Pumpkin Cake

This from-scratch pumpkin cake has all the delicious flavors of pumpkin pie in cake form. And like pumpkin pie, it’s best served chilled or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

This pumpkin cake has been a delicious tradition in our family for years. I’ve been wanting to post it for probably 9 or 10 months now, but those darn perceptions that pumpkin recipes belong to fall prevented me.

But just so you know, I’ve never let other people’s seasonal preferences keep me from making this cake all year long. Yes you might see me digging into a big slice of pumpkin cake in the middle of January.

Think out of the pumpkin box

While I’m in the mode of dispelling myths, here’s another one: pumpkin recipes should be made with pumpkin. Well what about all the other lonesome, not-as-popular-but even-more-tasty winter squash out there?

We grow all kinds of winter squash in the garden every year – butternut, green and orange hubbard, sunshine squash, and pumpkins. We’ve successfully made this cake with homemade winter squash puree of many varieties (and mixtures of them too). One caveat here: stick with the creamier textured squash, rather than the stringier varieties (like spaghetti or acorn). The last thing you want in your pumpkin cake is a weird texture.

Each type of squash lends a little different flavor to the cake and I would say that other varieties actually taste better than pumpkin. If you are using homemade pumpkin or squash puree you will want to follow the recipe notes and omit the water in the recipe since it is quite a bit runnier in texture.

Of course we make this with canned pumpkin puree all the time (Libby’s is my preferred brand and the standard I used to create this recipe). And just as a side note, a quick google search told me that most store-bought canned pumpkin puree actually isn’t just made up of pure pumpkin, but rather a mixture of several different kinds of pureed winter squash. So there ya go. Even pumpkin packers share my opinion that other winter squash taste better. Hopefully I haven’t rocked your world too much by uncovering this.

Just keep in mind when using canned pumpkin that each brand will vary a bit with consistency. So you may need to adjust the water in the recipe if you are using a different brand than libby’s (see recipe notes for more information).

A yummy variation, if you like

Sometimes we like to sprinkle some chocolate chips over the pumpkin filling before adding the topping. It makes for a super yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cake. But I’ll warn you, some people are purists when it comes to their pumpkin pie or cake preferences. Those people may not appreciate any variation (even if it involves chocolate chips).

So to please everyone, we usually do half chocolate and half plain. I’m sure you already know which side of the cake this crazy-chocolate-loving gal goes for. 🙂

But with or without chocolate chips, this pumpkin cake (like pumpkin pie) is best served chilled or at room temperature with a dollop of real whipped cream on top. I think most of us can probably agree on that.

P.S. If you’re looking for more great pumpkin recipes, these pumpkin cookies and these pumpkin muffins are huge favorites around here too.

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Pumpkin Cake

This from-scratch pumpkin cake has all the delicious flavors of pumpkin pie in cake form. And like pumpkin pie, it's best served chilled or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Dessert

Keyword Cake, Dessert, Pumpkin

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings 15 servings

Author Heather @ thecookstreat.com

Ingredients

Bottom Crust:

• 2 ¼ cups (11.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter melted and cooled

Pumpkin Filling:

• 1 29-ounce can pumpkin puree see note
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 ¼ cup (9.5 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• ¼ cup (1.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Topping:

• ¼ cup (1.9 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice see note
• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter room temperature

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.

For Bottom Crust:

1. In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add the vanilla and mix. Cut in room temperature butter using two knives or a pastry cutter until butter is very finely mixed and mixture is uniform. In a small bowl, reserve one cup of this cake mix for the topping.

2. To the rest of the mix, add 1 lightly beaten egg and ½ cup melted and cooled butter. Mix together and spread as a crust on the bottom of the prepared cake pan.

For Pumpkin Filling:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, water (if needed), sugar, cinnamon, evaporated milk, flour, lightly beaten eggs, salt and vanilla until smooth and combined. Pour over bottom crust in prepared cake pan. 

For Topping:

1. In small bowl with reserved cake mix, add ¼ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and mix. Cut in ¼ cup room temperature butter using two knives or a pastry cutter until butter is very finely mixed and mixture is uniform well mixed. Sprinkle topping evenly over pumpkin filling in prepared cake pan. 

For Baking:

1. Bake pumpkin cake in preheated 425 degrees F oven for 15 minutes. Then turn down temperature to 350 degrees F and cook for an additional 40 to 45 minutes or until cake no longer jiggles and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

2. Cool completely before serving. Serve with softly whipped heavy whipping cream sweetened with powdered sugar and a little vanilla or vanilla ice cream.

Recipe Notes

1. Pumpkin can be a tricky ingredient to use in recipes because there is such a different consistency brand to brand. If using homemade pumpkin puree I use 3 ½ cups (or 31.5 ounces) puree and omit the extra water in the filling. Using Libby’s 29-ounce can as a standard, I’ve found that if you add ⅓ cup water along with the 29-ounce can pumpkin puree, the recipe turns out with the right consistency. If you are using other brands of pumpkin puree keep in mind you may get slightly different results. Add more or less water, as needed depending on the pumpkin puree consistency.

2. Get out of the pumpkin rut! We love using different types of winter squash puree in this recipe, such as butternut or hubbard. Use 3 ½ cups of any type of homemade pureed winter squash in place of the 3 ½ cups of homemade pumpkin puree.

3. You can use ground cinnamon in place of the pumpkin pie spice in the topping.

4. Variation: Sometimes we like to sprinkle some chocolate chips over the pumpkin filling before adding the topping for a super yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cake. Some like it with chocolate, others like it without. Sometimes we do half and half to please everyone. 🙂

Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat

All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat

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