A warm spiced pumpkin cake covered with a light whipped cream cheese frosting
PUMPKINS!!
Yes, I know it is far from pumpkin season, especially here in Australia, and it is definitely not halloween again… But I had to make a pumpkin cake for my friend’s birthday, who we call “pumpkin”.
I’ve adapted this recipe from Life, Love and Sugar, an amazing blog for classic baked cakes and cookies. If thats the kind of thing you are looking for I recommend checking her blog out!
This cake is a little different to the normal pumpkin cakes covered with a super sweet cream cheese frosting, instead it is made with a whipped cream flavoured with cream cheese and a little cinnamon. It’s much lighter, less sweet and a lot better! (And for those looking to cut down sugar, this probably has less than a third of the powdered sugar used in traditional cream cheese frosting). According to my friend it reminds her of a chai latte, I guess you can make it and find out. I hope you all enjoy the first recipe I’m sharing, and let me know what you think!
* Made an edit to include cup measurements 🙂
PrintPumpkin Spice Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Fluffy layers of spiced pumpkin cake with whipped cream cheese frosting
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 120 minutes
- Yield: 1 1x
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake
- 84 g Unsalted butter, room temperature (¼ cup 2 tbsp)
- 155 g Sugar (¾ cup)
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- 23 g Vegetable oil (23g)
- 2 Eggs
- 162 g Plain flour (1 ¼ cup)
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ¼ tsp Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- Pinch of allspice
- 200 g Pumpkin puree (¾ cup 2 tbsp)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 300 g Thickened cream (1 ¼ cup)
- 100 g Icing sugar (1 cup)
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Cinnamon
- 250 g Cream cheese, room temperature (1 cup)
Instructions
Pumpkin Cake
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F)
- Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy
- Add the vanilla, vegetable oil and eggs to the butter
- In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
- Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined
- Add the pumpkin puree,
- Add the rest of the flour mixture and mix until just combined
- Pour into two lined 6-inch tins and bake for 25-30 minutes
- Remove, cool and chill
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese until smooth
- In a seperate bowl whip the thickened cream with the icing sugar until medium peaks
- Add vanilla and cinnamon
- Slowly add the cream cheese to the whipped cream with the mixer running until smooth and thick
- Chill until ready to use
Assembly
- Level the two 6-inch cakes, and then cut them into two so you have 4 layers
- Place the first layer of cake on a 8 inch cake board
- Spread a layer of cream cheese frosting on top and then top with the next layer of cake
- Repeat for all layers of cake, and then frost the whole cake
- Using the remaining cream to pipe a border around the top of the cake
- Sprinkle on some cinnamon and top with desired decoration**
Notes
*I made my own pumpkin puree, although if you have canned pumpkin puree available you can also use that. To make it I skinned and chopped up some pumpkin into small cubes (about 270g), placed in a bowl, covered in cling wrap, leaving a small hole, and microwaved on high for 5 minutes. Once soft I blended the pumpkin in a food processor until smooth and let cool.
**To decorate I made some small fondant pumpkins. Using orange fondant I rolled a few small balls and used tooth-floss to create small ridges that resemble a pumpkin. I then used some green fondant to make stems and vines. NOTE: these should be placed on when serving as they will absorb moisture from the frosting and bleed/ slide off if placed on earlier.
Hi Catherine
I'm so looking forward to seeing what you do on your journey. You are in inspiration to all young people.
Andrew from NT
Hi Andrew! Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Catherine, Congratulations on your win. I was reading your recipe for pumpkin cheese cake. I’m not sure or actually what are the measurements for America. I really don’t understand the measurements. Or what the stove is supposed to be set on. 175c. I don’t know how to convert.
Yvette Lopez
Hi Yvette,
Thank you!
The measurements that I have provided are metric, I totally understand that these measurements can be confusing for people in America, or people that prefer using cup measurements. Keeping that in mind I will try to provide both measurements from now on!
Will make an edit to this recipe to include cup measurements 🙂
Hi Catherine,
Can I use this cream cheese frosting on chocolate cake? Do you have a recipe for buttercream that isn’t super sweet? Also, what is thickened cream? Is that like heavy cream?
Hi Amanda,
Sorry for the late reply. Yes! you can use this cream cheese frosting on anything you like. I do have a recipe for buttercream which I will upload soon.
Thickened cream is the same as heavy cream 🙂
Hi Catherine,
Congratulations on your win. As many other people I was rooting for you during the competition, which I think was much more interesting than season 1.
I have one question: you use a lot of "thickened cream" on your recipes. What is that? I don't think we have this in the UK.
Thank you for creating this blog. This must be hard work for you, so appreciate your effort and the recipes.
Take care.
Hi Silas,
Thank you so much!
Thickened cream is the same as heavy cream/ whipping cream. If you don't have that available either pure cream is fine too 🙂
I hope I can give you more recipes in the future!
Hi Catherine,
can I prepare the cake in advance and keep it in the fridge for 2 days? Would it come out fine if I make cupcakes instead?
Thanks!
Letícia
Hi Leticia,
Yep, It should be fine! If you are making it beforehand I would recommend baking the cake layers beforehand and icing the cake closer to the day you are serving. I've never made it as cupcakes, but you can give it a try though! I don't think it will turn out bad 🙂
Thanks!
They came out great as cupcakes! Delicious taste! One recipe yielded 12 cupcakes.
Greetings from a Brazilian in Germany.