Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Extra moist, wonderfully spiced pumpkin cake baked in a 9x13 pan and frosted with tangy cream cheese buttercream. A classic Fall dessert that's ALWAYS a hit.
Servings 24 slices
Ingredients
Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- 2 1/2 Cups (330g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 Cup (200g) packed brown sugar light or dark
- 1 Cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 Cup (240ml) vegetable oil
- 1 15-oz can (425g) pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 Cup (8oz, 226g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese*, room temperature NOT the spread
- 4 Cups (480g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt, or to taste
Instructions
Make the Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF (163ºC) and prepare a 9×13 metal pan or baking dish* by spraying the sides with baking spray and lining the bottom with parchment paper
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ginger. Whisk together and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the brown and granulated sugars, vegetable oil, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk together until combined and uniform, then whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before frosting.
Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on high until light, fluffy, and uniform (no lumps), about five minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and salt, then mix on low until smooth and combined, about 30 seconds.
Assembly
- Once the pumpkin sheet cake is cooled completely to room temperature, frost with the cream cheese buttercream.
- To create the look pictured, frost a rustic buttercream finish on the surface of the cake using a small icing spatula. Divide the remaining buttercream between four small bowls. Leave one bowl uncolored, then tint one of the bowls orange, one dusty blue, and the final bowl brown.
- Add the orange frosting into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 6B, add the dusty blue frosting and the white frosting to piping bags each fitted with Wilton Tip 4B, and add the brown frosting to a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 3. Pipe pumpkins onto two opposite corners of the sheet cake using the orange, blue, and white frosting. Top each pumpkin with a dot (stem) using the brown buttercream.
Notes
*Baking Dish: If you're using a ceramic or glass baking pan, you may need more baking time because those materials conduct heat less efficiently than metal pans. Check for doneness at the 30 minute mark, but plan on adding 5-15 minutes to the baking time if needed.
*Cream Cheese: It’s really important to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese in the frosting recipe because other kinds of cream cheese (low fat or the spreadable kind in tubs) contain too much water to create a stable frosting. If you can’t find brick-style cream cheese, I recommend topping this sheet cake with another kind of frosting like vanilla buttercream, brown butter frosting, or Biscoff buttercream
Make Ahead Tips:
- The pumpkin sheet cake can be made ahead and stored at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, for up to two days. Alternatively, you can store the cake (covered well) in the freezer for up to two months before thawing and frosting.
- The cream cheese frosting can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency.
- The frosted cake can be stored at room temperature in a cool kitchen for up to one day, after which it should be refrigerated due to the cream cheese in the frosting.