Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

This pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting is two soft, spiced 8 inch layers made with a can of pumpkin purée and vegetable oil, filled and covered with tangy cream cheese icing. It bakes in 30 to 35 minutes, takes about 2 hours from start to finish including cooling, and serves 12.

The choice that matters most is the oil. This cake lives in the fridge because of the frosting, and an oil cake stays tender when cold, where a butter cake turns firm. I bake the layers a day ahead and frost them the next morning.

One Cake, by the Facts

• Pans: two 8 inch round pans, greased and lined with parchment
• Oven: 350°F (175°C), 30 to 35 minutes
• Yield: one 2 layer 8 inch cake, 12 slices
• Time: 25 minutes prep, 35 minutes baking, about 1 hour cooling
• Pumpkin: one 15 oz can of pure pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling
• Frosting: 8 oz block cream cheese, ½ cup butter, 3½ cups powdered sugar
• Storage: covered in the fridge for up to 4 days

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What Goes Into the Layers and the Icing

The cake uses 2 cups of flour, both baking soda and baking powder, and four spices: 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon cloves. Cinnamon leads, cloves sit in the background. Four eggs, white and brown sugar, ¾ cup oil and the pumpkin make a thick, smooth batter.

Check your spice jars before you start. Ground spices fade after about a year, and a pumpkin layer made with tired cinnamon tastes of sugar and squash and not much else.

For the frosting, use full fat cream cheese from a block. Spreadable cream cheese in a tub carries extra water, and the icing slumps down the sides of the cake no matter how long you chill it. The butter should be soft enough to press with a finger but still cool, around the same temperature as the cream cheese, so the two beat together without lumps.

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Canned or Homemade Pumpkin Purée

I use canned purée for this cake. It is thick, the same every time, and one 15 oz can is about 1¾ cups, exactly what the batter needs. Make sure the label says pure pumpkin. Pumpkin pie filling already has sugar and spice in it and throws the whole recipe off.

Homemade purée works if it is thick. Fresh pumpkin holds more water, so drain it in a sieve or stir it in a pan over low heat until a spoon stands up in it. Watery purée gives a dense, gummy layer. My guide to how to make pumpkin purée covers roasting and draining step by step.

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Why Oil and Not Butter in This Cake

I have compared vegetable oil and melted butter in this cake. Butter adds flavor but gives a slightly denser crumb, and oil keeps the layers moist for days. The reason that wins it for me is the fridge.

Cream cheese frosting has to be refrigerated, so every slice you serve the next day comes out cold. Butter sets firm at fridge temperature and the cake tastes dry and tight until it warms up. Oil stays liquid, so the crumb stays soft. If you plan to serve the whole cake the same day, butter is worth a try for the flavor. The same oil batter, in muffin form, is behind my pumpkin cream cheese muffins.

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Baking the Two Pumpkin Layers

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two 8 inch pans with parchment. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in one bowl. In a second bowl, mix the oil, both sugars, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla until smooth and evenly orange.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones and stir by hand only until no dry streaks remain. Overmixing builds gluten and makes the crumb tough and tunnelled. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. A kitchen scale makes this quick, and even layers bake in the same time.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes. The layers are done when a toothpick in the center comes out clean, the top springs back when pressed lightly, and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Pumpkin layers brown at the edges before the middle is set, so trust the toothpick over the color. For single servings from the same flavors, see my pumpkin cupcakes.

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Cream Cheese Frosting That Holds Its Shape

Beat the cream cheese and butter together first until completely smooth. Any lumps left now stay in the finished icing. Then add the 3½ cups of powdered sugar gradually on low speed so it does not fly out of the bowl, and turn the mixer up to medium high for a minute or so until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Stop once it is smooth. Cream cheese frosting thins the longer it is beaten, because the friction warms it. If it feels too soft to spread, chill it for 15 to 20 minutes and stir it back together. For a sweeter, warmer variation on this cake, my maple cream cheese frosting is a good swap.

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Filling, Stacking and Covering the Cake

Let the layers cool in their pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack and leave them until completely cool, about an hour. Warm cake melts cream cheese frosting on contact. I give the cooled layers 20 to 30 minutes in the fridge before frosting, which firms the crumb and keeps loose crumbs out of the icing.

Level the tops with a serrated knife if they domed. Set the first layer on a plate, spread a thick layer of frosting over it, add the second layer, then cover the top and sides and smooth them with an offset spatula. One batch fills the cake and covers it with a fairly thin coat on the sides. For thick sides or piped swirls on top, make 1½ batches.

Just before serving, dust the top with a little cinnamon or nutmeg, or scatter a few candied pecans for crunch. If you want the same flavors in a bar you can cut and carry to a potluck, try my pumpkin pie bars.

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If the Cake or Icing Goes Wrong

• Frosting is runny: the cream cheese came from a tub, the butter was too warm, or it was beaten too long after the sugar went in. Chill the bowl for 20 minutes and beat briefly on low.
• Lumps in the frosting: the cream cheese was colder than the butter. Let the bowl sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, then beat the lumps out before adding more sugar.
• Layers sank in the middle: the cake came out before the center set, or the oven door opened early. Bake until the toothpick is clean, not just until the edges brown.
• Crumb is dense and gummy: the batter was overmixed or the purée was watery. Stir only until the flour disappears and use thick purée.
• Frosting slides off the sides: the layers were still warm. Cool them fully and chill them before frosting.

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Making It a Day Ahead and Storing It

Bake the layers the day before, cool them, wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap and keep them in the fridge overnight. Frost them in the morning. Cold layers are firmer and easier to stack.

A frosted cake keeps covered in the fridge for up to 4 days. Take slices out about 20 minutes before serving so the crumb and the icing soften. Because of the cream cheese, do not leave the cake at room temperature for more than about 2 hours. Unfrosted layers freeze well, wrapped twice, for up to 2 months; thaw them in the fridge overnight. Leftover purée from another bake goes well in my pumpkin bread.

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Pumpkin Cake Questions, Answered Briefly

Is cream cheese icing the same as cream cheese frosting?

Yes. In a recipe for pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing, people mean the same thing: cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar beaten until fluffy. This one uses an 8 oz block, ½ cup butter and 3½ cups powdered sugar.

Can I bake this pumpkin cake in a 9×13 pan?

Yes. Pour all the batter into a greased 9×13 inch pan and bake at 350°F, starting to check at about 28 minutes. One batch of frosting covers the top of a sheet cake thickly.

Can I use 9 inch round pans?

You can. The layers will be thinner and bake faster, so start checking at 25 minutes.

What spices go in pumpkin cake?

This one uses cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. For a spice cake built around the same idea, see my pumpkin spice cake.

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Pin this pumpkin cake to your Thanksgiving or fall baking board so it is there when you need it. If you are short on time, my pumpkin cream cheese spread brings the same pairing to toast and bagels in five minutes. Tell me in the comments how your layers turned out, and whether you went with oil or butter.