Posted Sep 30, 2020, Updated Mar 19, 2024 This Pumpkin Cake recipe is seriously the best pumpkin cake I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Even the hesitant pumpkin eaters in my family devour this cake, exclaiming with every bite how incredibly delicious it is. This pumpkin spice cake is moist with a beautiful crumb, an amazing texture, and the perfect amount of fall spices. It’s topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting, which takes it over the top to make it completely irresistible. Plus, this pumpkin cake is easy to make with simple ingredients and no mixer required. It’s my favorite recipe creation to come out of my kitchen this year, and it’s certain to become your favorite fall dessert!
Pumpkin Cake Recipe: Ingredients
I wanted to create a pumpkin cake with simple ingredients (i.e. no buttermilk because I never have it in my fridge) that tasted out of this world delicious, and I totally hit it out of the park with this one. I worked hard on this recipe, so I recommend making it exactly as written, however we’ll talk about the ingredients and possible substitutions.
Pumpkin Puree. canned or fresh both work welll. Salted Butter. unsalted butter, coconut oil or ghee are all good substitutes. Sour cream. I recommend full-fat sour cream for the richest taste and best texture, however low fat can be used, or plain Greek yogurt. Whole milk. half and half or 2% milk are acceptable substitutions. Granulated sugar. Organic cane sugar and white sugar both work well. Light Brown Sugar. If you like a little bolder, molasses taste, use dark brown sugar. All-purpose flour. I recommend using an unbleached, all-purpose flour to make this pumpkin spice cake. Pumpkin Pie Spice. If you’d like to make your own pumpkin pie spice, follow this recipe: homemade pumpkin pie spice. Then, use 2 tsp of the mixture (and use the rest in some of our other pumpkin recipes like pumpkin pie, Pumpkin baked oatmeal, pumpkin bread, etc.)
Cream Cheese Frosting
This is the best cream cheese frosting ever. I don’t recommend making any substitutions, except you can use unsalted butter in place of salted butter.
How to Make Pumpkin Cake from Scratch
This pumpkin cake recipe is easy to make, but as always we’ll walk through the process step-by-step, and don’ forget to watch the video! Being by mixing together flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, melted butter, sour cream, whole milk, eggs and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Once the mixture is smooth, add granulated sugar and brown sugar and whisk until dissolved and there are no lumps. Next, add dry ingredients and stir until the mixture is homogenous (uniform throughout) and there are no lumps.
Bake and Cool
Pour pumpkin cake batter into a prepare pan. Bake in preheated oven until the top is lightly browned and puffed and a toothpick comes out clean or with a few wet crumbs. Transfer the cake pan to a wire cooling rack and let the pumpkin cake cool to room temperature.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat (starting on low speed and increasing to medium-high) until smooth. Add remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until mixture is smooth and spreadable. You may need to pause and scrape down the sides and beat it again to incorporate all the powdered sugar.
Frost & Chill
When the cake is cooled, spread frosting evenly over the top. Then, chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Serve
This pumpkin cake is best when serve cold or just below room temperature.
Store
Store any leftover pumpkin cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freeze
If you’d like to freeze this pumpkin cake, I recommend flash-freezing it so the frosting is hard before you try to put a lid over it or cover it with plastic wrap and tin foil. You can freeze a whole, baked cake or in individual slices for up to 2 months. If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
