icing!), and I list my favorites below.
- Brown Butter Icing from my Peach Bundt Cake
- Maple Icing from Maple Brown Sugar Cookies (pictured above)
- Salted Caramel Sauce (pictured below)
- Chocolate Ganache
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Homemade Whipped Cream
- Brown Sugar Glaze from my Apple Bundt Cake
- Orange Glaze from my Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
Pumpkin Bundt Cake
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my go-to pumpkin Bundt cake recipe because the crumb is incredibly moist, the cake tastes perfectly spiced, and you can top it with anything from salted caramel sauce to cream cheese frosting. You can fill it with chocolate chips, a cinnamon swirl, nuts, or leave it plain. I particularly love it plain with the maple icing from these maple brown sugar cookies on top!
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (344g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon groundย allspice
- 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil (see Note)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 15-ounce (425g) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- optional add-in: 1 and 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped walnuts/pecans
Optional Topping Ideas
- optional topping: salted caramel, maple icing, or any listed below
- optional garnish: sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) and grease a 10โ12-cup Bundt pan. (I like this one or this one.)
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice 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. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts, if using. Batter is thick, and you’ll have around 5 cups total.
- Spoon/pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 55โ70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs. This is a large, heavy cake so don’t be alarmed if it takes a little longer in your oven.
- Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours in the pan set on a wire rack. Then invert the slightly cooled Bundt cake onto a wire rack or serving plate/cake stand.
- Allow to cool completely before drizzling with topping/icing and serving. On the pictured cake, I used the maple icing from these maple brown sugar cookies. I also sprinkled a homemade pumpkin pie spice blend on top of the icing before it set.
- Cover leftover cakeย tightly and store at room temperature for a couple days and/or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the entire cake ahead of time (before topping with icing). Cover cooled cake and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before icing and serving. Baked cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before icing and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Bundt Cake Pan (I like this one or this one) |ย Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Mini Bundt Cakes: I’ve tested this recipe with mini Bundt pans before and while the mini Bundt cakes taste wonderful, they’re quite dense. If you’d like to try it, the recipe makes 24-30 mini Bundts but that depends on the exact size of your mini Bundt cake pan. Fill them only halfway with batter. The bake time is around 20 to 25 minutes. Instead, for better results with a lighter crumb, I recommend using my pumpkin cupcakes batter for mini pumpkin Bundt cakes. You’ll get about 16.
- Spices: Instead of 1/2 teaspoon each ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, you can use 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. (You will still add the 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.)
- Oil: You can use vegetable oil, canola oil, avocado oil, or olive oil. Instead of 1 cup of oil, try 1/2 cup (90g) unsweetened applesauce and 1/2 (120ml) cup oil. The cake is just as moist. If you want to use coconut oil, melt it first, and be sure that all of the other ingredients are room temperature. Bake the batter right away, because as the coconut oil begins to cool and solidify, it thickens the batter and could result in an overly dense cake.
- Pumpkin: For best results and flavor, I strongly recommend using canned pumpkin puree over homemade in this recipe. I found the flavor is much better with canned. I prefer Libby’s brand for this cake.
- More Topping Options: Brown Butter Icing from my Peach Bundt Cake, Chocolate Ganache, Cream Cheese Frosting, Homemade Whipped Cream, Brown Sugar Glaze from my Apple Bundt Cake, Orange Glaze from my Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake
Reader Comments and Reviews
Excellent cake! I used light olive oil, added toasted pecans, and it was so moist that we don’t think it needed a glaze or icing. Note that it only took 48 minutes to bake in my heavy, dark bundt pan (just got a new oven thermometer so I know that the temp was correct, must be the radiant heat from the dark pan).
The best, exactly the best recipe of pumpkin Bundt cake.
Very balanced taste.
Thank you so much from Italy.
Made this cake for a ladies coffee morning, it was a hit! Deliciously moist and flavourful.
I couldnโt decide between a maple glaze or cream cheese frosting, so made a maple cream cheese frosting
hi! it was delicious! I wanted to try and take on this recipe but make it anti-inflammatory for my sister with eczema. It was so so good! I replaced the flour with 344g of oat flour and used 250g coconut sugar and 75g of maple syrup as the sweeteners. For oil i also used avocado oil like you recommended. The only thing is that the top of the cake stuck to the pan and it didn’t look as pretty as it would have if i used the regular ingredients. I think because I used oat flour it fell apart because of the lack of gluten in the cake but i just cut it up in slices and used it that way instead. What would you reccomened i improve to help it stick together especially if using a subsituite like oat flour? Maybe wait 1 or 2 hours before taking it out of the pan?
Hi Sofia, thanks for the feedback! We haven’t tested this cake with gluten-free flour, but you might try using a gluten-free flour blend made specifically for gluten-free baking, instead of oat flour next time.
Super moist and was very easy to make! I used a butter and flour coat on my bundt cake pan and it came out super smooth. I also chose to put a vanilla syrup I had leftover, on top and it was delicious! I will definitly make this again.
Hi..I donโt have all the spices individually, but I have pumpkin spice. Could I substitute and if so, how much should I measure out?
Hi Rose, Instead of 1/2 teaspoon each ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, you can use 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice! (You will still add the 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.)
I loved this with cream cheese frosting as suggest, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to frost the cake. I just kind of smeared it on top – any suggestions for how to make it prettier?
Hi Rachel! You could pipe it back and forth like Celebrating Sweets does on this pumpkin Bundt Cake: https://celebratingsweets.com/pumpkin-bundt-cake/
Can we use Avocado Oil for this recipe?
Should be fine, Anita!
I havenโt tried this recipe yet but intend to. Can you recommend a particular brand all purpose flour? Some have a higher protein content than others.
Hi Donna, we use and love King Arthur All-Purpose Flour (not sponsored, just genuine fans!).
Good morning,
Does the cake come out of the pan easily after two hours of cooling? Donโt think Iโve ever had a recipe where it cooled that long in the pan.
Hi Julie, we always prefer this longer method for cooling and have never had issues with it. However, some bakers do prefer to invert and remove the cake earlier. Use your best judgement and what you are most comfortable with!
This cake is delicious! I made this for my sonโs birthday (with your brown sugar cinnamon buttercream) and he loved it. He now wants me to make this for a team event he has, but as cupcakes. Would this recipe work as cupcakes, and if so what should the baking time be?
Thank you!
Hi Laura, here is our pumpkin cupcakes recipe instead! Very similar to this Bundt cake, but a smaller yield (the Bundt cake would yield quite a lot).
I made this and itโs so beautiful. Iโd love to post a pic. Iโm so proud of it!
Excellent cake!! Perfect blend of spices and wonderfully moist! (*very important to me when I bake!**) I used freshly pureed pumpkin from pumpkins I got from our local farmstand. Very flavorful**
I did sub 1/2 a cup of some homemade applesauce for 1/2 of the oil.
The maple icing was truly the “icing on the cake!” ๐
Definitely a keeper!!
Your recipes fail to disappoint. ๐
Thank you!
Hello, would this recipe work in a loaf pan?
Hi Diane, Youโll likely have 2 loafs from this recipe. Follow the same instructions as our pumpkin bread: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bread/
Hi Sally
I made this last week and it was delicious! I added chocolate chips so no topping after it came out of the oven.
I am making the pumpkin muffins today!
Can you make this in a mini bundlet cake pan or would there be too much batter?
Hi Patti, weโve tested this recipe with mini Bundt pans before and while the mini Bundt cakes taste wonderful, theyโre quite dense. If youโd like to try it, the recipe makes 24-30 mini Bundts but that depends on the exact size of your mini Bundt cake pan. Fill them only halfway with batter. The bake time is around 20 to 25 minutes. Instead, for better results with a lighter crumb, we recommend using this pumpkin cupcakes batter for mini pumpkin Bundt cakes. Youโll get about 16, but again, that depends on the exact pan you are using and how much batter fits into each.
Hello I have one small sugar pumpkin and want to make into pumpkin purรฉe, and I was wondering if I can use homemade pumpkin purรฉe for your pumpkin recipes? I will reduce the purรฉe on the stove top so that the consistency is similar to that of the canned
Hi Trae, yes, you can use homemade pumpkin puree in out recipes. Enjoy!
Hi!
Can I sub the pumpkin for sweet potato in this recipe? If so, is it a 1 to 1 swap or do you think other adjustments would need to be made as well?
Hi Jasmine, we haven’t tested it, but sweet potato puree should work here!
Perfect as always! I love your recipes, your site is my go to when I want to back something incredible. This Bundt has the perfect blend of warm spices and will be topped with your salted caramel. Moist and delicious, I canโt wait to share.
I found the cloves to be overpowering. I would cut it to 1/8 tsp or leave it out altogether.
So delicious, moist and flavourful. It’s in my recipe file now. Thank you!
Question – would baking this with the topping from the new Pecan Sticky Bun Bundt cake work?
Hi Kelly, we haven’t tested it, but we imagine that should work here. Please do let us know if you try it!
Question – we have a family member with a cinnamon allergy. What can I substitute?
Hi Andrea, this is a tricky one because there’s a fair amount of cinnamon in here (pumpkin on its own doesn’t have a lot of flavor–it mostly comes from the spices!). You could try increasing each of the other spices by a little bit, say 1/8 or 1/4 tsp more each. We haven’t tested it so are unsure how different the resulting flavor would be, but if you decide to give it a go, please report back!
How do we adjust for high altitude? With this being a rather heavy cake, I would think it could need some adjusting to turn out well at over 5,000 feet. Thanks.
Hi Deedee, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Hey. What did I do wrong? I made this Pumpkin Bundt cake and the recipe said 55-60 minutes. I only baked it for 40 and it burned. Like charred on the outside burned. I have baked for over 50 years. Iโm devastated. It was part of a really big order due this week. Any thoughts ?
Hi Joyce! If this very large cake burned after only 40 minutes, perhaps your oven was running hot. We always recommend using an in-oven thermometer so you know the exact temperature!
What glaze do you use in the first few photos? Or is that your cream cheese frosting
Hi AB, that’s the glaze from these maple brown sugar cookies!
Delicious cake, almost too sweet with the maple icing, but everyone loved it. Usually I need to add extra minutes to baking time given my oven (with Sallyโs recipes) but this time the cake was completely done at 55 minutes and could have come out a couple of minutes earlier (12 cup Bundt pan). Made with toasted chopped walnuts, and sprinkled extra on top. Will definitely make again.
Try adding chopped walnuts and raisins instead of chocolate chips ๐ Makes for a wonderful breakfast / brunch with a nice cup of coffee or tea.
Perfect in every way! I added chocolate chips and chocolate icing. I’ll be making this again as the bold spices were wonderful.