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Pumpkin Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

This pumpkin spice cake is soft, spicy, and moist. The brown sugar cream cheese frosting makes a delicious dessert. It’s great for fall and the Holidays!
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Cooling time3 hours
Total Time4 hours 40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: brown sugar, cinnamon, fall recipe, ginger, holiday, pumpkin spice, spicy cake, thanksgiving
Servings: 12 slices
Author: Lucia Paula Acevedo

Equipment

  • 9-inch cake pan
  • Piping bag
  • Wilton 6B Piping tip

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 150 g White granulated sugar
  • 150 g Brown sugar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 3 Eggs
  • 180 ml Vegetable oil
  • 400 g Pumpkin puree
  • 230 g All purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1 tsp Baking soda

Spice mix (see notes)

  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp Nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp Ground cloves
  • ⅛ tsp Ground black pepper

For the Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 150 g unsalted butter
  • 80 g Brown sugar
  • 160 g Cream cheese
  • 220 g Icing sugar

For the Decoration:

  • Orange food color
  • Pumpkin seeds

Instructions

Cake

  • Butter the cake pan and line the base with parchment paper, or butter and flour your pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • In a bowl, place the eggs with the vanilla extract, both sugars and the eggs. Beat vigorously with a hand whisk for a few seconds until the sugar is well combined.
  • Add the oil and pumpkin puree and mix until incorporated.
  • Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices with a small whisk. Fold the dry ingredients gently into the batter.
  • Pour the mixture into the cake pan and bake in the preheated oven (350°F) for an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Let cool before unmolding and decorating.

Brown Sugar Cream cheese frosting

  • Place the butter and the brown sugar in a saucepan and place over low heat, stirring all the time, until the butter has melted and combined with the sugar.
  • Let it cool in the refrigerator until it reaches a creamy consistency, like soft butter.
  • Place the butter mixture in the bowl of the stand mixer and add the cream cheese. Beat with the paddle attachment for a few seconds until soft and creamy. You can also use a handheld mixer.
  • Add the icing sugar all at once and continue beating. First, at low speed until the sugar is incorporated, then at medium speed, for approximately 2 minutes, until you get a soft and creamy frosting.
  • For decoration, scoop out 1/2 cup or ¾ cup of frosting and color with orange food coloring.
  • Cover the cake with the rest of the frosting and decorate with a spatula in a rustic way.
  • Place the orange frosting in a piping bag with a star tip and make long blobs towards the edges of the cake.
  • Place a pumpkin seed on each frosting pumpkin to finish the pumpkin look.
  • Serve at room temperature or cold.

Notes

If you’d like to make a larger amount of pumpkin spice mix for future bakes, you can find my recipe in “How do you make a baking spice mix?” on this post. For this cake, use 3 and ½ tsp of mix instead of the spices called for in the recipe.