Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
The Pumpkin Bundt Cake combines pumpkin puree with warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, along with brown sugar and molasses for sweetness and depth. After baking a moist, spiced cake in a bundt pan, it is topped with a creamy pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting and garnished with optional glazed pecans for texture and decoration.
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Bundt Cake:
- 5 large egg room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (319g) light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup (99g) granulated sugar
- (1) ounce can pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie filling
- 3 Tablespoons (42ml) molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (227ml) vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup (170ml) buttermilk room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cloves ground
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (113g) cream cheese room temperature
- 1/4 cup (57g) butter room temperature, unsalted
- 2 cups (228g) confectioners' sugar sifted, more if needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 1 cup pecans for decor, optional, glazed
Instructions
For the Pumpkin Bundt Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees (F). In a large bowl, whisk eggs until well combined.
- Add the sugars, pumpkin puree, molasses, vanilla, oil, and buttermilk, and whisk until well combined. Set aside until needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt until well combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Set aside.
- Using nonstick baking spray, generously spray every nook and cranny of a 10-cup Bundt Cake pan.
- Scrape batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool cake, in the bundt pan, placed on a wire cooling rack, for 12 minutes (set a timer). Then invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely, about 2 hours.
For the Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter on medium-speed until completely smooth.
- Reduce speed to low and gradually add in confectioners' sugar, beating until all of the sugar is completely combined.
- Add in vanilla, pumpkin spice, and salt, and beat smooth. Beat in maple syrup and milk.
- Once all ingredients have been incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and beat for two minutes, or until fluffy.
- If frosting looks too thin, beat in more confectioners' sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time. If frosting looks too thick, beat in more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired texture has been reached.
- Frost cake as desired. To achieve a similar look to how the cake is decorated in the photos, scrape the frosting into a large frosting pipe that's fitted with a round open piping tip. Then pipe the frosting in lines, back and forth, around the top of the cake. Top the frosting with glazed pecans, if desired. Slice and serve!