Easy Pumpkin Cake with Frosting & Sprinkles
Home » COOK » Recipes » Holiday Recipes » Halloween Recipes »This Pumpkin Cake is made with canned pumpkin, cranberries, pecans, and of course pumpkin pie spice! It’s topped with frosting and lots of Halloween sprinkles. An awesome addition to a Halloween dessert table.
I’ve got more Pumpkin Recipes for you to try – right click and open these other recipes in a new tab so that you can read them after this one!
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Pumpkin Cake
This was another dessert I made for my Halloween Dinner Party – Better Late Than Never! The cake turned out wonderfully – really aromatic, sweet and moist – it went down a treat with all that tried some. By the end of our dinner party, everyone was full up, so it was saved for the next day and finished off at my parent’s Guy Fawkes party!
This cake is made with eggs, vegetable oil, canned pumpkin, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, salt, dried cranberries, and pecans. The cranberries and pecans are optional! I added about half a cup of each as I had them leftover from baking my Pumpkin Cookies.
If you can’t find pumpkin spice, it is really easy to make yourself: 1tsp of pumpkin spice = ¼ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ginger, ⅛ tsp allspice, ⅛ tsp nutmeg.
I used canned vanilla frosting (as I had some in the store cupboard), but you could make your own or use cream cheese frosting which would also taste awesome on this cake!
I preheated the oven to 175C/350F and greased a 9″ x 13″ baking pan.
You start off by placing the oil, eggs, sugar, and pumpkin into a bowl and using an electric whisk, beat together until light and fluffy.
Then sift together, the flour, spices, baking powder, and baking soda, and add to the wet ingredients. Fold together until well combined.
It was at this point I tossed in the leftover cranberries and pecans. I couldn’t tell you the quantities exactly as I just used what was left from an earlier recipe – it was about a handful or so of each? I don’t think it really matters! Maybe ½ cup if you need an exact measurement! I kept some of the pecans whole and some I chopped up a little bit.
Once combined, I poured the batter into a greased baking pan and placed it in the oven for about 35 – 40 minutes. You know when it’s cooked when you put a skewer or knife into the center and it comes out clean.
I turned the cake out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. When the cake was cooled, I then got to work with the frosting, and adding my favourite thing when making cakes…sprinkles! I bought these wonderful Halloween sprinkles by Wilton. I love that they come in little test tubes – very cute!
I spread frosting generously over the top of the cake and added a lot of sprinkles! Since this cake is so decadent, I think it would serve around 12, but you could have larger portions of cake if you wanted to!
Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plain flour in the UK
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
- 2 tsps pumpkin pie spice 1tsp = ¼ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ginger, ⅛ tsp allspice, ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda bicarbonate of soda in the UK
- ½ cup pecans can be chopped, kept whole, or a mix of both! (optional)
- ½ cup dried cranberries optional
- vanilla or cream cheese frosting canned or homemade
- Halloween sprinkles
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 175C/325F/Gas 3, and grease a 9×13" baking pan.
- In a bowl whisk egg, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Then add to the wet ingredients, and fold till combined.
- Stir in the pecans and cranberries, if using, then pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until cooked through.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- When the pumpkin cake is cold, add a generous layer of frosting and finish with Halloween sprinkles of your choice.
SUGGESTED PRODUCTS
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
For more seasonal food, check out The Ultimate List of Autumn Recipes for the Fall Season! Right-click and open a new tab to read next.
Kathy Moody
August 26, 2012 @ 4:05 am
This looks so yummy! I love the decorations. So cute.
Michelle
August 29, 2012 @ 6:14 pm
Thanks Kathy :) I’m looking forward to Halloween this year :)