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 have made this recipe several times over the last few years … a favourite in autumn! It comes out perfectly every time and always well loved! A real favourite!
I have made this recipe several times over the last few years … a favourite in autumn! It comes out perfectly every time and always well loved! A real favourite!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this has become a fall favorite and great that it comes out perfectly every time!
rarely write reviews but me and my brother made this for christmas eariler today and this is the best pumpkin anything ive tried so far.. like seriously! SO SO GOOD ! you know its good when my brother that didnt even think he would like it cause he doesn’t like pumpkin AT ALL likes it plus it was a huge hit with our family. still Cant believe how easy it was.. thank you, will make again!
rarely write reviews but me and my brother made this for christmas eariler today and this is the best pumpkin anything ive tried so far.. like seriously! SO SO GOOD ! you know its good when my brother that didnt even think he would like it cause he doesn’t like pumpkin AT ALL likes it plus it was a huge hit with our family. still Cant believe how easy it was.. thank you, will make again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this was a huge hit with you and your family!
Delicious!
We doubled the recipe and it made 24 perfect cupcakes.
Delicious!
We doubled the recipe and it made 24 perfect cupcakes.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that you yielded 24 cupcakes after doubling this recipe!
Wow great recipe! Even better the next day chilled. Thanks for sharing ❤️
Wow great recipe! Even better the next day chilled. Thanks for sharing ❤️
Glad to hear that and that you enjoyed it even more the next day!
I made this recipe for the first time for Thanksgiving and to say it was the star of the meal would be an understatement! This is one of the simplest, most delicious cakes I have ever made. So moist and full of flavor. This is the dessert that had people coming back for seconds and fighting over who had a bigger piece and who got to take some home. When that happens….you know you have a winner. Thanks so much for an amazing recipe I will make time and time again.
I made this recipe for the first time for Thanksgiving and to say it was the star of the meal would be an understatement! This is one of the simplest, most delicious cakes I have ever made. So moist and full of flavor. This is the dessert that had people coming back for seconds and fighting over who had a bigger piece and who got to take some home. When that happens….you know you have a winner. Thanks so much for an amazing recipe I will make time and time again.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad to hear this was the star of the meal (and you say that’s an understatement…thank you even more!)!
Yes a very simple cake but so full of flavor and moist. Glad you had people fighting over it lol and that you will make it again and again!
I made these for a thanksgiving dinner I attended and everyone loved them. The instructions are super easy to follow and anyone could make this, including people whho have never baked before!
Have made this recipe multiple times and everyone LOVES it! Honestly the best cake ever. Thank you so much!!
Have made this recipe multiple times and everyone LOVES it! Honestly the best cake ever. Thank you so much!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that everyone loves this cake and that you think it’s the best cake ever!
PS. I have to say that there was never an issue with the cake rising too fast or slow it was just such a classic result, I just cant and wont look further.
Divenity #Decadence! This recipe is so good! If you make this for more than 4 people you are in trouble! It is so moist and has the most classic taste. Thank you for sharing this recipe because this will be for always be my go to for Pumpkin Cake! I actually had to make it again the next day because everyone was taking little pieces to be polite LOL! So made it again and it came out the same PERFECT!
Thank you!
Divenity #Decadence! This recipe is so good! If you make this for more than 4 people you are in trouble! It is so moist and has the most classic taste. Thank you for sharing this recipe because this will be for always be my go to for Pumpkin Cake! I actually had to make it again the next day because everyone was taking little pieces to be polite LOL! So made it again and it came out the same PERFECT!
Thank you!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad that it was so good that you made it two days in a row! I agree it’s such a classic pumpkin cake and always delivers great results for me as well!