I just couldn’t resist giving you one last pumpkin treat! Baking is a huge hit in my house every single time. Any time I suggest to my kids that we make muffins, cookies, or bread together, their faces light up. This is especially true if it is for a special occasion. Baking to celebrate is like a magic wand spreading happiness. That is, perhaps, one of the magical qualities of this great Pumpkin Pie Cake. It is an fast to make cake that tastes just like your favorite Thanksgiving pie. This is a perfect recipe to make with the kids, especially given how easily it comes together. This is the perfect cake to make for holidays, but will bring smiles to any fall weekend baking.
How to Make Pumpkin Cake
This cake comes together in about 20 minutes. Here is a brief overview so you can see what a no fuss recipe it is. Make sure to grab the full instructions and measurements in the recipe card below.
Trouble Shooting this Pumpkin Spice Cake
Measuring Flour
When you measure the flour for this cake recipe, make sure to scoop the flour from the bag into a dry measuring cup and then level it off with the flat edge of a spatula. Scooping directly from the bag will result in the flour packing. This can lead to up to 25% more flour in your recipe and a dry cake that no one likes.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder
Baking Soda and Baking Powder that are still reactive are key to a making a baking recipe work. They should be replaced in your cabinet every six months. If you are like me, you definitely don’t do that. They are easy to test to make sure that they still work for your recipes though.
Baking Soda: To test the reactivity of your baking soda, drop a little in some vinegar. It should bubble immediately.Baking Powder: To test the reactivity of your baking powder, drop a little in some water. It should bubble immediately.
Sifting Dry Ingredients
I recommend sifting the dry ingredients in this recipe. It will add about 2 minutes to your cake making time, and it means that no one will get an entire bite full of cloves. Because of the number of spices in this recipe, I think sifting is a really great safeguard to make sure everything gets distributed evenly.
Pumpkin Puree vs. Pumpkin Pie Filling
Pumpkin Puree and Pumpkin Pie Filling both come in cans and are found in the baking aisle of grocery stores in the United States. They are not the same thing though. Pumpkin puree is what we are using in this recipe. Made from baking pumpkins and containing 100% pumpkin, that is what you will want to use when making this pumpkin cake. Double check which can you pick up for ultimate success with this recipe.
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
I really believe that it is the cream cheese frosting that pulls this recipe together. I’m a frosting girl through and through, and the cream cheese frosting on top of this case is one of my favorites.
Recommended Tools
Here are some of my favorite baking tools. They come in handy in this recipe.
Pyrex Mixing Bowls: In reality, I should have two sets of these (especially the biggest one) because they are used multiple times a day in my house.Measuring Spoons: Perfect for a recipe that calls for lots of teaspoons and tablespoons, I love these because they are double sided.Strainer: This is perfect for quickly sifting your dry ingredients.Hand Mixer: For quick cakes like this one, I don’t like to break out my big stand mixer. This little hand mixer does the trick perfectly.
