The first time I made a pumpkin cake, I used a sheet pan and called it done. Then a friend asked me to bring dessert to a proper dinner. That’s when I started baking it in two round pans instead, and I never went back.
This one is soft, heavily spiced, and made with oil rather than butter. Oil keeps the layers tender for days, which matters if you’re baking ahead. Cream cheese frosting goes between and over the top.
I’ve collected a lot of pumpkin cake recipes over the years. Four of my favorites are below, starting with this layer cake. After it you’ll find a coffee cake, cake pops, and cookies that begin with a box mix.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
No mixer for the batter. You whisk the wet ingredients in one bowl, whisk the dry in another, and combine them. The mixer only comes out for the frosting, which takes about three minutes.
The crumb stays moist for three or four days in the fridge. That’s unusual for a layer cake, and it’s entirely down to the oil and the can of pumpkin doing the work together.
This pumpkin cake also holds a shape well. The layers are sturdy enough to stack, frost, and decorate without crumbling, so this is the batter I use whenever the cake needs to look like something.
Pumpkin Cake Ingredients & Substitutions
One can of pumpkin, a few spices, and the usual cake ingredients. Buy the full-fat cream cheese blocks for the frosting. Tub-style cream cheese has more water in it, and your frosting will slide.
| Ingredients | Amount | Substitution or Note |
| All-purpose flour | 2½ cups (313 g) | Spoon and level, don’t scoop |
| Baking powder | 2 teaspoons | Check the expiry date |
| Baking soda | 1 teaspoon | Reacts with the pumpkin |
| Salt | 1 teaspoon | Fine sea salt or table salt |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1 tablespoon | Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves |
| Ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon | On top of the spice blend |
| Pumpkin puree | 1 can (15 oz) | Pure puree, not pie filling |
| Granulated sugar | 1 cup (200 g) | Keeps the crumb light |
| Brown sugar | 1 cup (213 g) | Light or dark, both work |
| Vegetable oil | 1 cup (240 ml) | Half applesauce for a lighter cake |
| Large eggs | 4 | Room temperature |
| Vanilla extract | 2 teaspoons | Maple extract is nice here |
| Cream cheese | 16 oz (452 g) | Full-fat blocks, softened |
| Butter | ¾ cup (170 g) | Softened, not melted |
| Powdered sugar | 4 cups (480 g) | Add a cup more for piping |
What the main ingredients are doing:
- Pumpkin puree is both flavor and moisture. It also adds weight, which is why the layers come out dense rather than airy like a vanilla sponge.
- Brown sugar brings moisture and a caramel note, while white sugar keeps the crumb from turning heavy. Using both is better than doubling either one.
- Cream cheese and butter have to be properly soft. Cold blocks leave lumps that no amount of beating will smooth out later, so set them on the counter an hour ahead.
- Powdered sugar controls how the frosting behaves. Four cups spreads easily, and a fifth cup stiffens it enough to hold piped swirls.
How To Make Pumpkin Cake
Step 1: Prep the Pans and Oven
- Heat the oven to 350°F and grease two 9-inch round pans, then line the bottoms with parchment circles.
- Dust the greased sides with a little flour, which gives the batter something to climb as it bakes.
Step 2: Whisk the Dry Ingredients
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon.
- Keep whisking for 20 seconds or so, since the spices clump and you don’t want a pocket of cloves in one slice.
Step 3: Mix the Wet Ingredients
- In a large bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree with both sugars until the mixture looks smooth and slightly glossy.
- Add the oil, then the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, whisking after each addition until the color is even.
Step 4: Combine and Divide
- Pour the dry mix into the wet and stir with a spatula just until the flour disappears, then stop.
- Divide the batter between your two pans and weigh them if you have a scale, because uneven layers are hard to hide later.
Step 5: Bake and Cool
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the middle springs back when you press it.
- Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, turn the layers onto a rack, and leave them until completely cold, ideally an hour.
Step 6: Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the softened butter alone for a minute, add the cream cheese, and beat until there’s not a lump in sight.
- Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time on low speed, then the vanilla and a pinch of salt, and whip it on high for a minute.
Step 7: Stack and Frost
- Put the first layer on your plate, spread about a cup of frosting over it, and set the second layer on top upside down for a flat surface.
- Cover the top and sides, then chill the cake for 20 minutes before slicing so the frosting sets and the slices stay neat.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Some mornings a layer cake feels ridiculous. Pumpkin coffee cake is the version I bake in a square pan under a thick cinnamon streusel, and it goes from pan to plate with coffee.
Ingredients I Use
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup milk
- Streusel: ¾ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 6 tablespoons melted butter
How to Make Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Stir the streusel ingredients together with a fork until you have damp, chunky crumbs, then chill it while you mix the batter.
- Whisk the dry ingredients in one bowl, the pumpkin, sugars, oil, egg, and milk in another, then fold the two together.
- Spread the batter into a greased 9×9 pan, scatter the streusel over the top, and bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cover the pan loosely with foil if the topping browns too fast. Let it cool 20 minutes before cutting, or the streusel slides off in pieces. A drizzle of vanilla glaze on top is optional but good.
Pro Tips
- Weigh the batter between your two pans. Even a quarter cup of difference gives you one thick layer and one thin one, and you’ll notice it when you stack them.
- Bake the layers a day ahead if you can. Wrap them in plastic once cool and leave them on the counter, and they’ll be easier to frost the next morning.
- Trim the domed tops flat with a serrated knife before stacking. Save the offcuts for cake pops instead of throwing them away.
- Store the frosted pumpkin cake in the fridge for up to 4 days, covered. Let a slice sit out for 20 minutes before serving, or the frosting tastes stiff and waxy.
Wrapping Up
The layer cake is what I bake when people are coming over, and the coffee cake covers ordinary mornings. Cake pops and cookies are for whatever shows up on the calendar unannounced.
Start with the layers. Once you’ve made that batter a single time, the other three need almost no thinking, and every one of them leans on the same can of pumpkin sitting in your cupboard.
Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk dry ingredients
- Whisk pumpkin with sugars
- Add oil, eggs, and vanilla, fold in the dry mix
- Divide into two greased 9-inch pans
- Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes
- Cool fully, beat frosting, stack and frost
