Pumpkin makes cakes soft and tender with a glowing orange colour in a way nothing else can! This Pumpkin Cake is perfectly spiced and comes with a tangy cream cheese frosting. The only thing that could make it better? Maple syrup. So I added it!
Pumpkin cake
This is a pumpkin cake recipe for people who want:
an easy, foolproof recipe (just wait until you see how simple it is!);
a cake with excellent pumpkinness* that’s not overwhelmed by the use of excessive store-bought spice mixes;
a crumb that’s springy, soft and moist, rather than tight/dense or airy/delicate (like angel cake);
a big cake to feed lots of people without the deft required to cut tall layer cakes into 16 tiny slivers; and
a cake with excellent frosting-to-cake ratio. Specifically, a cream cheese maple frosting. A dreamy combination with pumpkin!
So if all that sounds good to you, read on!
* I am not sure that’s a word but it seems fitting here.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Cake
Here’s what you need to make this cake.
Pumpkin puree options
I use fresh because it tastes better and takes 8 seconds to puree. Plus, canned pumpkin isn’t readily available here in Australia. 🙂 But canned works perfectly fine!
Canned pumpkin is a convenient option if you can get it and it works perfectly for this cake. But if you use pureed fresh pumpkin, you’ll be rewarded with a better tasting cake! It’s just a plain fact that freshly cooked pumpkin tastes better than something that’s been sitting in a can for months / years. Yes, we made and compared them side by side. 🙂
Use what works for you!
To make your own pumpkin puree, just boil chunks of pumpkin for 10 minutes or until very tender. Then blitz – it literally takes 8 seconds.
Pumpkin cake batter
Here are the other ingredient you need for the batter:
Flour – Plain / all-purpose flour. Self raising flour (also called self-rising flour) will work but it won’t rise as much. I haven’t tried this cake with gluten-free flour.
Oil – Any neutral flavoured oil like canola and vegetable oil. Using oil instead of butter keeps this cake moist. Why? Because butter firms up at room temperature whereas oil does not. So cakes made with oil are more moist. However, the trade-off is that butter tastes better than oil. In this cake, we’ve got other flavours at play here – the pumpkin and cinnamon. So I don’t miss the butter!
Baking powder – This is what makes the cake rise. As a side note, the original version of this cake used a combination of baking soda and baking powder. However, over the years, I’ve found that using only baking powder gives the cake a softer crumb. Plus, we cut out one ingredients. 🙂
Cinnamon – Flavour! Classic combination with pumpkin.
Sugar – Regular white sugar, or caster sugar / superfine sugar.
Large eggs at room temperature, which means eggs that are 55-60g/2oz each sold in cartons labelled “large eggs”. They need to be at room temperature, not fridge cold, so they blend into the ingredients better. More information on the right eggs for baking here!
Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the other flavours in this cake. Standard baking practice these days. 🙂
Cream cheese frosting
There is no better frosting for pumpkin cake! Here’s what you need:
Cream cheese – use BLOCK, not the spreadable cream cheese in tubs (too soft). If you can only get the spreadable cream cheese, add extra icing sugar to correct the consistency.
Softened unsalted butter – softened but not super soft / borderline melting.
Icing sugar aka powdered sugar – 🇦🇺 Australia, use soft icing sugar, NOT pure icing sugar (which is used for things like royal icing ie sets hard).
Vanilla extract – For flavour.
Maple syrup – UGH, forgot to put it in the photo! This is for drizzling on top. I wanted to put it in the frosting but it made the frosting too loose.
How to make Pumpkin Cake
WHY CAN’T ALL CAKES BE THIS EASY???!!
Whisk wet – Whisk the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin puree.
Add dry – Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt then whisk until combined. Batter. Done!
Bake in a 23 x 33 / 13 x 9″ lined pan (or thereabouts) at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced) for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. See the video for my easy way to line the pan!
Frosting – While the cake is cooling, make the frosting! Just beat the cream cheese and butter for a minute on high until creamy. Then add the icing sugar (powdered sugar) in 3 batches, starting the beater on low to avoid a snowstorm. Once it’s incorporated, crank the beater up to high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until the frosting is fluffy!
Slather the frosting on the cooled cake, and use the back of a spoon to make swirly dents for maple syrup to pool in.
Drizzle with maple syrup, as much as you want / dare, then sprinkle liberally with roughly chopped pecans.
And now it’s time to dig in!
Making this cake might be the best decision you make in October. It’s totally straight forward. Your kitchen will smell amazing. It’s big enough to share with those you deem worthy.
And that moment when you take the first bite of that soft cake loaded with beautiful pumpkin flavour, mingling with that tangy cream cheese frosting mixed with rivers of maple syrup and the littering of soft pecans….
I challenge you to stop at one piece. (Even if you cut yourself a very, very big one). – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Fresh or canned pumpkin? I’m in the fresh camp!
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Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pumpkin puree options
- 1 2/3 cups fresh pumpkin puree , I use this (Note 1)
- 15 oz / 425g canned pure pumpkin , 1 can (Note 1)
Other cake batter ingredients
- 4 large eggs 55-60g/2oz each), at room temperature
- 1 2/3 cups white sugar (or caster/superfine sugar, Note 2)
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
- 2 cups plain/all-purpose flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp cooking / kosher salt (Note 3)
Frosting
- 6 oz / 180g cream cheese block, at room temperature (Note 4)
- 1 cup / 225g unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (Note 5)
Finishing
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup maple syrup (don't be shy!)
- 1/2 cup pecans , roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Spray and line a large pan around 9 x 13" / 23 x 33cm with baking paper with overhang. (Note 6)
- Batter – In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Bake – Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack to cool completely (~ 2 hours) before frosting.
- Frosting – Spread frosting on then use the back of a spoon to make swirly dents. Drizzle over maple syrup, concentrating on the dents to create maple syrup pools! Sprinkle with pecans. Then serve.
Frosting
- Cream butter – Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the icing sugar in 3 batches, starting the beater on low after each addition to avoid a snowstorm. Once incorporated, turn the beater up to high and beat for 3 minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Use frosting immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published in November 2016. Recipe slightly improved (I now only use baking powder as I find it makes the cake rise more evenly), recipe writing improved (I’ve come a long way in 7 years!), sparkling new photos and a brand new video with me IN it!
More pumpkin recipes
Life of Dozer
Today – visiting a local community garden just a few minutes from home called Happy Hens. What an extraordinary oasis! 100% volunteer run in a beautiful location by the water, filled with an abundance of herbs and vegetables. Everyone is welcome – so locals, drop by to see it and say g’day! Might even see you there. 🙂 ~ Nagi & Dozer xx
And from the original publication date in 2016:
a) Cruel
b) Cute
c) Funny
d) All of the above
This is incredible! Made for a party and everyone loved it! I used fresh pumpkin. I only drizzled a little maple syrup on the top. I had additional syrup on the side for people to add more. I also put the pecans on the side in case someone has an allergy. Definitely will make it again.
I’ve made it. OMG!!! Delicious!! 😋This is definitely a make again recipe. I wish I could submit a picture of it. It looks almost like yours 😉
Thank you, Nagi
I’m not a huge pumpkin fan but I really like this.
I cut the recipe in half and baked in a loaf pan, used all brown sugar in place of white. I kept tasting the frosting as I made it and added almost double the cream cheese to offset the sweetness. Didn’t add the maple drizzle.
I’ll make the full recipe in a loaf pan next time, but keep the frosting at half recipe.
Easy to make and delicious.
As with many things, this gets even better after a couple days. It has more flavor today than it did a few hours after it was baked.
I’m planning on making it again next week.
Has anyone tried making this cake using an egg substitute (flax eggs or similar)? Would love to try making vegan friendly!
This is almost exactly the same as the pumpkin cake I’ve been making from Natasha’s kitchen.
I made this recipe as muffins. It made 12 good sized muffins and cooked perfectly in 25 minutes. They are soft, moist and delicious. I reduced the sugar to 1 1/4 cups as suggested by Nagi in the notes. I halved the frosting and this made enough for the muffins. I didn’t have pecans so used walnuts instead. I’ll definitely make these again.
Absolutely delicious! As always, Nagi’s recipes are so easy to follow and so simple to make. I used walnuts instead and toasted them (so good). I made this for a “masterchef” morning tea at work and it was a hit! I won!
Definitely will be making again.
Hi Nagi, First, your cake is wonderful. As for your video’s, you will never please everyone no matter how hard you try! The best thing to do is make it easier on yourself and do what feels good to you, People who love you and your recipes will still love you no matter what style you choose. Those who don’t…. Well, it is their loss.
I made this cake on the weekend, added a pinch of nutmeg, clove and ginger….the cake was fantastic! I tried a piece without frosting and you could easily get away without. I agree with some of the other comments, there was a lot of frosting. I froze 1/2 for the next time I bake this cake. Definitely recommend this recipe!
I made this for a family gathering and it was a hit! I altered the frosting a little bit, but only because I was being lazy. Instead of 6oz cream cheese I used 8 since that is how it comes. I also added a couple of dribbles extra of vanilla. Everyone said it was sweet, but didn’t blow your head off. Just perfect.
Reduced the recipe to 9 serves to fit my smaller square tin. Has turned out beautifully! Waiting for it to cool so I can put the cream cheese frosting on. I found a recipe for frosting which includes some maple syrup so that’s what I’m using. Thanks for a great recipe Nagi!
Great cake. Family commented it needs more spices, nutmeg, cloves, all spice.
Was it your intent to use less than block of cream cheese, ours are 250g?
Used fresh pumpkin, baked it in oven at 400 for 25 min, cut in half, seed, place on cookie sheet, helps caramelize sugars, less watery, skin removed with fork.
Delicious, as is everything I’ve ever cooked from RTE. This was overly sweet to my palate, which I think was mostly down to the frosting, so next time, I’ll replace that. The cake is a real winner though!
Well, this is a very first for me,,,a Nagi failure! Something is wrong with this recipe. Too much oil? A doughy mess, and not spicy at all, No flavor. Huge waste of 4 eggs and a whole cup of oil. Too bad!
Oh that’s a shame Phyllis. It is a rather wet batter. It baked up beautifully for me following the recipes exactly as written. It’s no fun when you feel you’ve wasted all your baking supplies.
I made two of these cakes yesterday. So delicious with the sweet pie pumpkins from the garden and maple syrup from our neighbour. We live in an area where there are doxens of syrup producers. We had way too many pumkins and the thought of nothing but pumpkin pies or muffins was scarey.
PS Will there ever be RTE merchandise?
I made this today and it is absolutely delicious! So easy but tastes incredible – perfect for feeding lots of people. Another excellent recipe x
I love pumpkin and this is so moist and delicious ! I reduced the sugar (thanks for that note), and made less frosting and it was perfect for us. I like the parchment paper trick to get it out of the pan, too. Will definitely make it again !
Excellent! Cooked in a large rectangle pan for 40mins. I added some ginger powder for that extra spice. I’d recommend halving the frosting, way too much.
This cake is AMAZING 🤩. I am obsessed with it. I used GF flour and it is perfect. So moist and so easy to make. So tasty. Everyone is enjoying it. My new favourite.
I was reading the comments and wondering if this would work with GF flour, so thanks Rebecca. I’ll give it a go! 🙂
Oh my God. The most edible cake I have ever baked. I used gluten free plain flour & cut down the sugar in batter. The frosting was “to die for”.
Thank you so much for such a simple and brilliant recipe