Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This beautifully soft and moist cake tastes like fall with every bite! This easy-to make-recipe combines a tender, flavorful pumpkin spice cake topped with a silky cream cheese frosting for a perfect fall dessert.

Though this recipe calls for a 9x13-inch baking dish or two 9-inch round cake pans, I used a pumpkin shaped cake pan and added food coloring to my frosting to create a cake that not only tastes like pumpkin, but also looks like one.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 cup granulated sugar
⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 (15 oz) can 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
¾ tsp salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
⅛ tsp salt
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Directions

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish or two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the sugars, eggs, oil, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix on medium speed until well blended and smooth, about 3 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s).
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the center springs back when gently pressed with your finger and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake(s) from the oven and allow to cool in the pan(s) for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cake(s) from the pan(s) and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and salt, and mix well. Gradually add the sugar and beat on low until smooth and creamy. (The amount of confectioners' sugar will depend on your desired level of sweetness.) Pipe or spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake and decorate as desired.