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Fall is here, and pumpkin cake is the perfect treat to welcome autumn. This recipe has a wonderful balance of spice, pumpkin, and sweetness. This southern favorite recipe makes a super moist and perfectly spice cake with pecans and brown sugar frosting.

This is my aunt’s pumpkin cake recipe. I know she would be delighted that I have cherished her recipes for years.

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How to Make Pumpkin Cake

This recipe is so easy to make using canned pumpkin puree and pantry staple ingredients.

The easiest way to prepare any recipe is to gather all your ingredients and supplies (tools).

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans

Please note: the pumpkin can be canned pumpkin puree with no other ingredients in the can or baked fresh pumpkin pureed. You can learn more about the best types of pumpkins for eating in this post.

You can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice for the spices.

 

Equipment:

• Stand mixer or hand mixer (I prefer the stand mixer)
• Nested measuring cups
• Liquid measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Loaf pan
• Spatula
• Cooking rack

Mixing the Ingredients

The easiest way to mix the cake ingredients is with a stand mixer (this is the one I use).

Next, I measure out all my ingredients. Then I group them by in the order I will be adding them to the recipe mixture.

Cream together sugars and butter in a large mixer bowl on medium speed.

In a liquid measuring cup, add buttermilk and baking soda. Slowly add to butter and sugar mixture.

In a medium bowl, add pumpkin puree and the egg, then mix by hand.

Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and chopped nuts to a medium bowl stir by hand.

Slowly add the pumpkin and flour mixtures alternating and scraping the bowl between additions.

Tip: You can substitute spices for 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Grease a loaf pan (this is the one I used) and then add batter. Note: you can use a loaf pan liner like this to make the cake easy to remove.

Baking the Cake

Bake the cake in a 350 F degree oven for 65 – 75 minutes (baking times vary). To test for doneness, use a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake.

 

Tip: I recommend using a loaf baking pan for this recipe; however, my aunt’s recipe also suggests 8-inch cake pans or a bundt pan. Suppose you would like to frost this cake as a layer cake, double the frosting recipe.

Cool completely on a wire cooling rack (this is the cooling rack I used) for approximately 30 minutes before frosting.

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Brown Sugar Frosting for Pumpkin Cake

Frost the cooled cake with homemade brown sugar frosting and garnish with additional chopped pecans.

Note: This cake would be delicious with cream cheese frosting as well. You can find my favorite cream cheese frosting in my chocolate cake post HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup cream or canned milk
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups 10x sugar (powdered sugar)

Place the brown sugar, butter, and milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil for 1-minute stirring the entire time.

Take off burner and allow to cool slightly (3 minutes).

Place the slightly cooled mixture into a mixer bowl and slowly add 2 1/2 to 3 cups of powdered sugar. Add enough powdered sugar until it the frosting is spreading consistency.

Use an icing spatula to spread frosting on the top of the cake. Garnish with chopped nuts if desired.

 Baked Gift-Giving

This cake is a wonderful hostess gift. Also, this cake can be baked in smaller loaf pans and given as Christmas gifts. I like to bake them in these pans and wrap them up with parchment paper and bakers twine for gifts.

Some other baked goods I like to give as gifts are cranberry nut bread, pumpkin bread, and chocolate cake (baked in these mini bundt cakes pan) and wrapped in parchment paper and baker.

You Might Also Enjoy These Recipes:

For a special fall treat, I like to use some of the leftover pumpkin puree to make homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes. I use this easy pumpkin spice latte recipe. The coffee used in this recipe needs to be strong for this reason I make the coffee in a French press and use fresh ground coffee.

Our favorite autumn soup is this super easy butternut squash soup I am sure you will enjoy. I serve it with fresh baked 2 ingredient biscuits.

 

One of our holiday favorites is a Moscow Mule.  This recipe includes a Cranberry Moscow Mule recipe too.

 

 

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Bon appétit,

Kippi