A moist Pumpkin Cake topped with cream cheese frosting! The crumb is soft and tender, it’s easy, fast, forgiving and very versatile. Use this batter to make Pumpkin Bars, a round cake, loaf, cupcakes, muffins or even a bundt cake!
The third and final Thanksgiving recipe from a Sassy Lady from the South whose recipes are starring in the 2016 Thanksgiving Special here on RecipeTin Eats.
Wow. This Pumpkin Cake was a HUGE hit with my taste testers!
Pumpkin cake isn’t common in Australia, so I was particularly keen to hear what my taste testers thought of it. I had a group of my mother’s golfing friends around for a midweek Thanksgiving feast taste testing session and also made this cake again for my friends.
Resounding feedback was – YUM!!!!
I think I’m single handedly going to start a pumpkin cake crusade here in Australia. I know I’ve converted at least 15 people already. Just another 24.9 million to go. 😉
Dorothy – the Sassy Lady from the South who is credited with this years’ Thanksgiving Special – calls this recipe “Pumpkin Bars” because she makes it in a slightly larger pan so the cake is thinner, thus it looks more like bars when cut. Mine is around 25% taller than hers (based on rough maths!), which is why it looks more like cake than bars. And hence why I changed the name to Pumpkin Cake. 🙂
I do hope she’s not offended.
Actually, I should say I hope her son is not offended. Because I am told this Pumpkin Cake is actually her sons’ recipe. Perhaps not created by him – well, I know it wasn’t created by him. But he “owns” it now, ever since he was a wee kid and was told by the Sassy Lady from the South that if he wanted more Pumpkin Bars, he could very well get into the kitchen and make it himself.
So he did. And now he’s the Pumpkin Bar King of the family. <3
And now I’ve gone and used his recipe to make Pumpkin Cake.
Oh wait. Not exactly the same. I used fresh instead of canned pumpkin. Because, dear US readers, this may surprise you, but we don’t have canned pumpkin here in Australia!
To be honest, I’m actually sort of glad that we don’t have it here because it means I have to use fresh pumpkin.
Gosh, I have to say, I really was actually quite surprised at how enthusiastically this cake was received by my taste testers. Don’t get me wrong, I love it – a lot. But my taste testers, they LOVED it. Capital letters and bold.
Of course the cream cheese frosting scored high marks – always does. But that cake….it is just so soft, tender and moist! Truly fantastic.
Things brings to a close the 2016 Thanksgiving Special here on RecipeTin Eats. It’s been an epic one, starring recipes from the Sassy Lady from the South. You can get the full menu in the Cajun Turkey Breast recipe (that recipe is not only genius, it is so incredibly delish!).
I do hope this week will provide some inspiration for those of you in the States celebrating Thanksgiving next week! – Nagi xx
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Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 2/3 cups (350g) white sugar (Note 1)
- 1 cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 15 oz / 420 g can pure pumpkin , or 2 cups mashed fresh pumpkin (Note 2)
- 2 cups (300g) all purpose / plain flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Frosting
- 6 oz / 180 g cream cheese , at room temperature
- 2 sticks / 225 g / 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups (480 g) confectionary / icing sugar (sifted if clumpy)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F / 180C, all oven types.
- Spray and line a large pan around 9 x 13" / 22 x 33cm with baking paper with overhang. (Note 3)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Frosting
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat for 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and fluffy. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Recipe Notes:
* Moist Easy Apple Cake <-- This is becoming famous!
* Dorothy's Carrot Cake
* 5 Ingredient No Bake Peanut Bars 5. This makes a large cake. If you cut it into large generous squares as pictured, then it will serve 12. If you can it into rectangles, then it will serve 18 - 20. Over half the calories shown below is attributable to the frosting.
Nutrition Information:
2016 THANKSGIVING SPECIAL
Get the full menu here.
LIFE OF DOZER
a) Cruel
b) Cute
c) Funny
d) All of the above
This is fabulously moist and easy cake to make. I bake a lot and the family barely comment on anything I make but this one had them singing it’s praises. I love the fact that it make a big enough cake to both keep some and give some away.
I’ve made it with both tinned and fresh pumpkin and it make no difference to the end result. Tinned pumpkin isn’t so common in Oz and it’s relatively expensive. On the other hand pumpkins just grow out of the compost heap!Be sure drain any excess liquid off or the sponge will dense. I find the easiest thing to do with fresh pumpkin is simply split in half and roast, skin and all for 50 mins at 200 C then leave it so sit in the oven after I’ve turned it off. Once it’s cooled you can simply scoop the soft pumpkin out – no mashing, no peeling no fiddle whatsoever! For this cake I let the soft pumpkin sit in a sieve so any liquid can drain away. I freeze any remaining pumpkin in 420g batches, ready to defrost next time.
Thank you for this recipe. Had a pumpkin I needed to use up and found your recipe. Lovely moist cake though next time I will put it in a slightly bigger dish as it rose incredibly and a bit high for the squares I’ve cut it into. Still a lovely recipe and will definitely make again.
Made your wonderful Pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting for Thanksgiving. Deeeelicious and moist. Thanks very much.
Hi Nagi
A quick question.. Does this needs to be refrigirated as it has the cream cheese frosting? Guess yes right?
Thank you xx
Hi Claire – yes refrigerate but bring out to room temp before serving 🙂 N x
This recipe is identical (except for the canned frosting) to my late mother-in-law’s famous 200-year-old Pumpkin Cake she made every Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Thank you for sharing it.
That’s awesome Dinah!!! N x
This is one of the easiest cakes I’ve made and super moist. Followed the recipe exactly and topped with the cream cheese frosting and chopped pistachios. I encourage everyone to try this.
Hi, I don’t see the cream cheese frosting recipe here. Do you have a good one to share?
The ingredients for the frosting are listed above after the cake ingredients and the method is at the end. Enjoy!
My two year old loved this pumpkin cake. It was for our anniversary. Thank you so much for this recipe. I replaced Apf with wheat flour and oats flour as I was not having it. It was delicious. Best I have baked so far. Looking forward to try some more from this site
I made this pumpkin cake and my family loved it! Sooo spongy, moist and super delicious! Thanks a lot Nagi!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Maria 🙂 N x
I baked the no yeast Irish Bread and I found it delicious and it had a wonderful and unique taste unlike any other bread I’ve eaten, Similar to a soda biscuit…but not? 🙂
Love hearing this – I’m so glad you enjoyed it Michael! N x
I made this using the scaled down ingredients, exactly half as that’s the amount of pumpkin I had left. It worked brilliantly in a loaf tin, it was so lovely and moist and it was gobbled up by my husband! I’m about to make it again after he requested it, praise indeed 😂
Oh that’s great to know Jan!
Does this cake keep its shape well once cut? I am making a cake for my son and I want to make a shape out of it before icing it. Is it very crumbly once cut? It sounds delicious!
Hi Amy, It’s a little crumbly but should hold it’s shape, love to know how it goes!
Just to let you know, I have seen canned pumpkin in the american section in coles!
Hi Mel, yes i posted this some time ago, Coles and Woolworths are now stocking much more international products, which is great!!
Hi. Was wanting to make the pumpkin cake today using a loaf pan. What would b the cooking time and do I need to reduce the mixture
Hi Debbie, what size loaf pan are you using?
This cake was very delicious. Made it a couple of times!
I’m so happy you love it Ana!
Great recipe! I did tweak it for our own taste as we prefer tasting more pumpkin and less spice which is 1/2 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg with a pinch ginger. I also replaced half the oil with unsweetened applesauce, 3/4 light brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. My final touch was the . My go-to cream cheese is 8 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, ~4 cups powdered sugar. For this treat, i add 1/4 tsp cinnamon for a kick! Rave reviews! Thanks for a great base recipe.
It’s time to bake your pumpkin cake again. Actually I make this cake several times a year. I love pumpkin! The only thing I change is I use cream cheese heavy whipping frosting instead of just cream cheese.