This simple and easy to make pumpkin sheet cake is one of my favorite pumpkin recipes to date! It’s super moist, packed with flavor and infused with heaps of cosy spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Topped with the most incredible cinnamon cream cheese frosting, it’s the perfect fall dessert for cozy nights it!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft & Moist: This pumpkin cake recipe has an incredibly moist texture and a wonderful soft crumb. I use a combination of white granulated sugar and soft light brown sugar in this recipe, which provides extra moisture and flavor. Additional moisture in the batter comes from the pumpkin puree, milk and oil used in the recipe, making for a phenomonly moist cake!
Bold Flavor: This recipe is packed with so much flavor! It’s infused with heaps of warm spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and all spice) and has a good amount of pumpkin puree in the batter too to so you still get that pumpkin taste! Vanilla extract/essence helps to provide a bit of extra sweetness and aroma too. If you have a pumpkin spice blend on hand, feel free to use that in replacement of the spices in this recipe 🙂
Easy to Make: This pumpkin sheet cake is adapted from my original pumpkin layer cake recipe. It has the same amazing flavor and texture (with only a few slight adjustments to the recipe), but is simpler to make (no fancy cake layers or cake decroating tools needed). Want something even simpler? Check out my no fuss pumpkin bread recipe.
What Kind of Pumpkin to Use
This recipe uses canned pumpkin (I use Libby’s canned pumpkin), but you can use fresh pumpkin too. When choosing canned pumpkin, you want to make sure you get 100% pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
If you prefer to use fresh pumpkin puree, then the method you use is important, as you want to reduce the amount of excess liquid in your pumpkin. The BBC has a great article on how to prepare pumpkin puree — you can check out the recipe here.
Looking for another show-stopping pumpkin dessert? Check out my pumpkin roll recipe.
How to Make Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and lightly grease a 9×13 inch sheet pan (I use my homemade cake release). Line the bottom long ways with parchment paper as well (this will make it easier to take the cake out when it’s done).
In a bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine white sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla. Using a clean whisk, mix until well combined and smooth.
Pour your dry ingredients into your pumpkin mixture and using a spatula, gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
Allow the cake to cool in the cake tin for about 20 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
Next add in the cold cream cheese, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing.
Frosting the cooled cake with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting and garnish with roughly chopped pecans or walnuts (or both!).
How to Store Pumpkin Sheet Cake
This cake can be left at room temperature for the day, however overnight it will need to be placed in the refrigerator due to the cream cheese in the frosting.
Be sure to place the cake in an airtight container before storing it to prevent it from drying out.
Easy Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- 2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) soft light brown sugar - firmly packed (see note 1)
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1¼ cup (300 g) pumpkin puree - I use Libby's 100% canned pumpkin (see note 2 for fresh pumpkin option)
- ¼ cup (60 g) milk - full fat, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla essence/extract
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 2¼ cups (285 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners sugar
- ¾ cup (167 g) cream cheese - cold, use a firm cream cheese (not the spreadable type)
- ¾ tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
For Decorating (OPTIONAL)
- ½ cup (50 g) walnuts or pecans - roughly chopped
Instructions
Pumpkin Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 3 if using a convection oven with a fan) and lightly grease a 9x13 inch cake pan (I use my homemade cake release). Line the bottom long ways with parchment paper as well (this will make it easier to take the cake out when it's done).
- In a bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine white sugar, light brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla. Using a clean whisk, mix until well combined and smooth.
- Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and using a spatula, gently fold until just combined. Do not overmix the batter (see note 4).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs on it.
- Allow the cake to cool in the cake tin for about 20 minutes and then turn it out onto a wire rack to completely cool, before frosting with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting (recipe below) and garnishing with roughly chopped pecans or walnuts.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add in the powdered sugar in 3 batches while mixing on low. Ensure that each batch of powdered sugar is mixed into the butter well before adding in the next batch.
- Next add in the cold cream cheese, vanilla and cinnamon. Mix just until the frosting is smooth. Avoid over-mixing (see note 5).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
24 Comments
Can I make this into cupcakes? Thank you.
Hi Christine! Yes you can totally do that 🙂
You’ll just need to reduce the cook time to around the 18 min mark. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
If we want to use pumpkin pie spice in place of the spices in the recipe, what is the measurement for it?
Hi Emmalia! 🙂 I would add about 2-3 tsps based on how ‘spiced’ you want the cake. I would probably go 3 tsps as I like a lot of spice flavor 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
I love your recipes and will try the cake release.
I live in rural India and difficult to get shortening. Butter is the only substitute then.
Secondly my child is allergic to eggs. Can you please give a substitute in your recipes, tried by you.
It would help vegan too.
Thanks.
Uma
So glad you’re loving the recipes Uma! 😀
With the eggless baking, I do have a few recipes you can find here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe-category/eggless/
I’m a bit reluctant to recommend anything I haven’t tried myself just incase it doesn’t work well, but will try and do more eggless cake recipes in the future 🙂
Hi,
It is perfect, fabulous, and awesome. I love it! I have made it several times, and all of my friends have fallen in love with it. Thank you!
Aww yay! I’m so happy to hear you and your friends are loving the recipe Maryam 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Delicious!! You are the only baker whose recipes I don’t tweak at all. I usually double the amount of spice in other pumpkin recipes but your amounts are perfect!! And your instructions are always impeccably clear. Yay!!!
Aww yay! So glad you’re loving the recipes and finding the instructions easy to follow Juliet 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Excellent recipe and a crowd pleaser! We all loved it. I made it twice in a week!
Aww yay! So glad everyone loved the recipe Fatima 😀
What size sheet pan did you use?
Hi Maria! I used a 9×13 inch sheet pan that is 2 inches high 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi, can I us apple sauce instead of all that oil?
Thanks
Hi Karen! I haven’t tried that myself so I’m not too sure how it would affect the taste and texture of the final product sorry! Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Heyy MK! i noticed a lot of your cake recipes use butter, can i substitute butter for margarine? and the cake still turn out the same? as it is quite expensive and not as easily accessible where i live.
Hi Njeri! 🙂 I haven’t tried using margarine as a butter replacement myself, but I know others have with success! It may be more successful in recipes where creaming the butter isn’t required. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipes 🙂
Thank you so much👌🙏😀😀😀 All your recipes are delicious. I have been trying them with great results. The only thing I alter is the quantity of sugar; when it says 200gr for example, I only use 50g of Monk Fruit “sugar” and I replace the oils to Virgin olive oil or peanut/coconut oils – and also the flours. And still…..they come out 🤩😍 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
You’re so welcome Nazaré! 🙂 So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipes and that they’re still working great with the different substitutions 🙂