Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Joanne Rappos
desserts
Soft, spiced pumpkin sheet cake with rich cinnamon cream cheese frosting
sheet cake recipes
pumpkin, sheet cakes, cream cheese
pumpkin, sheet cakes, cream cheese
This Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting is a fluffy pumpkin cake for a crowd. It’s definitely the season to make pumpkin sheet cake full of fall flavours especially one that is a simple one bowl and whisk kind of recipe. It’s so soft and fluffy and not overwhelmingly spiced. The delicious blanket of icing on top creates just the right ratio of cake to frosting.
This simple and straightforward pumpkin cake recipe is for those of us who want pure pumpkin and spice flavors with nothing else in the way. The cake is certainly wonderful on its own, but you’ll love the smooth and tangy cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top! Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a quick and easy dessert for a crowd! Moist fluffy soft homemade pumpkin cake, made in no time. Skip the Pumpkin Pie (or make both) and make this delicious, easy cake recipe made with pumpkin puree and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting - you won’t regret it.
Why You Will Love This Pumpkin Sheet cake
- Flavor: This cake is filled with fall pumpkin flavor from the warm pumpkin spices to the entire can of pure pumpkin puree. The tangy cinnamon cream cheese frosting is literally “the icing on the top”
- Texture: This cake is deliciously fluffy and moist crumb - that combined with the creamy cream cheese frosting is totally dreamy - no wonder this cake is often called Pumpkin Dream Cake
- Ease: This is a single layer cake, making it a single pan cake too so its easy to prepare and also easy to transport if you are taking this cake to a dinner party. The cake itself only requires a bowl whisk and spatula - another reason this cake is so easy to make.
Pumpkin Sheet Cake Recipe Ingredients:
- Flour, Baking Powder & Baking Soda: all purpose flour or a good quality GF all purpose flour is what I use in this recipe. Baking powder and soda are both added to this cake for leavening
- Pumpkin: Use an entire standard 15 ounce can of pure pumpkin puree. I know you guys appreciate that - although I find it super easy to freeze leftover pumpkin puree if you only have one of those large cans of pumpkin puree ( a standard 15 ounce/398 ml can is approx 1½ cups of pumpkin puree). Using homemade pure pumpkin puree is fine but canned is really preferred because the moisture in the canned stuff is consistent - not always the case in homemade
- Cinnamon + Pumpkin Pie Spice: These spices are essential for most pumpkin desserts. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can use a blend of ½ teaspoon each: ground Ginger, Cloves, Allspice & Nutmeg
- Oil, Eggs & Yoghurt: Oil, yoghurt and eggs give this cake its moist texture and add structure to the cake. I use canola or coconut oil, large eggs at room temperature and greek yoghurt or regular yoghurt is fine and can even be substituted with sour cream as well for a little more tanginess.
- Sugar: This pumpkin cake is sweetened with both brown sugar and granulated sugar
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract is what I recommend and yes I know this is a pumpkin cake but vanilla always adds a warm flavor that works with just about every sweet baked goods
- Optional add ins: Some like to add toasted chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts either the cake or sprinkled over the frosting before serving. Feel free to add up to ½ chopped nuts to batter if desired
- For The Frosting you will need: Butter, Powdered Sugar, Cream Cheese, Cinnamon and Pure Vanilla Extract
How to Store This Pumpkin Sheet Cake:
- Serve: Unfrosted Pumpkin Cake can be left at room temperature for up to 3 days but with cream cheese frosting, you want to refrigerate it after 2 hours.
- Store: Cover cake pan with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week. Bring cake to room temperature before serving or enjoy it straight out the fridge
- Freeze: Cool cake completely and cover Pumpkin Cake with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, or transfer cake to sealed container. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw in the refrigerator before serving. Thaw in the fridge overnight or on the counter. Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature or serve cold.
More Pumpkin Desserts and Cakes You Will Love:
Recipe
Yields: One 9x13 cake
Servings: 8-12
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 30-40 mins
Ingredients
For the cake
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup greek yoghurt (or plain yoghurt), room temperature
- One 15 oz can pumpkin puree (approx 1 ½ cups)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon pumpkin spice (pumpkin pie spice)
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 stick)
- 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
For The Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease or spray a 9x13 inch baking dish or sheet pan with nonstick baking spray or cooking spray. (Feel free to line with parchment paper overhanging if you want to lift it out of the pan after)
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and pumpkin pie spice to blend. (Note: If you LOVE spice, feel free to add some extra spice in here (you can reduce amounts by ½ to 1 teaspoon if you’d like it less spiced as this is well spiced)
- In a large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients: the pumpkin puree, sugar, vanilla, yogurt and oil. Once smooth and combined, whisk in each eggs one at a time into the pumpkin mixture.
- Fold in the dry ingredients to the wet with a spatula, stir until combined and no large lumps remain.
- Pour batter into the greased baking dish. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely. Once the cake has cooled, frost with the cream cheese frosting. Slice and serve!
For The Frosting
- While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Begin adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the cinnamon and vanilla then mix well. Frosting should be thick.
- Once cake is completely cool, frost cake with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Cover and keep leftovers in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
- To make a 2 Layer Cake: Pour batter evenly into two 9-inch round cake pans. Same oven temperature, bake for 25 minutes or until baked through. This frosting is enough for a 2 layer cake
- Make sure to carefully measure all your ingredients before baking the cake. Oven temperatures vary so make sure to start checking the cake for doneness at the 30 minute mark. Always use a tester to test doneness and if the cake is browning too quickly tent with foil. Make sure your eggs are room temperature along with the yoghurt so that they blend better into the batter.
