Pumpkin Sheet Cake

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on

19 Comments

5 from 7 votes
24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
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Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a quick and easy holiday dessert for a crowd! Moist homemade pumpkin cake, made in an hour.

Skip the Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving and make this delicious, easy Cake Recipe made with pumpkin puree and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake slice on plate with bite removed

EASY PUMPKIN CAKE

Change things up this holiday season with this tasty, easy Pumpkin Cake. One bite of this light and fluffy pumpkin-y sheet cake and your guests won’t even miss pumpkin pie. It’s so moist and full of pumpkin flavor and warm spices they love, and you’ll love how little work it takes.

All you need for this crowd sized holiday dessert is a can of pumpkin puree, regular baking ingredients, mixing bowls, a spatula, and a sheet pan. No stand mixer or beaters needed, this Pumpkin Sheet Cake is made by hand. You can even carefully add all the dry ingredients to a sifter and whisk as you sift. Two steps in one and one less bowl, win-win!

This Pumpkin Cake recipe uses all the spices found in pumpkin pie like ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Swap in 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice blend if you already have it on hand. You can even use the pie spices in the frosting for more flavor.

If you have time, or made some already, you can use homemade Pumpkin Puree in this cake recipe instead of the canned. This is a go-to puree recipe because it’s easy, fast, and keeps up to a year in the freezer so you can enjoy Pumpkin Cake completely from scratch all year long.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake is an easy holiday dessert, perfect for large holiday gatherings! The Cream Cheese Frosting is simple and quick to make, plus we’ve included four different ways you can make it even better! You could also skip the frosting and drizzle the cake with Chocolate Ganache or serve warm from the oven with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake slice on plate

MORE DELICIOUS PUMPKIN RECIPES:

Pumpkin Sheet Cake in baking pan

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can this cake be made with a cream cheese marble?

Cream together 8 ounces cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to make a cream cheese swirl. Spoon dollops of cream cheese mixture over cake batter and run a knife through to marble.

What else can be mixed into Pumpkin Sheet Cake?

Fold in a ½ cup chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, candied ginger pieces, chopped nuts, or raisins to your pumpkin cake batter.

What toppings can be used for this cake recipe?

Sprinkle your frosted cake with chopped pecans or walnuts, crushed gingersnaps, or pumpkin seeds. Mellocreme pumpkins (candy corn pumpkins) would make a cute Halloween or Thanksgiving decoration.

Can I use cake mix for this recipe?

Substitute flour, sugar, and baking soda with Spice Cake mix and leave out the spices, or use a Yellow Cake mix with the spices.

Can I make a healthier Pumpkin Sheet Cake?

For a Healthy Pumpkin Cake, replace sugar with 2/3 cup brown sugar and ¼ cup honey, half the oil with ½ cup greek yogurt, and half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. Bake as usual.

Different Ways to Make Cream Cheese Frosting for Pumpkin Cake

  • Pumpkin Spice: Mix in 1-2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice, or use the same amounts of the spices in the recipe to make Pumpkin Pie Cream Cheese Frosting.
  • Cinnamon: Add 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon to make Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. Such a simple way to completely elevate your dessert!
  • Brown Butter: Brown half of the butter called for to make Brown Butter Frosting. Melt butter in a skillet until foaming, keep cooking until golden brown and gets a nutty aroma.
  • Greek Yogurt: Make a lighter frosting by swapping low fat (not non-fat) cream cheese and ¼ cup greek yogurt for the cream cheese.

MORE SHEET CAKE RECIPES:

HOW TO STORE PUMPKIN SHEET CAKE

  • Serve: Unfrosted Pumpkin Cake can be at room temperature for up to 3 days but with cream cheese frosting, you want to refrigerate it after 2 hours.
  • Store: Cover cake pan with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week. Bring cake to room temperature, about 15-20 minutes, before serving for best taste!
  • Freeze: Cool cake completely and cover Pumpkin Cake with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, or transfer cake to sealed container. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw in the refrigerator before serving.
Pumpkin Sheet Cake slice on plate

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Dinner, then Dessert

Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting is a quick and easy holiday dessert for a crowd! Moist homemade pumpkin cake, made in an hour.
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Pumpkin Sheet Cake slice on plate
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10×15 baking pan with baking spray.
  • In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth.
  • Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice and salt.
  • Whisk the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just combined.
  • Pour into baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Wait for cake to cool before frosting.

Nutrition

Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 73mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 2797IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg

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Pumpkin Sheet Cake Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

Pumpkin Sheet Cake slice on plate
Pumpkin Sheet Cake collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Could you use a different oil other than canola? I have saved so many of your recipes.They are straight-forward and turn our so nicely.

    Reply

    1. Yes, you can use a different oil. Let us know which kind of oil you decide to use and let us know how your Pumpkin Sheet Cake turned out!

      Reply

  2. We loved this cake! Not only was it easy, but delish! I used the brown butter option in the frosting and it added a great flavor.

    Reply

  4. Excellent! I made it with fresh pumpkin & only 2eggs & 1 1/2 cup sugar. Came out delicious & very moist?

    Reply

  5. I have made this 3 times and each time I have messed it up in a slightly different way and it has still been great. The first time I halved the recipe but put the whole can of pumpkin in and it turned out very dense, but still good. The second time I put an extra half cup of sugar and it was great. The third time I forgot the salt and it didn’t seem to impact it at all. This is an ADHD proof recipe that pretty much anyone can follow. Bookmarked this to make it all season long.

    Reply

  6. ! My family loved this!
    I put 1+1/2cup sugar for cake and 1cup powdered sugar for frosting and it still worked wonderful. Thank you so much

    Reply

  8. I love pumpkin cake! This sheet cake recipe looks so amazing and super easy to make. I can’t wait to try it.

    Reply

  11. Do you think I can use a 13″ x 9″ pan for this recipe? I don’t have a 10″ x 15″ pan. Thank you!

    Reply