Pumpkin spice cake is one of those recipes that never fails to disappoint. It’s super moist, packed with real pumpkin flavor, and has that perfect balance of warm spices without tasting like a candle.
This pumpkin spice cake recipe has been a Sugar Geek Show favorite for years because the cake layers stay incredibly soft even after chilling, and the tangy cream cheese frosting adds just the right amount of richness. Whether you're making a homemade cake for a holiday party or this is your first time baking anything with pumpkin, this one earns a permanent spot in your recipe box.
My Inspiration
Every year around fall, I get flooded with messages asking for the best pumpkin cake, pumpkin sheet cake, pumpkin bundt cake, and pumpkin cheesecake bars. But the only thing I ever crave is a really good pumpkin spice cake recipe that tastes like it came straight from a bakery.
I developed this one back when Avalon was tiny and obsessed with fresh pumpkin everything. It was the first time I realized you could get amazing results from pure pumpkin puree without needing tons of oil or sweetness to cover it up. And since then, this has become the base for all of my favorite pumpkin recipes.
Ingredient Breakdown
This pumpkin spice cake uses common baking ingredients you probably already have around your house.
All-purpose flour is the structure of the cake. We weigh it so the cake batter stays balanced and you don’t accidentally dry it out. You can use a gluten-free blend but expect a softer, more tender crumb.
Baking soda and baking powder give the cake layers lift. Because pumpkin puree is heavy and full of moisture, you really need both.
Ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and a little salt bring the whole pumpkin spice vibe to life. You can also replace the individual spices with pumpkin pie spice if that’s what you have. Just don’t use pumpkin pie filling by mistake—it already has spices and sugar in it.
Granulated sugar and brown sugar work together to keep the cake soft and add deeper caramel notes.
Eggs at room temperature whip up nicely and help emulsify the batter.
Pure pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin works perfectly) gives the cake its signature pumpkin flavor. You can even make your own homemade pumpkin puree. The flavor is SO good!
Vegetable oil keeps the crumb tender, even after the cake cools. You can swap it for melted coconut oil or any neutral oil.
Melted butter adds richness and flavor. I like using both butter and oil together so the cake stays moist without being greasy.
Buttermilk at room temperature is the secret to getting that beautifully soft, fluffy texture. You can make your own by combining milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar and letting it rest for five minutes.
Vanilla extract ties the spices together so the pumpkin doesn’t overpower everything.
For the cream cheese frosting, you only need cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. The combination creates that perfect tangy cream cheese frosting that pairs so well with pumpkin. If you want a whiter frosting, add a drop of white food coloring. If you want a maple frosting twist, replace part of the vanilla with a tablespoon of maple syrup. Replacing some of the butter with browned butter can really elevate this recipe as well.
Tips & Tricks
- Use room temperature ingredients so the batter emulsifies properly.
- Line the bottom of your baking pan with parchment paper to help the cake release cleanly.
- If you want extra sturdy cake layers for carving or stacking, chill them on a wire rack or cooling rack before trimming.
- If your pumpkin puree is watery, strain it or use canned pumpkin for consistency.
- Don’t over-mix once you add the flour mixture. Pumpkin cakes can get dense fast.
- Freeze your cake layers before stacking for the cleanest cuts, especially on the top of the cake.
- Leftover pumpkin puree freezes beautifully—store it in an airtight container so you can use it later.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF and prepare three 8x2 cake pans with cake goop. You can also use two 9-inch pans if that’s what you have. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix your room temperature eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract on medium to medium-high speed for about a minute.
- Add the pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, melted butter, and buttermilk. Mix just until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture slowly, mixing on low speed so you don’t overwork the cake batter.
- Stop as soon as everything looks fully incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly between your pans and smooth the tops.
- Bake for 30–35 minutes or until the center bounces back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Trim the domes with a serrated knife once the cake layers are fully cool.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, cream the room temperature cream cheese with the paddle attachment until smooth.
- Add the butter and mix again until smooth.
- Then slowly add the icing sugar one cup at a time.
- Finish with vanilla and salt and mix on low for 5–6 minutes until silky.
To decorate, crumb coat your chilled cake layers and refrigerate for about 20 minutes. Add your final layer of frosting, smooth the sides, and clean the top of the cake so it looks sharp. Pipe dollops around the top if you want extra texture or height.
Store the finished cake in the fridge. For the best texture, let it sit at room temperature for about two hours before serving.
Final Thoughts
This really is the best pumpkin cake if you love big fall flavor without a dense, heavy crumb. It’s easy enough for beginners but produces a bakery-quality result every single time. You can turn it into a pumpkin sheet cake, a pumpkin bundt cake, cupcakes, or even the base for pumpkin cheesecake bars. The formula is just that dependable.
FAQ
Pumpkin pie filling is sweetened and spiced. Pure pumpkin puree is just pumpkin.
You can, but the bake time will be much longer and the center may dry out.
Yes. Freeze the cake layers wrapped tightly, and freeze leftover frosting for up to six months.
Cold ingredients don’t emulsify properly and can make the cake dense.
Yes—bake at 350ºF for 18–20 minutes.
RELATED RECIPES
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
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Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with paddle attachment, hand mixer or whisk
- three, 8"x2" cake pans (or two pans)
- Piping Bag
- Modeling tools
- #3 Round Piping Tip
- Medium leaf pipnig tip
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Cake Ingredients
- 18 ounces All Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons Cloves
- 2 teaspoons Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons Salt
- 8 large Eggs room temperature
- 14 ounces Granulated Sugar
- 3 ounces Light Brown Sugar
- 15 ounces Pumpkin Puree
- 4 ounces Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 5 ounces Buttermilk room temperature, or combine milk with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and rest for 5 minutes.
- 6 ounces Melted Butter
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 8 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 32 ounces powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and prepare three, 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or another preferred pan release. You can also use two 9" pans, just bake for longer. Measure out your ingredients with a scale and bring eggs and buttermilk to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and salt and whisk together to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add your room temperature eggs, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix on medium/medium-high with the paddle attachment for 1 minute. You can also do this with a hand mixer, just mix for longer and go by look instead of time. It should look aerated and bubbly.
- Add in your pumpkin puree, oil, melted butter and room temperature buttermilk and mix until combined.Make sure you're using pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which has added spices and flavors.
- Slowly add in your flour mixture and mix on low until all your dry ingredients are just incorporated and your batter is smooth. Do not over-mix.
- Pour batter into three, 8"x2" prepared cake pans and smooth out. Bake the cakes for 30-35 minutes or until the center of the cake bounces back when you touch it and a toothpick comes out clean.Cool the cakes for ten minutes in the pan and turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully before frosting. I like to trim off the domes of my cake to make it easier to stack. You can wrap the cakes in plastic wrap and freeze to chill them faster.
Frosting Instructions
- Cream the softened cream cheese with the paddle attachment until smooth. Add in your softened butter and continue creaming on low until fully incorporated and smooth.
- Slowly add in powdered sugar one cup at a time, letting fully incorporate before adding the next cup. Add in vanilla and salt. Mix at low for 5-6 minutes until smooth.
- For a whiter frosting, add white food coloring. Store leftover frosting in the fridge for up to a week or freeze up to 6 months.
Marzipan Pumpkins
- Divide your marzipan into 5-7 sections and color them with food coloring. I used egg yellow, orange, red, green, white, and brown for the pumpkin stems.
- Roll a piece of marzipan into a ball and use a modeling tool to add lines to the side.
- Form a small stem for the top of the pumpkin
- Dust the lines with some edible food coloring dust to add shading. I used a dark reddish orange for the orange pumpkins and dark green for the green pumpkins and the white pumpkins.
Decorating Your Cake
- Trim the domes off your cooled pumpkin layers
- Fit a piping bag with a coupler so that you can easily switch between a round piping tip and a leaf piping tip.
- Add a layer of cream cheese frosting with your offset spatula. Try to keep the layer nice and even, I shoot for about ¼" thick frosting.
- Add your second layer of cake. Add more frosting and finish with the last layer of cake on top.
- Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of your cream cheese frosting. This is called the crumb coat and seals in the loose crumbs. Place into the fridge or freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up the frosting.
- Add your final layer of buttercream with your offset spatula. Smooth the sides with a bench scraper to make the sides smooth and then smooth the top with your offset spatula. (see the video in the recipe card for more visual instructions)
- Use your piping bag to add some wood grain to the sides of the cake and pipe a border around the top of the cake of some dollops of frosting.
- Add your marzipan pumpkins on top of the frosting dollops
- Fill in the spaces with piped leaves using a leaf piping tip.
- Store your finished cake in the fridge until it's ready to be served but the cake will taste the best if you take it out of the fridge two hours before serving to allow it time to warm up.
Bianca says
Just tried this recipe for the first time yesterday and OMG its the bomb! It's moist and there's such a nice mix between the pumpkin and spices. I was able to handle it well without it falling apart. My kids (and husband) gobbled it up. Seriously, so good!
Tiffany Brown says
Can I use the cream cheese frosting as the crumb coat under fondant? I know many cream cheese recipes won’t work with fondant?
Sugar Geek Show says
Hi, cream cheese frosting causes fondant to melt. You can use it as a filling and then use easy buttercream or another buttercream on the outside for the crumb coat. https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/easy-buttercream-frosting/
Jeanne says
I made the cake last year for Thanksgiving, and it was such a big hit, that it already has been requested for this Thanksgiving. I outlined the out rim of the bottom layer with the cream cheese frosting and filled it with a cranberry jam, frosted it with a thin layer and then covered the sides with finely chopped pecans, and then decorated the top.
Nicole Patrick says
Wanted to try this with sweet potato purée instead of pumpkin. Have you ever tried that? Are there any changes to this recipe you can think of that need to be made?
Elizabeth Marek says
I haven't tried that but I think it would work great!
Sharon B says
I’ve made this recipe a lot this fall!! So good.
Sara says
Hello Liz
I am getting ready to do this right now. I can’t wait. I have a question. I want to double check about The baking powder and baking soda. Is it 1 or 2 teaspoons on each? Thank you
Sara
Elizabeth Marek says
2 teaspoons each
Kmartinatl says
My house smells amazing! The recipe amounts for cinnamon and baking powder are inconsistent. Wasn’t sure whether to use 1 or 2 tsp of baking powder and 1 tbsp or 2 tsp of cinnamon. I went with the first number even though I weigh my ingredients, and that seemed to work. (Although, I did have some small holes in the cake, which Is more likely from over mixing.) I found the baking time to be too long for three 8” cakes, but this recipe is very forgiving. The cake baked at 35 minutes was not to far off from the one perfectly done at 30 minutes. Your baking times are normally right on the money with my oven. And I have to bake one cake at a time, as I only have one 8” pan. Fingers crossed I got in right because this seems to be a great recipe! Thanks!
Elizabeth Marek says
Thank you for letting me know, I have updated it to make the metric area consistent
Abby says
This was amazing!!!!!! I have made several other recipes of yours and they are all good, but any idea why this one baked sooooo much higher (good thing) then all your other 8 cup batter recipes? I would love all the cakes I make from your recipes to be this high. It had double the height opposed to your red velvet, white velvet, and vanilla cakes.
Elizabeth Marek says
Hey there! Sorry, I think the cups where off, it's more like 10 cups 😀
tre says
i love this recipe, it’s so useful