Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 🎃🍁🧡 is a my go-to moist pumpkin cake recipe! It’s topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting making this no-mixer cake a family FAVORITE recipe every year! This EASY fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
The BEST Recipe for Pumpkin Cake
- Let’s first talk about frosting because cream cheese frosting is my weakness. Just pass me a spoon. The thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting complements the warming spices in the cake perfectly.
- And this pumpkin cake beneath all that wonderful with cream cheese frosting is my favorite, go-to pumpkin cake recipe. It’s soft, springy, and brimming with spiced pumpkin flavor.
- It’s a fast, easy, one-bowl, no mixer pumpkin spice cake recipe that everyone loves. This pumpkin cake is irresistible, and sinking your teeth into it is pure comfort and bliss.
- I use oil rather than butter, which keeps the cake extra moist and since pumpkin naturally makes everything moister, there’s no chance of a dry cake here.
- My family has said that this pumpkin spice cake reminds them a bit of carrot cake, minus the carrots, thanks to similar spices and cream cheese frosting.
Pumpkin Spice Cake Ingredients
This is a super easy, no-frills recipe for pumpkin cake that uses basic ingredients.
For the pumpkin cake:
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Canola oil, vegetable oil or your favorite oil for baking. Coconut oil also works if you enjoy the flavor of it.
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
For the cream cheese frosting:
Tip: To save time, you can buy a tub of store bought cream cheese frosting sold in the baking aisle near boxed cake mixes.
- Cream cheese – Make sure it’s at room temperature and that it’s full fat cream cheese, sold in a brick . Do not use anything labeled as ‘lite’ or ‘whipped’ cream cheese because both of those products contain a high percentage of water and your frosting won’t turn out.
- Butter
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe for pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting couldn’t be easier to make! Here’s how to make both the cake and frosting:
- Whisk together the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then combine the two.
- Turn the batter out into an 8×8-inch pan.
- Bake until the center is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Once the pumpkin cake is fully cooled, you can make the cream cheese frosting. Simply add all the pumpkin spice cake frosting ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Spread the frosting onto the cake, then dig in!
Tips for Making This Recipe
Pumpkin puree: It’s so important that you use pure pumpkin puree and not pre-sweetened pumpkin pie filling! Double check the ingredients list on your canned pumpkin — there should only be one ingredient listed (pumpkin).
Oil: I don’t recommend substituting applesauce for the oil which is something people ask me. Both applesauce and pumpkin are incredibly moist, and I think if you combined the two in this recipe your pumpkin spice cake would wind up being a bit of a mess.
Frosting: When you make the homemade cream cheese frosting the cream cheese needs to be at room temperature. If the cream cheese is too cold, it won’t whip up properly and won’t blend in well with the other ingredients.
Recipe FAQs
I haven’t tried that myself, but I bet it’d work out okay. Check your cupcakes around the 20-minute mark to see if they’re finished. Otherwise I recommend making this pumpkin spice cupcake recipe that I shared years ago.
Yes, you can double this recipe and bake it in a 9×13-inch pan. It’ll probably need to bake for roughly the same amount of time, but keep an eye on it because all ovens run differently.
I’m sure you could, but I never have personally tried this pumpkin spice cake recipe with homemade puree so I’m not sure if it will work out exactly the same.
I don’t dabble in gluten-free baking, so I can’t say for sure whether a gluten-free 1:1 flour substitute will work. However, my gut says yes so long as you use a gluten-free all-purpose flour substitute and not something such as almond flour (almond flour is just ground almonds and contains no gluten, therefore it won’t behave remotely like regular flour).
The pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting is incredibly moist and is slightly denser than regular cake, so I think the batter could be made gluten-free.
Recipe Video Tutorial
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature (do not use lite or whipped cream cheese products; use full fat cream cheese sold in a brick like Philadelphia)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted if it's particularly lumpy
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
Make the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8×8-inch pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (I baked 36 minutes) or until center is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, no batter.
- Set cake aside on a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting it so the frosting doesn’t melt.
Make the Frosting
- Tip: To save time, you can buy a tub of store bought cream cheese frosting sold in the baking aisle near boxed cake mixes.To make your own frosting, to a large bowl (or to the bowl of a stand mixer) add the cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, salt, and whisk until smooth and fluffy or beat with an electric mixer (or use the paddle attachment of a stand mixer).
- Turn frosting out onto cooled cake and spread into a smooth, even, flat layer using a spatula or knife.Tip – If you have a small amount of frosting leftover, it will keep airtight in the fridge for at least 2 weeks when store separately.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
More Pumpkin Cake Recipes:
Cooking With Pumpkin: Recipes That Go Beyond the Pie – My second cookbook with over 50 pumpkin recipes including sweets, savory, drinks, and a photo for nearly every recipe. I’d be super grateful if you headed over to Amazon.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake — This soft and moist pumpkin cake is loaded with chocolate in every bite!! An EASY one-bowl fall dessert that’s perfect for impromptu entertaining or anytime a pumpkin craving strikes!!
Vegan Pumpkin Cake — This is a fast, easy pumpkin cake that you’d never guess is vegan! I topped it with a spiced buttercream frosting for even more pumpkin flavor.
Spiced Pumpkin Crumb Cake — A FAST and EASY no-mixer pumpkin crumb cake with rich pumpkin flavor!! Super soft, tender, and topped with the BEST crumble topping that you’ll fall in love with! Great for brunches and holiday entertaining!!
Pumpkin Poke Cake — Easy and the BEST PUMPKIN CAKE ever!! Two kinds of CARAMEL sauce, TOFFEE bits, CHOCOLATE CHIPS, whipped topping and more!! A total WINNER you must make!!
Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — A marriage of pumpkin cake and carrot cake into one soft, moist, tender, and amazing cake!! The tangy cream cheese frosting is truly the icing on this easy cake!!
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake — This easy pumpkin cake is loaded with chocolate chips and drizzled in rich and decadent chocolate ganache. It’s one of the best pumpkin cakes I’ve ever had!!
Spiced Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake — A FAST and EASY no-mixer pumpkin coffee cake with rich pumpkin flavor and topped with big buttery crumbles!! So soft, moist, and tender! You’re going to LOVE this cake for breakfast, brunch, or entertaining!
Originally posted October 2, 2015 and reposted October 9, 2020 and August 23, 2024 with updated text.
Bravo, great recipe. I added walnuts. Made it twice , going to make a 3rd time. Freezes well.
Thanks for the 5 star view, Ava, and that’s amazing that you’re going to make it a third time!
Just made this for a tailgate party. Disappointed in how dense this is. I am a seasoned baker and weigh all ingredients with a digital scale so not sure why it was so claggy and dense. I even had it in oven for 42 minutes. The flavor is good but texture not.
Hi Hannah thank you for trying the recipe and my apologies that it came out denser than you prefer. This recipe in particular has hundreds of comments and reviews and is a reader favorite year after year – and I haven’t ever received a complaint that it seems too dense. However, everyone has different tastes and preferences. Pumpkin desserts, in general, tend to be on the denser side of things though since it’s a wet, heavy ingredient.
I do not tend to weigh my ingredients and instead spoon my flour into the cup and then level it. Perhaps your scale weighed heavier than what you’d get if you used the spoon and level method. I am not sure but just musing. The other thing, and you probably know this as a seasoned baker, is that baking with King Arthur flour is always the best since the extra gluten in the flour tends to make things rise and fluff better. I only bake with King Arthur flour for this reason and maybe it was the brand of flour you used. I am not sure again just musing.
This is SO delicious and a very easy cake. I doubled it and put into a glass 9×13 without the foil and it worked out perfectly! Thank you so much- this is definitely going to be one I make again and again!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Barb, and I’m glad to hear it worked out great for you doubled and in glass without foil and that you’re going to make it again and again!
I made this cake for my birthday and shared it with friends. It is moist and perfectly spiced. I used homemade pumpkin puree. The amount of cream cheese frosting is perfect for this size of cake. I added less powdered sugar to the icing so that I could add sprinkles. It was the best cake I’ve ever made, my friends loved it, so thank you for helping to make my birthday so special! 💗
Thanks for the 5 star review, Angeli, and I’m glad this was the best cake you’ve ever made! That is a very high compliment, thank you! And I’m glad that I could help make your birthday special with this cake! What a lovely comment for me to read, thank you 🙏🏻
I love this small cake and I’ve made it twice for just myself and my husband. I would like to make it for Thanksgiving. Do you think this cake would work as a layered cake if I double the recipe and use 2 round 8 inch cake pans?
Thanks for the 5 star review, Pam, and the nice praise regarding this cake and it’s lovely that you want to make it for Thanksgiving! I would say that, cautiously, yes, you “should” be fine. I have not tested it so I cannot say for sure. And Thanksgiving is a special day so I always caution against giving advice that could cause issues, when I have not tested it. That said, the cake is not ultra ultra squishy and I think could stand up to being layered.
Please note that a 8×8 square pan holds much more liquid volume than 8-inch round pans. 128 vs 105 cubic inches. So you may either need to discard some batter or size up to 9-inch pans.
I found the cake to be very tasty. Since follow Weight Watchers, I had to make changes to make it points friendly. I used half cup of Swerve brown sugar replacement and half cup of Swerve white granulated sugar replacement. I wanted a maple taste. I reduced the oil to 1/3 cup. I only have a 9×9 pan and reduced the bake time to 28 minutes. It came our moist and good. I didn’t use the cream cheese frosting.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Patricia, and I am glad that you were able to tweak the recipe to fit your WW points goals and that it worked out well!
Super easy yet delicious and moist! I know this won’t last long!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Tam! Glad it’s easy, delish, moist, and won’t last long!
This is an amazingly moist cake! The family loved it! I’m making it again into cupcakes.
Thanks for letting me know it was a winner and you’re making it again into cupcakes!
I printed this recipe out yesterday, gathered all ingredients and made it this morning! Absolutely delicious! Easy to follow recipe and you will love it as much as we do!
Thanks for the great review, Christine, and I’m glad this was a winner for you!
Could you use sweet potatoes
I have never tried. They tend to be a bit more dry than canned pumpkin puree so I am not sure if you’d need to cut back on the flour in this cake, or many other adjustments. For best results, use canned pumpkin puree (which I know is a mixture of a variety of squashes) because that’s what I use. https://amzn.to/470uYzl
For a great sweet potato bread developed w/ sweet potatoes in mind, make THIS! https://www.averiecooks.com/cinnamon-and-spice-sweet-potato-bread/
Thank you
This cake is awesome! I picked it just because the picture looked good. I made it for Thanksgiving thinking no one would like it but me. I was so wrong. It was moist, delicious even my kids loved it! It will be a staple at my Thanksgiving table from now on. I made it again just for the family to enjoy. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe
This cake is awesome! I picked it just because the picture looked good. I made it for Thanksgiving thinking no one would like it but me. I was so wrong. It was moist, delicious even my kids loved it! It will be a staple at my Thanksgiving table from now on. I made it again just for the family to enjoy. Thanks for sharing your amazing recipe
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that you picked this and that everyone loved it and it will be a staple on your Thanksgiving table! That’s so wonderful to hear!
SO easy, and SOO delicious! My husband wanted a pumpkin cake for his birthday and absolutely loved this recipe.
SO easy, and SOO delicious! My husband wanted a pumpkin cake for his birthday and absolutely loved this recipe.
Thanks for the 5 star review an dI am glad it was so easy, delish, and made a great pumpkin bday cake for your husband! I am honored you chose my pumpkin cake recipe out of the zillions out there that you could have selected so thank you very much 🙏🏻
I love this cake. I have made this cake so many times. It’s my son’s favorite so I was going to make it for his birthday. If I want to make this into a 3 layer 9″ cake, would it be possible? Would I have to double the recipie?
I love this cake. I have made this cake so many times. It’s my son’s favorite so I was going to make it for his birthday. If I want to make this into a 3 layer 9″ cake, would it be possible? Would I have to double the recipie?
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad this is a favorite! I think you could make a layer cake fine. Yes I would double the recipe and that would easily make three 8-inch round cakes. To make three 9-inch rounds, I think doubling the batter may be a little skimpy.
However, if you doubled the recipe and just made two 9-inch rounds I think that would be just about perfect.
You would need to do some volume conversions which I was just doing on the internet and get out your calculator, or really just get in the kitchen, to know for absolute sure. Good luck!