Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a lot easier than a pumpkin cake roll but tastes just like it! It’s moist, full of pumpkin spice, topped with a dreamy cream cheese frosting and perfect for fall!

I have another wonderful fall treat for all of you!  This easy pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting is like a pumpkin cake roll only a lot easier!!  It’s a moist cake with a tender crumb and full of pumpkin spice.  Plus, the luscious cream cheese frosting is the best!!  My kids (and husband 🙂 ) are always licking the bowl and spatula when I am done frosting this cake.

This recipe is a family favorite and it came from my Grandma, so you know it’s good!!

A few other great fall desserts you may want to check out is this Turtle Pumpkin Cake, No Churn Pumpkin Ice Cream (this is great with this pumpkin cake- just sayin!), and this Traditional Pumpkin Pie.

I hope you guys aren’t too tired of seeing pumpkin!  I know I have published quite a few over the last few weeks and I promise I am done with pumpkin (for this year 😉 ).  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

A little about this Easy Pumpkin Cake:

• I dusted the top of the cake with some cinnamon to fancy it up a bit.  This is optional.
• I chose to chop the pecans and sprinkle on top.  You could also leave them whole and place them on top of individual servings.
• You can use 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree instead of canned.
• This cake can be made in advance!  You can bake the cake up to 2 days in advance.  Store covered tightly in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.  It’s also good cold too. Or you can bake the cake and once it has cooled wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.  Let thaw completely before frosting.
• If you would like to make a layered cake instead, bake the cake batter in two 9″ round cake pans for 25-30 minutes.  Use 1/2 cup butter (instead of 1/4 cup) and 3 cups powdered sugar (instead of 2 cups) for the frosting.
• This can also be used to make cupcakes.  It will make about 26 cupcakes filling about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 18-20 minutes.

So, in other random news……..we are finally starting to work on our basement!!!  I have mentioned before that when we moved in the basement was completely undone….as in there are no rooms, flooring or even studs.  A blank canvas if you will.  So our big project this winter is to finish our basement and I would really like to have it finished before next summer.  That’s a pretty tall order I know!

We want to do most of it ourselves outside of the electrical, we will leave that to someone that knows what they are doing! 🙂  I’m hoping we can get it done, but afraid it may be a little too much for us to tackle.  So far we have the basement completely emptied out (well almost) and now we want to wash the cement really well.  We will have a few other small tasks to finish before we can actually start framing things up but we are off to a great start!  Wish us luck!

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5 from 6 votes

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Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Total Time

50 mins

 

This Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a lot easier than a pumpkin cake roll but tastes just like it! It's moist, full of pumpkin spice, topped with a dreamy cream cheese frosting and perfect for fall!

Servings: 12 +

Author: Malinda Linnebur

Ingredients

Pumpkin Cake

• 2 cups (250g) all purpose flour
• 1½ cup (330g) sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (240ml) vegetable or canola oil
• 1 (15 oz) (425g) can pumpkin puree (or 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz)(226g) package cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup (56g) butter, softened
• 2 cups (200g) powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt

Toppings

• ½ cup (60g) chopped pecans
• cinnamon for dusting, optional

Instructions

Pumpkin Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).  Lightly grease a 9×13 baking pan and set aside.

   In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and salt.  Whisk well to incorporate.  Add in the oil, pumpkin puree, eggs, vanilla and mix until well combined.  Spread into prepared pan.  Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and beat for 2 minutes.  Spread over cooled cake and top with chopped pecans and cinnamon if desired. 

Recipe Notes

1. Store leftover cake covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 
2.  You can use 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree instead of canned.
3. This cake can be made in advance!  You can bake the cake up to 2 days in advance.  Store covered tightly in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.  It’s also good cold too. Or you can bake the cake and once it has cooled wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.  Let thaw completely before frosting.
4. If you would like to make a layered cake instead, bake the cake batter in two 9″ round cake pans for 25-30 minutes.  Use 1/2 cup butter (instead of 1/4 cup) and 3 cups powdered sugar (instead of 2 cups) for the frosting.
5. This can also be used to make cupcakes.  It will make about 26 cupcakes filling about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 18-20 min