This super soft and moist pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting is the perfect fall cake! The pumpkin cake layers are made with neutral oil, keeping the cake super soft with a tender crumb. It's frosted with my all-time favorite whipped cream cream cheese frosting, which uses a whipped cream base instead of butter. The whipped cream means the cream cheese frosting stays stable and doesn't get runny. I've topped the cake with the cutest mini pumpkins made out of edible sugar cookie dough!
I've got a lot of fall recipes, but anything pumpkin is my go-to! This spiced pumpkin cake uses my pumpkin chocolate chip snack cake, but I scaled it up so it uses a whole can of pumpkin puree. I know how annoying it can be to have that extra pumpkin lying around in the fridge!
The cake is covered in a super creamy whipped cream cheese frosting. I love cream cheese frosting, but I don't love when your cake layer is basically sliding off because of it! Using whipped cream as a base solves that issue.
All the Fall Flavors!
- Make sure you're using 100% canned pumpkin puree, and not pumpking pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has sugar and spices already added to it!
- Use a neutral oil like vegetable oil, sunflower oil, or canola oil. You want something with no taste or smell! It will make your cake super soft and moist.
- Pumpkin pie spice is a must here, but I add more ground cinnamon for even more pumpkin spice flavor!
The Perfect Fall Cake
How to Make Edible Mini Pumpkins 🎃
When testing this cake recipe, I knew I wanted some extra cute fall decorations! I used my sprinkle sugar cookie dough and added 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and decreased the milk to half a tablespoon.
I rolled the cookie dough into 1 tablespoon-sized balls. I then used the side of a toothpick to create the pumpkin ridges, and finished with a mini chocolate chip on top! You could also break off a piece of a pretzel as the stem, but I found the mini chocolate chip looked better.
Finally, I rolled the pumpkins in granulated sugar with pumpkin pie spice to get that sparkly look. Let the mini pumpkins chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and you are good to go!
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Ella
Recipe
Moist Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (no butter)
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
- 1 15-oz can (425 grams) pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup + 2 teaspoons (130 ml) neutral oil
- 1 ¾ cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 ¾ cups (340 grams) all-purpose flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ⅔ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (200 ml) heavy cream cold
- 1 ½ cups (340 grams) cream cheese cold
Mini Pumpkins:
- ¼ cup (56 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (60 grams) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon milk
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Pumpkin Cake
- Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.1 15-oz can (425 grams) pumpkin puree, 4 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, ½ cup + 2 teaspoons (130 ml) neutral oil , 1 ¾ cups (350 grams) granulated sugar
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, and gently mix just until no dry streaks remain. Don't overmix!¾ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 2 ¾ cups (340 grams) all-purpose flour
- Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.
- Bake for 25-32 minutes, beginning to check around 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs!
- Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack and cool completely. Make sure the cakes are completely cool before you start assembling the cakes.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, whisk the heavy cream, salt, sugar and vanilla on medium-low for 2 minutes. The sugar needs to have completely dissolved.⅔ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 cup (200 ml) heavy cream, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Increase the speed to high and whisk for 2 minutes, until it looks very thick like Greek yogurt.
- While the mixer is running on a low speed, add the cream cheese a tablespoon at a time. Turn off the mixer, and scrape the entire bowl to make sure no cream cheese is left on the side. Turn the speed to high, and whip for 3 minutes until smooth.1 ½ cups (340 grams) cream cheese
Mini Pumpkins
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Pour your flour into a baking sheet or tray and bake for 5 minutes. The flour needs to reach 74°Celsius/165°Fahrenheit for the flour to be safe to eat. Let the flour cool completely.½ cup (60 grams) all purpose flour
- Pour the flour into a bowl and add the salt and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk and set aside.¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a hand mixer, whip up the butter, sugar and confectioners' sugar for 2-3 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Add your milk and vanilla and mix again.¼ cup (56 grams) unsalted butter, ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, ½ tablespoon milk
- Pour in your flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to fold everything together.
- Roll dough into 1 tablespoon-sized balls (I like to use a small cookie scoop for this!) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a toothpick or the edge of a knife to create the ridges for the pumpkin. If you want, you can roll in pumpkin spice sugar! To do that, whisk ¼ cup of granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.mini chocolate chips
- Insert a mini chocolate chip or a broken piece of pretzel on top as the pumpkin stem.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes.
Assemble
- Place one cake layer down on your cake plate. Spread some of the cream cheese frosting on top. Place the second cake layer on top. Frost the sides and top of the cake.
- I like to decorate the top of the cake with mini pumpkins along the edge, and also pipe some frosting swirls using the remaining frosting!
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