It’s the season for cosy jumpers, log fires and… PUMPKIN CAKE! This cake is exactly what we need as the evenings draw in. This is a super EASY recipe, so get baking and fill your home with those delicious autumnal spices.
It’s the season of turning leaves, wooly jumpers, Gilmore Girls and.. Pumpkin Cake!
This cake is cooked in a basic square low tin, so it’s quick to bake and easy to serve in small squares, making it perfect for a party or for kids at Halloween.
Why you’ll love this Pumpkin Cake recipe
⭐️ An easy but impressive bake for sharing
⭐️ Shortcut of using tinned pumpkin
⭐️ Comforting, spicy autumnal flavours
How we came up with this recipe
I first shared a pumpkin loaf recipe here in 2018. That recipe is a dark, dense cake, cooked in a loaf tin.
It is very rich recipe and uses a LOT of (expensive) sugar. Loaf cakes like that also tend to take a LONG time to cook.
Because of how moist (sorry) pumpkin is, getting the cake cooked all the way through could sometimes be tricky. A few people left comments asking about this and in our tests we even found it hard to gauge when it was cooked.
So… I wanted to come up with an easier to handle pumpkin bake. I went back to the drawing board.
Meet my Pumpkin Cake! It’s a basic sponge, made with canned pumpkin and spices added. SIMPLES. (Although please add the cream cheese frosting too because it’s amazing!)
There’s a couple of tricks I’ve also come up with and added below. Hope you’ll love it!
Fresh pumpkin or canned?
Whilst you CAN use your fresh pumpkin here, to use it in baking you need to cook it down in a pan for a long time to remove as much water as possible.
I tend to use our decorative pumpkins for soup and use a canned puree for this as it’s already cooked down for you, which a lot of supermarkets sell these days.
If not, you can buy it on Amazon here: Canned Pumpkin
Ingredients
- Soft light brown sugar
- Butter – Unsalted and at room temperature
- Self raising flour
- Eggs – I use medium free range
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Pumpkin puree – You’ll only need half a tin. You can freeze the rest
- Lemon – Zest only
- Cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
(Note: We tested this with mixed spice to reduce the number of flavourings, but as this contains ground coriander it didn’t work as well.)
How to make Pumpkin Cake
1. Add your sugar and butter to a bowl and mix using an electric whisk until the mixture is combined and light and fluffy.
2. Put your pumpkin, flour, bicarbonate of soda, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest into the bowl.
3. Whisk until just combined.
4. Pour the mixture into a lined square tin and bake as per the recipe below.
Hint: Place a baking sheet into the oven to warm while it is preheating, then sit your cake tin ON TOP of the baking sheet to bake. This will help to bake it evenly and thoroughly underneath.
Storing
Store If your cake is NOT iced, store in a cake tin or sealed airtight container. You don’t need to refrigerate. It should last at its best for up to 3 days (if it lasts that long!)
If your cake IS iced, you will need to store in the fridge. I avoid this where possible as it will dry the cake slightly, but is necessary for the cream cheese.
Freezer You can freeze this cake for another day! Make sure you wrap it in a couple of layers of greaseproof paper for the freezer and defrost it at room temperature before eating.
Top tips
Avoid a soggy bottom
It’s very easy to end up with an undercooked base in a Pumpkin Cake because the pumpkin is so tender.
To try and avoid this, put the tin you’re cooking on onto a PREHEATED baking sheet when it’s in the oven. This just helps to conduct the heat better to the base of the cake.
To do this: put a baking sheet into the oven when you preheat it, then when your cake is prepared in the regular tin, sit it ON TOP of the extra baking sheet which is already hot. Boom!
Butter
This should ideally be unsalted. Also, use your butter at room temperature, or if it has come straight from the fridge, microwave for a few seconds until slightly softened.
Pumpkin puree
You will only use half a tin for this recipe (the tins are usually 425g). To avoid wastage, you can freeze the remainder to use in a cake for another day. Simply spoon it into a freezer bag, remove the air out of it and freeze. Defrost thoroughly before you use it again.
More pumpkin recipes
⭐️ Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves ⭐️
FAQs
The best way to zest lemons is to invest in a great zester. It will change your cake-making life!
I like this Microplane Zester, which I’ve had for years and it makes the job SO easy.
Yes, you can if you like, but it does need to be very thoroughly cooked first so it’s not too watery.
If you’re carving up a whole pumpkin have lots the vegetable flesh – to use it all up, scoop out the flesh, cook it, puree it and then freeze any leftovers into portions so you can bake another day.
Push a skewer or sharp, thin knife into the centre of the cake.
If it comes out clean, it means it’s cooked. (Some crumbs are fine, but not wet cake mixture.)
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Pumpkin Cake {Easiest Ever Recipe!}
Ingredients
- 200 g Soft light brown sugar
- 125 g Unsalted butter See notes
- 212.5 g Pumpkin puree Half a tin. See notes
- 200 g Self raising flour
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
- 3 Eggs Medium
- 2 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1 Lemon Zest only
Topping:
- Cream Cheese Icing (Click for recipe)
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 180C.
-
Place a baking sheet or baking tray into the oven to warm while it is preheating.
-
In a large bowl, add your sugar and butter to a bowl and mix using an electric whisk until the mixture is combined and light and fluffy.
-
Put in your pumpkin, flour, bicarbonate of soda, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. Whisk until just combined.
-
Line a square tin (20cm x 20cm) with baking paper or baking parchment. Pour in your cake mixture and smooth out.
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Bake for 30 minutes or until a sharp knife comes out clean.
Notes
Pumpkin puree: Use half of a 425g tin and freeze the other half to avoid wastage. Simply spoon it into a freezer bag, remove the air out of it and freeze. Defrost thoroughly before you use it. Alternatively you could bake a double batch and freeze one cake.
Using fresh pumpkin: If you’d rather use fresh pumpkin, scoop out the flesh, cook it, puree it and weigh about 213g. You need to cook it for long enough for it to be very thick and not watery. Freeze any leftovers into portions so you can bake another day.
To cook evenly: Avoid an undercooked base by putting the tin you’re cooking on onto a PREHEATED baking sheet when it’s in the oven. (Put a baking sheet into the oven when you preheat it, then when your cake is prepared in the regular tin, sit it ON TOP of the extra baking sheet which is already hot.)
Butter: This should ideally be unsalted. Also, use your butter at room temperature, or if it has come straight from the fridge, microwave for a few seconds until slightly softened.
Nutritional information: This is per portion and does not include the icing.
Nutrition
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