This Pumpkin Cake recipe is easy to make with a cake mix, pumpkin puree, pumpkin spice, plus eggs and oil! Top with cream cheese frosting.
This pumpkin cake recipe is perfect for all of your fall celebrations, from a Halloween party to Thanksgiving dinner. You can even turn it into cupcakes to make serving a breeze!
What You’ll Find In This Post
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
A 9×13 inch cake in a pan is one of the easiest desserts to make when you need to bring a sharable dessert to a party, potluck, or get-together. It is quick to prepare, totally portable, and can be served right out of the pan. Plus, you can make it ahead of time, and the flavors really come together overnight.
Ingredients Needed
We love that this recipe only uses five ingredients plus frosting! Keep cake mix and pumpkin puree on hand so that you can make it often.
- Cake Mix: You need one boxed cake mix for this recipe. It can be a white or yellow cake mix.
- Pumpkin: This recipe includes one can of pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. The pumpkin adds flavor and moisture to the cake.
- Egg: The three eggs add flavor, moisture, and structure.
- Oil: You’ll also need to add oil for moisture. You can use either canola oil or vegetable oil.
- Spices: We added pumpkin pie spice for flavor.
- Frosting: We frosted the cake with two cups of homemade cream cheese frosting, but you can use store-bought if you prefer.
How To Make Pumpkin Cake With Cake Mix
Put all of the ingredients except the frosting in a bowl and mix on low for 30 seconds. Then, mix the batter on medium for 2 minutes.
Spread the batter in a greased 9×13 inch pan and bake it at3 50˚F for 32-37 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool completely before topping it with cream cheese frosting.
Recipe Variation: Pumpkin Cupcakes
To use this recipe to make pumpkin cupcakes, mix the batter as instructed in the recipe and then divide it between 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners. Bake at 350˚F for 20-25 minutes.
Once they’ve cooled, you can frost them with the cream cheese frosting or make them look like little pumpkins but following the instructions in my pumpkin cupcakes post.
Make Ahead and Storage
Make Ahead: This is the perfect dessert to make ahead of time because the flavor is even better after it has been in the fridge overnight!
Storage: Once the cake has cooled and you’ve frosted it, cover it and store it in the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
I used a white cake mix when making this pumpkin cake because that is what I had on hand, but other cake mixes will work as well. You could try using a yellow cake mix, a spice cake mix, a butter pecan cake mix, or even a carrot cake mix for different flavors. Or, if you prefer making pumpkin cake from scratch, try using this white cake mix recipe.
When making cakes, I prefer using either my hand mixer or my stand mixer. But if you don’t have a mixer available, you can mix the cake batter with a wooden spoon.
To make a lighter version of this pumpkin cake, I would suggest using a sugar-free cake mix, three egg whites, and substituting the canola oil with an equal amount of applesauce. For the frosting, you can use light or sugar-free whipped topping.
Yes, the cake holds up well in the freezer. You can freeze the whole cake or even freeze individual slices. The most important thing is to make sure it is wrapped well so that it is airtight. First, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and then wrap it with foil. Thaw the cake in the refrigerator.
For this recipe, I used my cream cheese frosting recipe because it goes so well with pumpkin! You can also use cream cheese buttercream, which is a thicker version of cream cheese frosting with less cream cheese flavor.
Other homemade frostings that would work are classic buttercream frosting, maple buttercream, maple glaze, or even whipped cream. You can also use store-bought cream cheese frosting if you prefer.
Want more pumpkin recipes? Try these next:
- These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are soft and moist.
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookie Cups are so adorable!
- This Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread is our family favorite!
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Dessert has two layers of smooth, creamy cheesecake.
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls are so easy to make with crescent rolls!
Pumpkin Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 15.25 oz white cake mix
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 cups cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Put all of the ingredients in a bowl. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then on medium for 2 minutes.
- Spread in a greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 350˚F for 32-37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few crumbs on it.
- Cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Video
Annie Marie Seibel says
Do you add the 2 cups of cream cheese frosting to the cake batter or is it used to frost it?
Tonia Larson says
Hello Annie Marie,
It’s used to frost the cake once it has cooled.
Enjoy,
Tonia
Geeta says
We made this today for Thanksgiving and used a box of Betty Crocker super moist French Vanilla cake mix. It was incredible; tasted delicious! I also used vegetable oil instead of canola. We will definitely be baking this cake again. Super easy to make too!
Joe says
I modify the recipe a bit. I make 2 cakes in bundt pans, increase baking time to about 43 minutes. I then use candy corn and heavy cream to make the frosting. I put one cake upside, and the other on top. Frost with the orange candy corn frosting, and use black decorative icing to give it a jack o lantern face
Mary Jo Delago says
I made this recipe on Christmas eve and it was spectacular. Liked by everyone. Thank you for sharing it
Kirsten says
Loved it !!! It was easy to make and tasted great. We used Cool whip on top in place of frosting.