This easy sheet cake is lightly spiced, so the delicate flavor of pumpkin really comes through. The crumb is soft and fluffy, and it pairs with a silky cream cheese frosting the way pumpkin and cream cheese always do in the fall. The frosting is just sweet enough, with about half the sugar of most recipes. It’s adapted for high altitude, so it bakes up tender and level instead of sunken or dry.
High Altitude Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Cake:
- 2 cups 250 g all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup 110 g vegetable oil
- 15 oz (1 can, 427 g) pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups 300 g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz (227 g) cream cheese softened
- 8 Tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups (180 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Pumpkin Cake
- Preheat the oven to 365°F (185°C). Grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan, or line it with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the oil, melted butter, eggs, and granulated sugar until smooth and well combined. Whisk in the pumpkin purée and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold with a spatula until just combined. Don’t overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for exactly 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few loose crumbs.
- Cool the cake completely in the pan before frosting. Frosting a warm cake will make it melt and slide.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the softened butter and confectioners’ sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Mixing the sugar with the butter first coats it in fat, which makes it harder for the sugar to pull moisture out of the cream cheese.
- Once the butter and sugar are well mixed, add the cream cheese and beat until just combined. The cream cheese stays intact and doesn’t turn runny or weepy.
- Beat in the vanilla and salt. Spread over the cooled cake.