Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — 🍁🧡😋 Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting making this a family FAVORITE recipe! This EASY fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
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The BEST Recipe for Pumpkin Cake
Cream cheese frosting is my weakness. I don’t even need cake to put it on. Just pass a spoon. But this pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting isn’t too shabby. 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.
I used 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. The thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting complements the warming spices in the cake perfectly.
My family said the pumpkin spice cake reminded them of carrot cake, minus the carrots, thanks to the spices and frosting. This pumpkin cake is irresistible, and sinking your teeth into it is pure comfort and bliss.
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
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Salt
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese
- 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. 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, I think you could easily double this recipe and bake it in a 9×13-inch pan. It’d probably need to bake for roughly the same amount of time, but I can’t say for sure since I’ve only ever made this cake in a smaller pan.
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
Storage
At room temp: Cake will keep airtight at room temp for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. I’m comfortable storing cream cheese frosting at room temp, but if you’re not store in the fridge noting cake will be more prone to drying out in the fridge.
In the freezer: The cake and frosting can be stored in separate airtight containers for up to 3 months. When ready to assemble and eat, thaw overnight in the fridge.
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Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
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
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 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
- 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 (If you have a small amount leftover, it will keep airtight in the fridge for at least 2 weeks).
- Slice and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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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.
I’m thinking of making this for Thanksgiving. I was just wondering if u can use a homemade pumpkin puree instead if store bought?
I’m sure you could but I never have personally tried with homemade puree so not sure if it will work out exactly the same.
YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!! Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfect. Thank you!
Glad it came out perfect and yummy!
To me this was very reminiscent of a carrot cake without all the the things I don’t like.
I’m not a fan of nuts in food and I’m not a big corrot person but I like a dense, decadent moist spicy cake and that is exactly what this is!
served it for Thanksgiving and people said it taste like a Thanksgiving pie cake!
It’s not overly spicy but it is so moist.
I have celiac disease so I replaced the flower with King Arthur gluten-free and I didn’t have to make any other adjustments!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this gave you everything you were looking for, without things that you weren’t looking for! Glad it came out great as GF too!
I just made this cake and carved it to a pumpkin shape. It was so moist and delicious!!.and easy to make!!…Thank you so much for sharing.😀😀
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you were even able to carve it into a pumpkin shape!
I wanted an easy and delicious pumpkin cake recipe and found it with this! I made it yesterday and it was sooo good. ; )
I will definitely make it again. My cake in 8 x8 pan only went about a little over half up side, it still was good but I wondered if it was supposed to be higher. Big hit with family either way.
Usually it does rise a bit higher than that. I am thinking your baking powder/soda may be not as active and fresh as you want it to be. That is often the case when things don’t rise as well as expected. Glad it was a big hit though with your family!
Do you need to use aluminum foil even if you spray?
I do just because why not…it’s 2 seconds and a guarantee of no sticking.
Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing
I’d like to make this as a 9×13 size pan. Can you suggest how to adapt it? Or should just make 2 8×8 pans?
I would just double everything and baking a 9 x 13 pan. You probably don’t have to alter the baking time very much. Just keep an eye on it. Or of course you can bake two 8 x 8s.
This looks yummy! Wanted to make it for a birthday – stacked with the cream cheese frosting. Will that work?
I have never made this as a layer cake so I really can’t say how that will go.
Forgot to rate this along with my comment!
Super easy to make and so little washing to do after!
Super tasty and soft and moist!!
Thank you for sharing! :)
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a winner for you!
OMG! I just made this pumpkin cake and it is DELICIOUS! It was so easy so I was really surprised at how tasty, moist and soft this cake turned out!
Thank you so much for sharing! <3
I’ll definitely be trying out more of your recipes! :)
Tried this recipe twice and both turned out amazing!!! I’m planning to make two batches for my job!
Question though, can I replace the white sugar with brown sugar?
Thanks for the five star review and glad you have made it twice and are making it again! Since you’ve had such good luck, I wouldn’t change a thing. Brown sugar is heavier and moister and it could throw things off a bit.
Good to know, thank you for the fast response! I look forward to making more of your recipes!
I just frosted my cake and had a piece. OMGGGGG. Was sooo good had to have a second. Okay no dinner for me. Lol. I followed the directions to a tee it just added a pinch of cinnamon to the frosting. Sooo good. Actually I never made cake from scratch. So easy and delicious. Don’t think I’ll ever go back to boxed. I have my new holiday cake!!!
Thanks for the five star review and glad this is your first scratch cake AND that it’s amazing!
Would this frosting pipe okay? I’m thinking of making both a cake and cupcakes out the recipe but wasn’t sure if the frosting would hold on a cupcake
If you do plan to pipe it, I would maybe add a bit more powdered sugar and/or cut down on the amount of cream cheese/butter so that it’s a bit stiffer.
Could you replace the oil with applesauce? I do this a lot in baking and usually comes out fine.
I have only made as written and can’t say for sure. My gut tells me no though because pumpkin is so moist, and so is applesauce, and you could end up with a sloppy mess.
I made this cake a few weeks ago and everyone loved it! Have you made cupcakes with this recipe?
I have not but I bet they would be great! Usually 20-ish minutes for cupcakes is a good starting point but it’s a bit size dependent on how full you fill them.
I made cupcakes yesterday and they turned out nicely. I doubled the recipe and made 24. They baked for 22 minutes. Yummy:)