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.
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
-
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch cake pan with cooking spray and set aside.
For Bottom Crust:
-
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.
-
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:
-
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:
-
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:
-
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.
-
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. :)