This pumpkin cake is a pure luxury made with whipping cream in the batter as well as in the buttercream. A light and airy butter-based cake with brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin spice mix. Perfect layer cake to adorn a festive dinner table and impress family and friends.
About this cake
This pumpkin cake is a variation on the vanilla cake which is not just popular on the blog but also among family and friends. It is my mom's favorite vanilla cake recipe that uses whipping cream in the batter. The flavor is decadently rich and moist.
I am using my homemade pumpkin spice mix as well as homemade pumpkin puree but you can use canned. The process of this cake is very simple and easy with the traditional method of creaming butter and sugar, followed by eggs and the rest of the ingredients
Today, I am using my favorite whipped cream buttercream but you can also use my no-butter cream cheese frosting or my classic cream cheese frosting which is more stable with the added butter. Alternatively, you can also try eggnog buttercream, Swiss or Italian meringue. The options for frosting are endless, see all my over 30 buttercream frosting recipes
- Prepare cake batter - 10 minutes
- Bake cake - 25 minutes
- Chill cake - 4 hours at least (preferably overnight)
- Prepare frosting - 15 minutes
- Crumb coat cake - 15 minutes
- Chill cake - 15 minutes
- Second coat - 15 minutes
- Chill cake - 15 minutes
- Final smoothing - 15 minutes
- Finishing touches
- If you plan to make the pumpkins - add an additional 15 minutes
Now I must apologize that I do not have the best picture of the cut cake. I made this for a friend's birthday as a gift and requested a picture of the cut cake so it's one taken with her phone. Not a professional picture but at least you get a glimpse inside. Sorry 😔
Ingredients and substitutes
- All-Purpose Flour - Plain all-purpose flour works great for this recipe. You do not need any cake or self-rising flour. If you have only self-raising flour on hand use it but reduce the baking powder by half.
- Unsalted Butter - I always use unsalted so I can control the amount of salt but if salted butter is all you have, use it and omit salt in the recipe.
- Brown Sugar - I love the flavor molasses from the brown sugar adds to the recipe. It also lends the cake a dark caramel-like color. You can use white sugar but it will change the taste and color of the cake. Still delicious but a little different.
- Pumpkin Puree - yes, you can use canned pumpkin puree. I am using homemade pumpkin puree
- Pumpkin Spice - You can buy this readymade from any supermarket these days. Though you can make it at home which spices you probably already have at home. See my homemade pumpkin spice mix here.
- Nutmeg - Always use freshly grated nutmeg because the flavor is best fresh.
Step by step instructions (save/pin)
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160 C / 320 F.
- Grease and line 3 x 7 inch round cakes or 2 x 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
- Dry ingredients - Sift together flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice mix, nutmeg, and salt, set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment -cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add eggs one at a time.
- Followed by the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
- Lastly, add flour mixture and whipping cream.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment to ensure you have a smooth batter.
- Divide the batter into the prepared baking pans.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert on a cooling rack and cool completely. At least a few hours.
Buttercream
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment cream butter until light and fluffy
- Add the vanilla extract and salt – combine well
- Next, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time
- Gradually add the whipping cream - Whip the buttercream until light and fluffy
- Tip- The buttercream must be whipped for a good 3 minutes or more until light and fluffy similar to the consistency of whipped cream.
Assemble
- Once cooled, use a bread knife to cut the domes off the cake layers
- Brush each layer with the cooled simple syrup.
- Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
- Top with a big dollop of cream cheese frosting - spread evenly using a straight-edge spatula.
- Top the second cake layer on top followed by more frosting and the last layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes this will prevent the layers from moving while you frost the outside of the cake.
- Spread the remaining buttercream around and top of the cake.
- Use a cake bench scraper to smooth the sides and off-set spatula for the top.
- Color ½ cup frosting with orange gel food color.
- Using a spatula place the orange frosting in little blobs all around the cake.
- Smooth with a bench scraper.
- You are looking for an almost smooth buttercream with a marbled effect.
- It's easy to get carried away with this process but it's best to not overdo this step.
Decorate
- I've used fondant pumpkins on top of this pumpkin cake. I've shown you how to make these in the video below.
- Alternatively, you can pipe remaining frosting on the top as well.
- This cake needs to be stored in the fridge because whipping cream buttercream is a perishable frosting
- Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
If properly stored, this pumpkin cake will last unfrosted for 2 to 3 days at room temperature. Once frosted it must be kept in the fridge because this buttercream is a perishable frosting. It can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 or 6 days
Yes. You can but before frosting it.Â
Freeze it on a tray for a few hours then wrap well in cling/plastic wrap, followed by a parchment paper and then aluminum foil. Thaw wrapped in the fridge for 24 hours so the condensation will stay on the papers, not the cake.
If you don’t want to make a layer cake like this one. You can
also pour this batter in a sheet 9 x 13 sheet pan – and make a pumpkin sheet cake.
Or, you can also pour the batter into a well-greased and dusted bundt pan for a pumpkin bundt cake.
In addition, this recipe can also be baked into 24 beautiful pumpkin cupcakes.
There are so many other choices for frosting. For example:
Swiss or Italian Meringue ButtercreamÂ
French or German Buttercream FrostingÂ
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
In fact, I have over 30 plus frosting recipes on this blog. And I highly recommend checking them out.
This recipe works best with eggs. However, I have an eggless vanilla cake recipe that can be used as a base to make a pumpkin cake with the addition of pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree.
Yes, you can. In fact, I have a pumpkin spice latte cake with coffee and frosted with maple frosting as well as a pumpkin spice cake without coffee and frosted with cream cheese frosting. Perhaps you may like to try that recipe.
Save this recipe on Pinterest for later. Tried my recipe? Share it with me, please.
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Pumpkin Cake with Whipped Cream Buttercream
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Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 ½ cup (310 g) All-purpose flour
- 6 oz (170 g) Unsalted butter (3 sticks) room temperature
- 1 ¼ cup (275 g) Brown sugar
- 4 Eggs
- ½ cup (120 ml) Fresh whipping cream
- 1 cup (240 ml) Pumpkin Puree
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Pumpkin Spice
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg fresh grated
- ½ tsp Salt
Whipped Cream Buttercream
- ¾ cup (180 ml) Whipping Cream
- 8 oz (226 g) Butter (2 sticks) unsalted, room temperature
- 4 cups (480 g) Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla
- ½ tsp Salt
Extra
- ½ cup (120 ml) Simple Syrup
- 7 oz (200 g) Fondant Orange and white color
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 160 C/320 F.
- Grease and line 3 x 7 inch round cakes or 2 x 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper.
- Dry ingredients - Sift together flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice mix, nutmeg, and salt, set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment -cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add eggs one at a time.
- Followed by the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
- Lastly, add flour mixture and whipping cream.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle attachment to ensure you have a smooth batter.
- Divide the batter into the prepared baking pans.
- Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert on a cooling rack and cool completely. At least a few hours.
Whipped Cream Buttercream
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment cream butter until light and fluffy
- Add the vanilla extract and salt – combine well
- Next, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time
- Gradually add the whipping cream - Whip the buttercream until light and fluffy
- Tip- The buttercream must be whipped for a good 3 minutes or more until light and fluffy similar to the consistency of whipped cream.
Assemble
- Once cooled, use a bread knife to cut the domes off the cake layers
- Brush each layer with the cooled simple syrup.
- Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
- Top with a big dollop of cream cheese frosting - spread evenly using a straight-edge spatula.
- Top the second cake layer on top followed by more frosting and the last layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes this will prevent the layers from moving while you frost the outside of the cake.
- Spread the remaining buttercream around and the top of the cake.
- Use a cake bench scraper to smooth the sides and an off-set spatula for the top.
- Color ½ cup frosting with orange gel food color.
- Using a spatula place the orange frosting in little blobs all around the cake.
- Smooth with a bench scraper.
- You are looking for an almost smooth buttercream with a marbled effect.
- It's easy to get carried away with this process but it's best to not overdo this step.
Decorate
- I've used fondant pumpkins on this cake. I've shown you how to make these in the video above
- Alternatively, you can pipe remaining frosting on the top as well.
- This cake needs to be stored in the fridge because whipping cream buttercream is a perishable frosting
- Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Â
- Use fine grain or castor sugar when preparing cake batters so it creams and dissolves easily.
- Make sure the pumpkin spice is fresh. Spices kept for too long loose flavor. I make a fresh batch of homemade pumpkin spice every year.
- Use good quality unsalted butter for baking so you can control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Grease and line the pans with parchment for easy release.
- Keep cakes moist by brushing the layers with simple syrup - simple syrup is a mixture of sugar and water boiled until the sugar is dissolved.
- Cool the cakes for a few hours before frosting or the frosting will melt on warm cakes.
- Use cake strips to bake flat cakes.
Other pans suggestions
If you don’t want to make a layer cake like this. you can- Pour this batter in a sheet 9 x 13 sheet pan – a pumpkin sheet Cake.
- You can also pour the batter into a well-greased and dusted bundt pan for a pumpkin bundt cake.
- And these can also be baked into 24 beautiful pumpkin cupcakes.
Equipment
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
Usha
Hello mam... Tried the whipped cream buttercream today..... But the frosting is not stable and it melts very soon.... May I know the reason ... Please help me shoot out the problem.... This is 3 rd time happening to me
Veena Azmanov
Usha, Sounds like you live in a hot and humid place?
Usha
Hello mam... I live in India... Bangalore.... Does gelatin stabilising help me...
Usha
I used amul dairy whipping cream(30% fat)
Veena Azmanov
If it is fresh dairy whipping cream of about 38% would be better. But you can definitely try.
Usha
Will stabilising help solve problems.... Or should I switch on to non dairy?
38% fat creams are not available here mam....
Natalie
This cake looks so festive and so fun. I really love the decoration and the colour of the glazing. And inside of the cake looks so moist and fluffy and flavorful. I would love a slice right now! You are a true cake master!
Veena Azmanov
The cake is really moist and delicious Natalie. I hope you try it. Thank you.
Swathi
You make beautiful cake, I love pumpkin cake, I need to try one I like that you used whipped cream, but I don't think mine will be as smooth as yours . Still I will try.
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Swathi. Yes, I love lightening frosting with whipped cream.
Usha
Does stabilising help me or should I switch to non dairy?
Veena Azmanov
Not sure I understand your question? If the weather is too hot perhaps it may not be a good idea to use whipped cream anyway?
Usha
Which is the stable frosting? To try in I dia here
Veena Azmanov
Most buttercreams are ok for India as long as you don't keep it out in the heat. See these all these buttercreams recipes here
Tammy
I just cannot get over the marbled effect. This is such a stunning cake, Veena! You never cease to surprise me with your creations 🙂
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, Tammy. So glad you like it.
Usha
Ya but last time my sister wanted a cake with whipped cream frosting.... I made it and sent it... It took an hour to reach her location all melted 😔... I want a stable frosting so that I can send it to my friends and family... Without a disaster... Pls help
Veena Azmanov
If you live in India, whipped cream is not going to last one hour's drive. Perhaps try the non-dairy, check it that might work.
Usha
Surely will try that and will inform u. How it worked...
April
Pumpkin cream cake is one of my favorite dishes to celebrate a lot of different holidays! It is perfect for Thanksgiving and it is great for Christmas! Thank you for sharing!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you, April. Yes, it would be perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas
Melissa
What a stunning cake! I love pumpkin in anything, especially at this time of year! I personally haven't made a pumpkin cake, but will be bookmarking this for our next family event!
Veena Azmanov
Thank you Melissa.