Moist and fluffy Pumpkin Cake with cream cheese frosting is a delightful holiday dessert! Add it to your Thanksgiving menu or enjoy throughout the holiday season.
This pumpkin cake goes out to my pumpkin lovers, my cake fanatics, my cream cheese frosting enthusiasts, and to those who just can’t help but choose cake over pie.
Given my embarrassingly tiny pie archive, you can probably guess where I fall.
What we’re diving into is a warmly-spiced cake with festive pumpkin flavors, a moist crumb, fluffy texture, and the utmost support from creamy, tangy cream cheese frosting.
As you can see, my cake decorating skills are far from expert, but the great news is, you can easily decorate this cake to fit the occasion.
Birthdays? Holidays? Thanksgiving? Christmas? I say pumpkin cake is always invited.
If you’re looking for a grain-free pumpkin cake, make my Healthy Pumpkin Cake. Also, if you’d rather stick with the pies, don’t miss my Paleo Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for pumpkin cake.
Ingredients for Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:
Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:
Avocado Oil: Used to bring richness and a tender crumb to the cake, we need some form of fat.
I like using avocado oil because it contains a decent amount of omega-3 fatty acids (a healthier alternative to canola oil or vegetable oil) and a neutral flavor.
Large Eggs: The all star ingredient that helps a cake become airy and fluffy. Eggs are the reason cakes have a light texture instead of a dense texture.
Canned Pumpkin Purée: The reason we’re all here! We need one can of pumpkin. Use pure pumpkin puree from a can or use your own homemade pumpkin puree.
Just be sure the ingredient label specifies there is only pumpkin, with no added ingredients. Pumpkin pie filling contains extra ingredients that we don’t need in this recipe.
Pure Vanilla Extract: We must add pure vanilla extract to all of our baked goods to bring that lovely warm flavor.
Fresh Ginger (optional): While ginger is entirely optional, I like adding it to bring an extra kick of spice to my pumpkin spice desserts.
Simply peel a nub of ginger using a vegetable peeler and grate it using a zester or cheese grater. You can add as little or as much as you like, depending on your preference for ginger.
Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour or Regular All-Purpose Flour: The base of the cake! We need some form of flour for that extra amazing texture, and I go with a gluten-free flour blend because I eat gluten-free.
My favorite GF flour is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. If you don’t follow a gluten-free diet, use regular all-purpose flour.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda: The leavening agents here. We need both baking powder and baking soda to achieve that light and fluffy texture.
Ground Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie Spice: The warm spices needed to signal to our taste buds that we’re eating a delicious pumpkin dessert.
They are almost entirely responsible for what we identify as pumpkin flavor.
Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, allspice and cloves for a party for your face! I like adding extra ground cinnamon for the best flavor.
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
Full-Fat Cream Cheese: Can we all agree that the best frosting for cakes is cream cheese frosting? We need a brick of cream cheese in order to make this delicious topping.
Of course, I recommend going with a higher fat percentage for the tastiest result instead of low-fat cream cheese.
Butter: Some unsalted butter gets mixed in with the cream cheese to smooth out the texture a little and add some creamy flavor, similar to buttercream.
Powdered Sugar (Confectioners’ Sugar): Powdered sugar is used to sweeten cream cheese frosting for the lightest, fluffiest texture.
It’s shocking how much we need in order for the cream cheese frosting to have the right level of sweetness and the right texture.
When you see the amount in the recipe card below, know that your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
Vanilla Extract: Remember how we love adding vanilla to everything? We do that here too.
Sea Salt: A little salt helps enhance all of the flavors so that our taste buds go extra wild.
Now that we’re familiar with the basic ingredients for pumpkin spice cake, let’s make it!
How to Make Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:
Prepare the Pumpkin Spice Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with butter or cooking spray. I use a ceramic casserole dish for this, but Pyrex works great too.
Transfer the avocado oil, eggs, pure vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and fresh ginger (if adding) to a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients by hand or use an electric hand mixer.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
Note: if your brown sugar is clumpy, mix it with the wet ingredients instead of the dry ingredients. If your brown sugar is fresh, however, it will mix easily with the dry ingredients.
Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until everything is combined.
Pour the pumpkin cake batter into the prepared baking dish.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake tests clean.
A great way of determining if a cake is cooked through is by taking its internal temperature using a digital thermometer. The ideal final temperature for cake is between 190 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.
To speed up the process, you can refrigerate the cake once the pan has cooled to room temperature or just above.
Note that the cake must be thoroughly cooled before frosting it, or else the frosting will pull off the top layer of cake.
Prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting:
While the cake is baking, prepare the cream cheese frosting. It can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer. Mix until smooth and creamy.
Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and sea salt. To avoid the sugar from fluffing up, start with ⅓ to ½ of the sugar, and beat on low speed then beat in the remaining sweetener.
Switch to a medium high speed and eventually a high speed and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until everything is well incorporated and the frosting looks nice and fluffy.
You can add ¼ to ½ cup of additional powdered sugar for a firmer frosting.
Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting, then transfer it to the refrigerator to set up for at least 30 minutes. This allows the frosting to become firmer so that it is easier to slice into clean slices.
Serve and enjoy!
Storage Tips:
Store cake covered in plastic wrap or aluminum foil for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. If there is a small amount of cake left, you can transfer it to an airtight container.
Freeze cake in a zip lock bag or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Recipe Adaptations:
- You can make a layer cake by using two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans.
- Make pumpkin cupcakes instead of a full sheet cake. TO do so, line a muffin tray with paper liners, fill them 2/3 of the way full with batter, and bake for 18 to 21 minutes.
- Use caramel sauce, a powdered sugar glaze, or buttercream for frosting the cake.
- Rather than using fresh ginger in the pumpkin mixture, you can use 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to make cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Turn it into a pumpkin bundt cake by greasing a 9-inch or 10-inch bundt pan and baking as normal.
How Many People Does This Cake Serve?:
This cake makes 12 generous sized pieces of cake, or up to 20 smaller slices of cake.
And that’s it! The best pumpkin cake that may just become one of your new favorite recipes.
The next time you’re looking for a delicious dessert to share with friends and family, whip up this easy pumpkin cake recipe!
Enjoy a slice with a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast! No one’s judging!
If you’re looking for more festive holiday dessert inspiration, here are some of my personal favorites! So
More Holiday Desserts:
- Paleo Apple Pie Bars
- Silky Sweet Potato Pie
- Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars
- Peach Crisp
- Paleo Blackberry Cobbler
- Sweet Potato Crumb Bars
What’s your favorite: pumpkin cake or pumpkin pie?
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake:
- 1 cup avocado oil
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 (15-oz) can pumpkin puree
- 1 to 3 tsp fresh grated ginger optional
- 2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour or regular all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp sea salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese full-fat recommended, softened
- 9 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick + 1 Tbsp) softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
Prepare the Pumpkin Spice Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or spray a 9” x 13” baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
- Transfer the avocado oil, eggs, pure vanilla extract, pumpkin puree and fresh ginger (if adding) to a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients by hand or use an electric hand mixer.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Note: if your brown sugar is clumpy, mix it with the wet ingredients instead of the dry ingredients. If your brown sugar is fresh, however, it will mix easily with the dry ingredients.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until everything is combined. Transfer the cake batter into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake tests clean. A great way of determining if a cake is cooked through is by taking its internal temperature using a digital thermometer. The ideal final temperature for cake is between 190 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack. To speed up the process, you can refrigerate the cake once the pan has cooled to room temperature or just above. Note that the cake must be thoroughly cooled before frosting it, or else the frosting will pull off the top layer of cake.
Prepare the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- While the cake is baking, prepare the cream cheese frosting. It can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer. Mix until smooth and creamy.
- Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and sea salt. To avoid the sugar from fluffing up, start with ⅓ to ½ of the confectioner’s sugar, and beat on low speed then beat in the remaining sweetener. Switch to a medium high speed and eventually a high speed and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until everything is well incorporated and the frosting looks nice and fluffy. You can add ¼ to ½ cup of additional powdered sugar for a firmer frosting. Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting, then transfer it to the refrigerator to set up for at least 30 minutes. This allows the frosting to become firmer so that it is easier to slice into clean slices.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
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This is a delicious cake which I made to share with a group but could not eat because of the cream cheese. This recipe comes up under the Dairy Free dietary selection, but it really isn’t. There is lactose free cream cheese available in a few stores but not widely and for those of us who are truly Dairy Free, like me, a substitute frosting will be needed, perhaps just a dusting of powdered sugar.
Hi Terri! I appreciate you sharing your experience! I included a couple of other frosting options in the recipe, or you can also make a batch of my dairy-free cream cheese frosting, which uses raw cashews instead of a cream cheese substitute: https://www.theroastedroot.net/vegan-cream-cheese-frosting/
Hi Julia,
This cake sounds fantastic. I love pumpkin and spices. However we are a small family and this would be much larger than what we require. Do you have a recipe much like this one but for
smaller for another size cake?
Hi Helen! If you click on the servings field in the recipe card and enter .5, the recipe will halve itself for you, and you can make it in an 8-inch or 9-inch pan 🙂 When I do so, here’s what the recipe looks like:
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake:
0.5 cup avocado oil
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
0.5 can pumpkin puree (about 1 cup)
0.5 to 1.5 tsp fresh grated ginger, optional
1 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour or regular all-purpose flour
0.5 cup brown sugar packed
1 tsp baking powder
0.25 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
0.75 tsp pumpkin pie spice
0.5 tsp sea salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese full-fat recommended, softened
4.5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1.5 cups powdered sugar
0.75 tsp pure vanilla extract
0.25 tsp sea salt
Let me know if you have any other questions! Happy holidays to you and your family! xo