This moist pumpkin bundt cake is made from scratch with pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and cloves, then topped with creamy cream cheese frosting. It’s an easy fall dessert that is as stunning to serve as it is delicious to eat.
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Favorite Pumpkin Bundt Cake
The best part about fall, if you ask me, is the smell of warm spices filling the kitchen. This cake comes out moist and stays that way for days, thanks to pumpkin puree and oil. It’s easy to make, looks beautiful, and tastes like autumn in every bite.
Adjust the frosting to your preferred drizzling consistency, and if you’re feeling extra fancy, add a few frosting flowers.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Pure Pumpkin Puree: Use a store bought can or roughly 1 ¾ cups homemade. Make sure to use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- All Purpose Flour: Gives the cake structure.
- Baking Soda: For the perfect rise
- Cinnamon and cloves: The essential spice mix. Swap these out for 1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice if preferred.
- Neutral Vegetable Oil: Canola, vegetable, or avocado oil all work well.
- Granulated White Sugar: Adds perfect sweetness and keeps the texture tender.
- Large Eggs: Room temperature eggs mix best.
- Vanilla Extract: Elevates the warm spices.
Pumpkin bundt cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour about 375g
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup oil neutral vegetable or canola oil
- 2 cups granulated white sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 (15 oz) can pure pumpkin puree about 1 ¾ cups. Do not use pumpkin pie filling
Cream Cheese frosting:
- 4 ounce cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 to 1 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C with a rack positioned in the center.
- Generously grease and flour a 10-inch (12-cup) bundt pan or use a baking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl (or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), combine the granulated sugar and oil. Beat until smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the dry flour mixture and the pumpkin puree in batches. Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture, then half of the pumpkin puree.
- Add another ⅓ of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining pumpkin puree. Finish with the final portion of the flour mixture.
- Mix on low speed just until combined and no dry flour streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Pour the cake batter evenly into your prepared bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a long wooden skewer or toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool for exactly 10 minutes in the pan.
- Carefully invert the cake onto the cooling rack and remove the pan. Allow the cake to cool completely to room temperature (about 1 to 2 hours) before frosting.
Make the frosting:
- In a medium bowl using a hand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat until well combined.
- If a thinner drizzling glaze is desired, add additional milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your preferred consistency.
- Spoon or pour the glaze evenly over the cooled cake. Decorate with toasted chopped pecans or buttercream flowers if desired.
Video
Notes
- You can use up to 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon and cloves.
- Glaze Consistency: For a pourable drizzle, start with 2 tablespoons of milk and gradually add up to 4 tablespoons until thin enough to flow easily down the sides without running completely off.
- Frosting Alternative: You can skip the cream cheese glaze entirely and simply dust the completely cooled cake with powdered sugar for a lighter treat.
Nutrition
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl (or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat together the granulated sugar and oil until smooth and combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the dry flour mixture and the pumpkin puree in batches.
- Add about ⅓ of the flour mixture, then half of the pumpkin puree. Repeat, finishing with the last portion of flour. Mix just until combined and no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
- Pour the batter evenly into your prepared bundt pan and smooth out the top. Bake as directed in the recipe card and let the cake cool down completely before frosting.
- Make the cream cheese frosting by beating the ingredients until smooth. Spoon it over the cooled cake.
Expert Tips
- Make sure to grease the bundt pan well. Use a baking spray (like Baker's Joy) or butter every crevice and lightly dust with flour.
- Make sure to cool the cake before glazing. Never apply frosting to a warm bundt cake, or the cream cheese will melt completely off the cake.
- Don't Overmix the batter. Mixing the batter on low speed just until combined keeps the cake light and tender.
Storage
- Room Temperature: If you choose to leave the cake unfrosted or only dust it with powdered sugar, it can be kept in a cake dome at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Frosted cake should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Let sliced pieces sit at room temperature for 15–20 minutes before enjoying for the best texture.
- To freeze the whole cake: Allow the unfrosted cake to cool completely. Double wrap in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature, and apply fresh glaze.
- To freeze slices: Wrap individual frosted or unfrosted slices in plastic wrap and store in a freezer-safe bag for up to 1 month.
Troubleshooting
Dense textures are typically caused by packed flour, overmixing the batter, or extra liquid in the pumpkin. To prevent that, lightly spoon your flour into the measuring cup and sweep off the excess with a flat edge instead of scooping directly from the bag. Mix the flour and pumpkin puree into the wet batter on low speed just until combined—overmixing develops gluten and yields a tough crumb. Finally, ensure you use pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix.
Dryness is usually the result of overbaking or opening the oven door too frequently, which lets heat escape and alters baking time. To prevent that, start testing for doneness at the 45-50 minute mark. If this happens, brush the warm cake generously with a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and warm water dissolved together).
This means your oven is running hot or the cake is sitting too close to the top heating element. To prevent that, always bake bundt cakes on the middle oven rack. But, if you notice the top is darkening too early while the center is unbaked, loosely tent a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the pan to shield it for the remaining bake time.
More Pumpkin Desserts
- Pecan Pumpkin Cake.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Cake.
- 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Spice Cake.
- Pumpkin Pie with Phyllo Crust.
- Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.
More Bundt Cakes
- Red Velvet Bundt Cake.
- Caramel Apple Bundt Cake.
- Carrot Bundt Cake.
- Orange Saffron Bundt Cake.
- Strawberry Shortcake Bundt Cake.
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Ali
This cake was moist and delicious, I didn’t use frosting because they ate 1/2 of the cake before I could make it. I am looking forward to try more of your recipes.
Ali
Easy to make, moist and delicious.
Caitlin
How did you get that icing to be that pink color
Amira
It was through a fall gel color collection from Wilton.
Meghan Booth
I made this great recipe in October 2019. The cake is lovely. I used less powered sugar than the buttercream called for. Wonderful smelling and tasting Bundt.
Amira
Meghan, thank you so much for showing us your lovely cake.. it looks really amazing!!
Nina
I made this, cut it in half and put some frosting in the middle as well, my family loves a lot of frosting. This was a hit.. everyone liked it.
Amira
THANK YOU!!! This was awesome, liked how you modified it that way :).
John / Kitchen Riffs
Love the shape of a bundt! And love this recipe -- looks great, and of course is nice and seasonal. Super dish -- thanks so much.
Maryam Hegazy
This looks so good and I will try to make it. We stopped using vanilla extract because we were told it has alcohol in it? Have you used the vanilla powder with this? That is what we use now (we got some from Egypt). How much would I substitute for the vanilla extract if you have tried substituting before? Thanks!
Amira
Maryam, unfortunately, you've heard it right .... All extracts that are sold in stores have alcohol in it.. very disappointing to bakers.. I know. I tried buying it in a non alcoholic liquid form from Amazon years ago and it was not flavorful at all. I buy mine from Egypt as well, they have good non alcoholic varieties there. You can use it in powder form of course. It is recommended though to substitute half the amount of extract (if recipe calls for 1 tsp extract, use 1/2 tsp powder). But from my experience vanilla powder in Egypt is much flavorful and aromatic than the ones here in the US, so a little over 1/4 or even a 1/4 in my opinion is just right. I hope this would help.
Maryam
Yes, very helpful. Thanks!
Evelyne
I adore how moist and baking is with pumpkin or squash. Your bundt looks amazing and yes those adorable fall flowers take it to the next level 🙂
Amira
Eve, I am trying my hands on some of the cake decoration tricks and this really came out fascinating :). I hope you'll try this out for your fall baking.