The ultimate pumpkin pound cake, perfect as a fall bake or anytime if you're a year-round pumpkin lover! Simple and delicious, perfect with a quick vanilla glaze topped off with chopped pecans.
So before I get ahead of myself, this cake does not HAVE to be made as a bundt cake. The recipe will make two standard size loaves of pound cake or one large (9" or 10") round cake. It can even be used for about 2 dozen cupcakes (dependent on size). But, who doesn't love a beautiful bundt! Especially for the holidays.
Ingredients for Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake
My pumpkin pound cake is an adaptation of my Thrifty Pound Cake. If you've followed my blog for a while, you might notice that I love pound cake in all forms - it is always my go to bake and great for flavour adaptations! But the base, will always be my Grandma's classic.
For the pumpkin version, you'll need:
- Unsalted butter - softened at room temperature.
- Sugar - a mixture of white sugar and brown will compliment the pumpkin and spice flavours.
- Eggs - large eggs at room temperature work best.
- Vanilla extract
- Yoghurt - either plain or Greek style yoghurt will work well in this recipe. Alternatively you can substitute with buttermilk or soured cream.
- Pumpkin puree - the star of the show when you're dealing with pumpkin cake! This needs to be pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Flour - all purpose flour or plain flour.
- Baking soda and baking powder
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
Pumpkin Pound Cake Process
The process is the same as my other pound cakes. It can be whipped up in a single bowl with just a whisk, but for ease, I'd recommend using:
Equipment
- A large mixing bowl
- Medium bowl for mixing dry ingredients
- Electric hand whisk
- Spatula
- Sieve
Mixing It All Together
- Begin by creaming the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla.
- Next, add in the pumpkin puree and yoghurt, blending into the batter.
- Meanwhile, in a separate medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients - flour, leavening agents and spices. Sift this into the large mixing bowl of wet ingredients and beat until just combined.
Baking Pumpkin Bundt Cake
This recipe makes enough batter for a classic Bundt pan. I use the original style Bundt pan, which has a 12 cup capacity.
Greasing a Bundt pan is a bit of a messy process. It's best accomplished with some patience and spare softened butter. Using your hand, ensure that you grease each edge well and then flour the pan.
Once prepared, pour your batter into the pan and spread evenly. To ensure a nice even bake, use a butter knife and swirl this through the batter.
Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 1 hour - checking regularly after about 50 minutes. You'll be looking for a skewer inserted in the thickest part of the bundt to come out clean.
Finally, remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Quick Vanilla Glaze for Pumpkin Bundt
To top off an easy pumpkin pound cake, an equally easy glaze! Glazes are great for bundt cakes since these mean you don't have to try frosting the shape of the cake. It also drips and leaves elegant accents to the ridges of the decorative bake.
My vanilla glaze is just three ingredients:
- Powdered confectioners sugar (or icing sugar) - sifted is best to ensure you avoid lumps, but not absolutely necessary with good whisking.
- Vanilla extract
- Milk - I always use whole (full fat) milk for baking and cakes, but this will also work with semi skim (2%).
Simply whisk the ingredients together. You can control the consistency by adding more milk (for a thinner glaze) or more icing sugar (for a thicker glaze).
The measurements I've given worked to give a fairly thick but generally pourable glaze. This may vary dependent on the brand of powdered sugar you are using and the humidity in your kitchen though.
Top off with a handful of chopped pecans (or other nuts) for a nice bit of texture!
FAQs for Pumpkin Pound Cake
My light and fluffy pumpkin cake recipe keeps very well, staying soft and moist for several days. It is a great make ahead pumpkin cake recipe, and can easily be prepared a couple of days before serving without losing out on quality.
So there are loads of options for frosting this pumpkin bundt cake. My recipe includes a quick and easy option for a vanilla glaze with chopped pecans.
Alternatively, pumpkin cake goes well with these other icing recipes:
- Cream cheese frosting
- American buttercream
- Cinnamon buttercream
- A simple dusting of powdered sugar
For any of these, a sprinkle of chopped pecans or walnuts will add a nice additional texture and accent.
Absolutely! Pumpkin pound cake cake easily be frozen. Once baked, wait for this to cool completely. Then, for best results, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap/cling film. Wrap this again in aluminium foil or place in a freezer safe bag to store in the freezer for up to three months.
When needed, defrost at room temperature (best done overnight) before serving.
If you like this recipe, you might also like other pumpkin bakes:
Pumpkin Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1½ cups superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar (muscovado sugar) firmly packed
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup plain yogurt alternatives: buttermilk, soured cream, Greek style yogurt
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 cups all purpose flour or plain flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
Ingredients for Optional Vanilla Glaze and Chopped Pecan Topping
- 1¼ cup powdered sugar or icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ tablespoon whole milk
- ½ cup roughly chopped pecans
Instructions
- Begin by preheating your oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and preparing your Bundt cake pan. Grease and flour this ensuring that you get into all the corners and edges.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla, beating well after each addition.
- Next, add the pumpkin puree and yoghurt to the large mixing bowl and beat to combine.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Then sift this into the large mixing bowl with the rest of the batter. Beat this until just combined and use a spatula to stir through.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and smooth evenly. This can be accomplished using a butter knife to swirl lightly through the cake batter.
- Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for about 1 hour, checking for a skewer inserted into the thickest part of the cake to come out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Optional Topping: If making the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, vanilla and milk. Depending on your desired consistency, you may want to add more sugar or more milk. Pour this over the cake and sprinkle chopped pecans.
Donna
This cake had a good flavor but was on the dry side .Maybe increasing the pumpkin purée to 1 cup would help?
Liz Mincin
Oh no! I'm so sorry you found it a bit dry! I'd be hesitant to double the pumpkin puree - it might make the cake a bit too dense. But I'll have to do some testing 🙂