Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting is over-the-top delicious! It’s soft and moist with just the right amount of pumpkin and fall spices, and the creamy frosting is one of my favorites. Make this as an alternate Thanksgiving dessert or for an autumn celebration! In fact, this would make an amazing birthday cake all year round. :)
Cream Cheese Frosting Pumpkin Cake Recipe
I know I’ve been a little pumpkin crazy, even though it’s not technically autumn yet. To me, though it’s felt like fall for the last few weeks since I’ve been waking up to chilly mornings, ending the day with cold evenings, and getting out my warm pajamas and slippers, plus I’ve had this never-ending cold (seriously what a ripoff right? Fall is still a ways away). A slice of this cake made everything better though :).
Some may wait for a celebration to make a cake, but what’s the point of that? I’d say weekends count as a celebration if you really need an excuse. Be sure to add this cinnamon cream cheese frosting pumpkin cake to your list of favorite cake recipes!
Pumpkin Spice Cake Instructions
- Start by adding your dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and preparing your baking dish.
- Add wet ingredients to your large bowl of a stand mixer and cream together at high speed. Alternate adding pumpkin mixture and dry ingredients to your wet ingredients until combined.
- Pour your batter into cake tins and bake. Remove and cool on a wire rack when done.
- While cooling, whip your room temperature cream cheese with cinnamon and ground cloves. Frost the cake and sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired!
Best Pumpkin Dessert Recipes
- Iced Pumpkin Cookies
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Roll
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Starbucks Pumpkin Scones Recipe
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Follow Cooking Classy
Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil , divided
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cup (424g) canned pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup milk
Frosting
- 12 oz. cream cheese , softened
- 3/4 cup butter , softened (I used 6 Tbsp salted 6 Tbsp unsalted)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 1/2 - 5 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 3 9-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with a round of parchment paper, butter parchment and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 20 seconds, set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and 3 Tbsp of the vegetable oil until pale and fluffy (occasionally scrape down sides and bottom of bowl throughout mixing process).
- Mix in remaining 1/4 + 1 Tbsp vegetable oil. Blend in eggs one at a time, adding in vanilla with last egg. In a bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together pumpkin with milk. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture alternating with half of the pumpkin mixture and mixing just until combined after each addition.
- Divide batter among three prepared cake pans and spread batter into an even layer. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 30 - 35 minutes.
- Cool in cake pans 15 minutes, then run a knife around edge of cake to loosen and invert onto wire racks to cool completely.
- Once cool frost cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting (I recommend letting cake rest in refrigerator for a bit in an airtight container (such as a cake carrier) for cleaner cut slices. Store cake in an airtight container in refrigerator, if fully chilled, let rest at room temp only until not cold before serving.
For the frosting:
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy.
- Add cinnamon, vanilla and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined, then increase to medium and whip until pale and fluffy (if frosting is runny, cover and refrigerate just until it no longer is runny before spreading on cake).