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.
This cake is so easy to make and delicious. Will definitely make it again. I used canned cream cheese frosting because I didn’t have the ingredients for homemade and it was fine.
This cake is so easy to make and delicious. Will definitely make it again. I used canned cream cheese frosting because I didn’t have the ingredients for homemade and it was fine.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad that this was easy, delicious, and you’ll make it again! Glad that canned frosting worked out just fine – it always does when I do it in a rush sometimes too! 😊
Hi
As my area is humid and hot. Is it better to store my cake in the fridge (with frosting) if so what’s the best way to eat when I get o it from fridge ? Thanks
If it’s hot and humid, yes store it in the fridge, especially with cream cheese frosting.
Can I make this as stated in a Bundt pan or do I need to double it?
This is a pretty tall and full cake made in an 8×8. That being said, I think it would be a bit skimpy if you do it in a Bundt pan. Although it has a lot of similarity to this recipe but there are differences.
If you want an outstanding pumpkin Bundt, this is the one!!! https://www.averiecooks.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bundt-cake-with-chocolate-ganache/ I put it in my cookbook. You can skip the chocolate if you want and to a cream cheese frosting like the flat cake has if you prefer it, but the cake is a 10 out of 10!
You need to make this exactly as stated. I did, and it came out great. Then I tried it a month later with frozen pumpkin. Don’t try this! Left over pumpkin out of the freezer separates.
You need to make this exactly as stated. I did, and it came out great. Then I tried it a month later with frozen pumpkin. Don’t try this! Left over pumpkin out of the freezer separates.
Thanks for the 5 star review and I’m glad it worked out great to you with canned pumpkin right out of the can. I’ve never tried it with frozen puree so can’t say for sure but sounds like it doesn’t work so well.
I have made this recipe a number of times and I always use roasted squash subbed for the pumpkin. Turban, butternut, sunshine, kabocha… they all worked wonderfully and lent the cake a beautiful moist texture. I bake in my lidded Le Creuset ceramic 9×9” and we work on it for a few days. Delicious!
I have made this recipe a number of times and I always use roasted squash subbed for the pumpkin. Turban, butternut, sunshine, kabocha… they all worked wonderfully and lent the cake a beautiful moist texture. I bake in my lidded Le Creuset ceramic 9×9” and we work on it for a few days. Delicious!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that roasted squash (and multiple varieties) has always worked well for you! And also that your ceramic LeCreuset 9×9 works nicely – great info!
Love this cake! I’ve made it a number of times in the past couple of years…so yummy! I have used powdered egg replacer in the past but, tried flaxseed last night with wheat flour and it turned out great! Thank You!
Love this cake! I’ve made it a number of times in the past couple of years…so yummy! I have used powdered egg replacer in the past but, tried flaxseed last night with wheat flour and it turned out great! Thank You!
I’m glad to hear you’ve made it with with egg replacer and flax egg, as well as WW flour and it turned out great all ways!
This is such a delicious and easy, fast cake to make. I’m not a fan of cream cheese but this icing is delicious and I can’t imagine the cake without it. Thanks for another great recipe!
This is such a delicious and easy, fast cake to make. I’m not a fan of cream cheese but this icing is delicious and I can’t imagine the cake without it. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that it was fast and delicious! And that you liked the cream cheese frosting with it!
This is a moist flavorful and just the right size. Not too big. I cut back on the salt to 1/4 tsp. Much better in my opinion. I also did 3/4 cup sugar, half of the amount I used brown sugar. Gave it more flavor. This is something I will make again and again.
OMG this is the best pumpkin cake recipe that I ever tried! But I made few changes on the recipe. I add 80 gram of butter and reduce the oil into 160 ml. I also add minced ginger to enhanced all flavor and it turns out amazing! The crumble not just soft but also melt in mouth. This definetely gonna be my ultimate pumpkin cake recipe. Thankyou!
OMG this is the best pumpkin cake recipe that I ever tried! But I made few changes on the recipe. I add 80 gram of butter and reduce the oil into 160 ml. I also add minced ginger to enhanced all flavor and it turns out amazing! The crumble not just soft but also melt in mouth. This definetely gonna be my ultimate pumpkin cake recipe. Thankyou!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this is the best pumpkin cake recipe you’ve tried!
great