Pumpkin Spice Cake

This is the best pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting recipe and adorable marzipan candy pumpkins. It's so incredibly moist and versatile!

I've used it to make pumpkin cream cheese bread, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, and even baked donuts. You can use canned pumpkin or make your own homemade pumpkin puree. I love making this pumpkin spice bread ahead of time and having a slice for breakfast with my coffee on chilly mornings.  

PUMPKIN CAKE INGREDIENTS

 

Make sure that you're using plain pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix which has added sweeteners and spices. If you can't find any at the store, you can pick up a sugar pumpkin and make your own homemade pumpkin puree. 

If you don't have all the spices listed, pick up a bottle of pumpkin spice, it's basically the same thing. Use two Tablespoons pumpkin spice instead of the spices listed in the recipe.

If you don't have buttermilk you can make your own buttermilk substitute or use regular milk. 

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1 – 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 8" pans, just bake for longer. Measure out your ingredients with a scale and bring eggs and buttermilk to room temperature. 

Step 2 – In a large bowl, add your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and whisk together to combine. Set aside. 

Step 3 – 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. 

Pro-Tip - I'm using my Bosch Universal Plus mixer for this recipe, check out my review for comparisons, pros and cons, and more information.

Step 4 – Add in your pumpkin puree, oil, melted butter, and room temperature buttermilk and mix until combined.

Step 5 – 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. 

Step 6 – Pour batter into three, 8"x 2" prepared cake pans and smooth out. Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes (40-50 minutes if you're using two pans) until the center of the cake is set 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.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1 – 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. You can use a stand mixer or hand mixer.

Step 2 – Slowly add in powdered sugar one cup at a time, letting fully incorporate before adding the next cup. Add in vanilla and salt. Mix on low for 5-6 minutes until smooth.

Step 3 – 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. 

HOW TO MAKE MARZIPAN CANDY PUMPKINS

Step 1 - Combine your almond flour, powdered sugar corn syrup (or honey) and flavoring the in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment until smooth. 

Step 2 - Wrap your marzipan in plastic wrap and let it rest for 60 minutes before you use it. This is a great thing to make ahead of time. 

Step 3 - Divide your marzipan into 5-7 sections. I colored mine with egg yellow, orange, red, white, dark green, light green and a small amount of brown for the stems.

Step 4 - Shape your pumpkins using your modeling tools. I used the ball tool to add an indent on the top, then my modeling tool to make some lines going down the sides. 

Step 5 - Add a stem and dust the lines with some edible food coloring dust. I used dark reddish-orange and green for mine. 

HOW TO DECORATE A CAKE

Check out my 'how to make your first cake' blog post to learn how to properly trim, fill, stack, crumb coat, frost, and decorate a cake. I decorated this cake using my offset spatula, bench scraper, a turntable, an 8" cake board, and adorable little marzipan pumpkins. 

I also used a #10 round wilton piping tip and leaf tip to make this cool, modern tree texture on the outside of the cake. Check out my video below to see how I did it! 

Step 1 - Trim your cake layers so they don't have a dome. Fill your layers with about ¼" of cream cheese frosting using an offset spatula.

Step 2 - Apply a thin layer of cream cheese frosting to the whole cake to seal in the crumbs (crumbcoat) and put your cake into the fridge or freezer for 20 minutes to firm up the frosting. 

Step 3 - Apply the final layer of buttercream with your offset spatula. Smooth the top with the offset spatula and the sides with a bench scraper. 

Step 4 - Using the round piping tip, pipe your wood grain pattern around the sides. See the video below for a visual.

Step 5 - Use your piping bag with the round piping tip to add some dollops of frosting to the top of the cake in a ring.

Step 6 - Add your pumpkins to the frosting. 

Step 7 - Fill in the blank spaces with your leaf tip.

I love how festive this cake looks! Wouldn't it be the perfect centerpiece for the Holidays?

PUMPKIN SPICE CUPCAKES

This recipe works really well for cupcakes too. I added some mini chocolate chips because why not 😀 Fill your liners up ¾ of the way full. Bake the cupcakes at 400ºF for about 20 minutes or until the center is set. Let cool and frost with your cream cheese frosting.

RELATED RECIPES

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Applesauce Spice Cake

Pumpkin Puree

German Chocolate Cake

Marzipan Candy Pumpkins

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