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Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Pumpkin Sheet Cake: easy to make, fluffy, moist; topped with delicious sweet cream cheese frosting. This is the BEST pumpkin dessert you will ever make. It’s the perfect fall treat!

Pumpkin Sheet Cake: simple, fluffy, moist and topped with sweet cream cheese frosting. | olgainthekitchen.com

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Pumpkin Sheet Cake Recipe:

This cake is so easy to make and it’s probably the best pumpkin cake I’ve ever had. Once you start at one piece, you won’t be able to stop. The pumpkin flavor combined with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger makes this cake sound so cozy and great fall treat to go with that cup of coffee or tea.

This month is all about pumpkin and as it’s ending, you might think we’ll be saying goodbye to pumpkin, but not in my world. I can eat pumpkin anytime of the year; there is no law that it can be eaten only in October 🙂 Any rainy or cold day – whether it’s spring or summer, it reminds me of autumn and pumpkins. First thing I do? I reach for the canned pumpkin in my pantry.

The Best Pumpkin Cake Recipe

With so many pumpkin recipes floating around the web, it’s hard to choose which one might be the best. I tell you, THIS is the best! If you want to truly experience fall, forget about other cakes and make this one.

This Pumpkin Cake reminds me a lot of the Babka recipe on my blog in terms of preparation, taste, texture and ease. Babka recipe had been one of the favorites by my viewers since day one it got posted and I have a feeling this cake will also become a favorite. Just like Babka, you’ll cut it into squares, top with hazelnuts for extra beauty and you’ll end up with a delicious treat that can be served as hand food as well.

The oil and pumpkin make the cake so moist and beautiful in color. You’ll use an entire standard 15 oz can of pumpkin. That’s another fact I love about this recipe because you won’t have remaining pumpkin sitting in the fridge, waiting to be used. Making this cake so many times, I realized that whisking the ingredients by hand make the cake fluffier compared to as you would beat with mixer; this cake does not like over-mixing!

How to Freeze Pumpkin Cake

This cake is also freezer-friendly. Bake the cake, cool, wrap in plastic food wrap and freeze up to 2 months. When the time comes, thaw the cake in the fridge, make the frosting, spread the frosting onto cake, decorate and enjoy. I’ve been experimenting a lot with freezing desserts lately. There is nothing better than having some extra deliciousness in your freezer. I take out a treat from the freezer and place it in the fridge to thaw overnight, and some of them I like to warm up in the microware for few minutes and enjoy with my coffee in the morning. We all have days that we want to relax, eat delicious and not be in the kitchen! 🙂

Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:

  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder and baking soda
  • Fine salt
  • Fall spices: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves and ground ginger
  • Vegetable oil
  • Large eggs
  • Brown sugar and granulated sugar
  • Canned pumpkin puree
  • Vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter – softened
  • 4 oz cream cheese – room temp
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
  • hazelnuts or pecans – optional

Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Grease and line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

How to Make Pumpkin Sheet Cake:

1. In a medium bowl, combine and whisk: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp fine salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves and 1/4 tsp ginger. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine 4 eggs and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Whisk for 30 seconds. Then add: 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup oil, 1 can pumpkin puree and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Give it a good whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and whisk until fully combined. Batter will be thick.

3. Pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 27-30 mins until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I did 28 mins. Baking times may vary. If you find the top or edges of the cake is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover with aluminum foil). Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 mins, then by grabbing the parchment paper on both sides, slowly transfer the cake to a cooling rack to completely cool. (Gently go over the sides with spatula where there is no parchments paper before picking the cake up to make sure it’s not sticking – sometimes happens).

Frosting Pumpkin Sheet Cake:

4. In a medium bowl, combine and beat 1 stick unsalted butter and 4 oz cream cheese on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp salt. Beat for about 2 mins until fully combined – start on low so you don’t get covered in powdered sugar and increase the speed to high. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and refrigerate for 1-2 hrs. This will help the frosting set and make the cutting easier.

5. Cut off cake edges and cut the cake into squares. (When cutting the cake, wipe off the knife with a napkin every once in a while – this will prevent the frosting from getting onto sides and crumbs of the cake on top of frosting).

Decorate with hazelnuts or pecans. I prefer hazelnuts here – gives that elegant look to the cake!

Enjoy right away or refrigerate and keep enjoying for the next 3-4 days!!

More Pumpkin Recipes to Explore:

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

5 from 14 votes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 15
Pumpkin sheet cake: simple, fluffy, moist and topped with sweet cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients 

Cake Ingredients

Frosting Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to a 350°F. Grease and line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.In a medium bowl, combine and whisk: 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 tsps baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp fine salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves and 1/4 tsp ginger. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine 4 eggs and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Whisk for 30 seconds. Then add: 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup oil, 1 can pumpkin puree and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Give it a good whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and whisk until fully combined. Batter will be thick.
  • Pour and spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 27-30 mins until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (I did 28 mins. Baking times may vary. If you find the top or edges of the cake is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover with aluminum foil). Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10-15 mins then by grabbing the parchment paper on both sides, slowly transfer the cake to a cooling rack to completely cool. (Gently go over the sides with spatula where there is no parchments paper before picking the cake up to make sure it’s not sticking – sometimes happens).
  • TO MAKE THE FROSTING: In a medium bowl, combine and beat 1 stick unsalted butter and 4 oz cream cheese on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/8 tsp salt. Beat for about 2 mins until fully combined – start on low so you don’t get covered in powdered sugar and increase the speed to high. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and refrigerate for 1-2 hrs. This will help the frosting set and make the cutting easier.
  • Cut off cake edges and cut the cake into squares. (When cutting the cake, wipe off the knife with a napkin every once in a while – this will prevent the frosting from getting onto sides and crumbs of the cake on top of frosting). Decorate with hazelnuts or pecans. I prefer hazelnuts here – gives that elegant look to the cake! Enjoy right away or refrigerate and keep enjoying for next 3-4 days!!