Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

A slice of frosted pumpkin cake on a plate with the remaining cake on a stand in the background.

This pumpkin cake, at the side of its unbelievable maple cream cheese frosting, is a recipe I evolved a very long time in the past for a piece of writing I wrote for the Los Angeles Occasions about Thanksgiving. I used to be killing two birds with one stone (forgive the vacation pun) by means of making my editor in addition to The One satisfied. (The One loves the rest pumpkin. This cake has in fact beat out his former favourite autumn dessert, pumpkin pie.)

Since then, this recipe has transform a kind of baked-around-the-Web cakes, like my final chocolate chip cookies. I’ve noticed my cake become some actually artful loaves, mini-Bundt truffles, and, my favourite, cupcakes. It sort of feels to take neatly to any shape you’ll suppose to make it in.

What You’ll Wish to Make This

Ingredients for pumpkin cake with maple cream cheese frosting--flour, sugars, maple syrup, spices, butter, cream cheese, eggs, buttermilk, and pumpkin.

Cake flour–The low gluten content material of cake flour is helping to offer this cake a gentle, ethereal texture.
Eggs–Use room-temperature eggs for best possible effects. They’re extra simply integrated into the batter than chilly eggs and can permit for a greater upward push within the cake.
Pumpkin puree–Use canned pumpkin puree (no longer pumpkin pie filling) for this cake. I don’t counsel the use of home made pumpkin puree because it has a tendency to be extra watery than canned.
Cream cheese–Use full-fat cream cheese for best possible effects.

Tips on how to Make This Recipe

Two cake pans being prepared with parchment liners and a person whisking a bowl of dry ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment rounds, then butter and flour the parchment.
Whisk the dry cake elements in combination in a bowl.

Brown sugar, butter, and spices in a mixing bowl, and the finished beaten butter and sugar mixture.

Mix the butter and sugars within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Beat on medium velocity till fluffy.

Egg being added to a bowl of pumpkin cake batter and an image of whipped batter.

Upload the eggs one after the other, beating between each and every addition.
Scrape down the perimeters and beat till easy.

Dry ingredients and then milk being added to cake batter in a stand mixer.

Upload 1/3 of the flour aggregate to the bowl, and beat till integrated.
Pour in part of the buttermilk, and beat till easy. Exchange including the remainder flour and buttermilk to the bowl.

Pumpkin puree added to a bowl of cake batter, and the batter divided between two cake pans.

Stir within the pumpkin till easy.
Divide the batter between the 2 ready cake pans. Bake till a tester comes out blank.

Ingredients for maple cream cheese frosting in the bowl of a stand mixer and the finished beaten frosting.

To make the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Beat till easy and fluffy.
Bring together the layer cake by means of hanging one layer on a plate or cake stand and frosting the highest of it. Upload the second one layer, then frost the highest and facets with the remainder frosting.

Pumpkin Cake FAQs

My frosting is simply too cushy. How can I repair it?

Other people rave about this maple-cream cheese frosting. Rightly so. However it may possibly have a tendency to be slightly at the cushy aspect—as in, in all probability somewhat too cushy if the cake wishes to sit down out for a couple of hours in a heat kitchen. (And by means of “a heat kitchen,” we imply a kitchen wherein the Thanksgiving turkey is roasting and all 4 burners are blasting come Thanksgiving morning.)

1. You’ll be able to company it up within the refrigerator earlier than frosting the cake.

2. Plopping an additional stick of butter additionally works. The result’s a sturdier frosting, and not using a sacrifice in taste, that’s in a position to resist sitting out for a number of hours in any local weather.

4. If you’ll get your arms at the darker, extra powerful maple syrup previously referred to as Grade B and just lately redesignated as “Grade A Darkish Colour, Powerful Style,” the frosting magically holds up like a champ and calls for no further butter.

4. You’ll be able to additionally combine slightly of the frosting with a tablespoon of cornstarch and beat it into the remainder of the frosting.

Can I make this cake gluten-free?

Sure. Our readers have had luck swapping in a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix for the flour. This works best possible when measured by means of weight.

Can I freeze pumpkin cake and cream cheese frosting?

The unfrosted pumpkin cake and the maple cream cheese frosting can also be frozen one by one for as much as 3 months. Totally cool the cake layers on a rack, then tightly wrap each and every in plastic earlier than freezing. Freeze the frosting in an hermetic container. Thaw at room temperature earlier than assembling the cake.

Useful Pointers

It’s a very powerful to make use of room-temperature elements to your frosting to verify a easy texture, in a different way, the frosting can also be lumpy.
If the frosting turns out cushy after you’ve completed spreading it at the cake, pop the cake into the refrigerator for half-hour to let the frosting company up.
Retailer the cake, coated, at room temperature for as much as 3 days.

A slice of pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting cut from a whole cake on a cake stand.

Extra Surprising Cake Recipes

A white plate with a slice of blueberry-lemon layer cake — Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake

A slice of 2 layer white chocolate whisper cake with pistachio frosting and filling, on a white plate beside a cake stand containing the rest of the cake. — Blueberry Lemon Layer Cake

Write a Overview

If you’re making this recipe, or any dish on LC, believe leaving a evaluate, a celebrity ranking, and your best possible photograph within the feedback under. I really like listening to from you.–David

This cake is astounding! So scrumptious! I made it for my husband’s birthday 18 months in the past, and I’m nonetheless getting requests from other people to make it for them, too.
Catherine

For the maple cream–cheese frosting

Cook dinner ModeSave you your display screen from going darkish

Make the pumpkin cake

Crank the warmth to 350° (175°C) and place a rack in the course of the oven.
Butter two 8-by-2-inch cake pans and line them with parchment circles lower to suit the pans. Butter the parchment and coat the pan with flour, tapping out any extra. (You’ll be able to as a substitute spritz the pans with cooking spray for baking, if that is more straightforward for you than buttering and flouring.)
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper in a bowl till neatly mixed. Take a whiff. Heaven.
Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a big bowl the use of a just right out of date hand mixer on medium velocity, beat the butter, darkish brown sugar, and granulated sugar till fluffy, about 5 mins.
Plop the eggs, 1 at a time, into the bowl, beating and scraping down the perimeters of the bowl after each and every addition. Exchange including the flour and buttermilk combos to the bowl, beginning and finishing with the flour.
Scrape within the pumpkin and beat simply till the pumpkin is integrated and the cake batter is easy.
Spoon the batter into the ready cake pans, dividing it flippantly. Give each and every stuffed pan a just right smack flat in opposition to the counter to unlock any air bubbles.
Bake the truffles till a toothpick inserted within the middle comes out blank, 30 to 35 mins. Let the truffles cool within the pans on a twine rack for 10 mins. In moderation end up the truffles from the pans onto the rack, peel off the parchment paper, flip them proper aspect up, and allow them to cool totally.

Make the maple-cream cheese frosting

Within the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl the use of a just right out of date hand mixer on medium velocity, beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and maple syrup till fluffy.
To gather the cake, position a cake layer on a plate or cake stand and generously frost the highest of it. Position the opposite cake on most sensible and frost the perimeters and most sensible, swirling the frosting like the professional that you’re.
☞ TESTER TIP: If the frosting turns out a slightly at the cushy aspect, slip the cake within the refrigerator for a minimum of half-hour till the frosting is about or, should you realize it earlier than you frost the cake, see our word above the recipe.

Use room-temperature elements–It’s a very powerful to make use of room-temperature elements to your frosting to verify a easy texture, in a different way, the frosting can also be lumpy.
Garage–Retailer the cake, coated, at room temperature for as much as 3 days.
Freezing–The cake and frosting can also be frozen one by one for as much as 3 months. Wrap the cooled cake layers in plastic earlier than freezing and stash the frosting in an hermetic container. Thaw at room temperature earlier than assembling.

Serving: 1 sliceEnergy: 833 kcalCarbohydrates: 102 gProtein: 10 gFats: 45 gSaturated Fats: 26 gMonounsaturated Fats: 11 gTrans Fats: 1 gLdl cholesterol: 171 mgSodium: 513 mgFiber: 2 gSugar: 74 g

Diet knowledge is routinely calculated, so must simplest be used as an approximation.

This recipe was once initially printed on November 16, 2003.