Pumpkin Spice Cake

This pumpkin spice cake has buttery vanilla cake layers, not-too-sweet cream cheese buttercream filling and lightly spiced pumpkin buttercream frosting. YUM! And I can’t wait to show you how to make these buttercream pumpkins!

Buttery cake layers

You'll only need two quick recipes to make this easy pumpkin spice cake. Start with the cake recipe and while the cakes are cooling you'll make buttercream for the filling and frosting.

The vanilla cake starts with butter and sugar, creamed together for a few minutes. The mixture should look light and creamy like this:

All of your ingredients should be at room temperature so that they mix together easily. Add eggs, vanilla for richness, and then buttermilk and oil to make it really moist. Finish with the dry ingredients: flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You'll find the full recipe below and you can toggle between measuring cups and grams for the ingredients!

Divide the batter between three 8 inch pans and bake at 325F or 160C for 35 minutes. The cake should bounce back up when you poke it. If you divide the batter between two pans instead, the cakes will take about 10 minutes longer to bake. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack.

Buttercream filling and frosting for the pumpkin spice cake

For the filling and frosting, start with my 4 Minute Buttercream. The ingredients are just butter, icing sugar or powdered sugar, vanilla and salt. Normally you’d add milk to thin this out but don’t do that for this cake. Mix for 4 minutes and it will be quite thick or stiff, which is perfect!

Scoop out one cup and add 2 tablespoons of cream cheese at room temperature. Stir it together and it will get looser or runnier. This is why you skip the milk for this recipe - you don’t want it to be too runny. Spread some onto the middle of a cake board or plate and press your first cake layer down onto it. The buttercream will hold the cake still while you frost it.

Spoon half of the cream cheese buttercream onto the top of the cake. Spread it with an offset spatula or a spoon right up to the edges. Then position the next cake layer on top. Another layer of cream cheese buttercream and then the final cake layer. 

It's important that the filling sets before you frost the cake, otherwise the layers will slide around. Put the cake into the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and set. Meanwhile, make the pumpkin frosting with the rest of the buttercream. Add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and mix together. You can make your own pumpkin pie spice with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. If you don't have those, just use cinnamon instead. I love the colour of this pumpkin buttercream!

How to frost this pumpkin spice cake

Take your cake out of the fridge or freezer and spoon about half of the buttercream on top. Spread it to cover the top of the cake, pushing it over the edges. Hold your offset spatula or palette knife at a 45 degree angle and spin the cake to smooth the frosting.

For the sides, spread the frosting by moving your offset spatula or palette knife from side to side. Completely cover the cake so there’s no naked cake showing through. This is a crumb coat - the first layer of frosting to trap any crumbs that come off the cake. This is much easier with a cold cake because room temperature cake is very crumbly.

Use the side of your offset spatula or palette knife or a cake comb to smooth this frosting. It doesn’t need to be perfect because it's going to be covered up soon. Next, put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to set this frosting. For more details on how to frost a cake, check out this tutorial on how to frost a cake.

Cover the pumpkin spice buttercream while you’re not using it so it doesn’t dry out and crust. When the crumb coat has set, cover the cake with the rest of the pumpkin buttercream. Smooth it the same way and then add some details to jazz it up. Read on for three rustic frosting ideas and how to pipe buttercream pumpkins!

Use a spoon to create three different rustic textures

With a spoon you can create all sorts of rustic textured frosting. Hold the spoon sideways and press the back against the frosting and spin the cake to make grooves going around the cake. Drag the spoon slowly upwards to cover the whole cake with texture.

For another rustic texture, hold the spoon vertically and start at the bottom, dragging the spoon gently upwards.

Or curve the spoon around in little arc motions. These rustic textures are great because nothing needs to be precise or neat! For any of them, leave the top uneven or level it by swiping sideways with your offset spatula or palette knife. Check out this tutorial for more cake decorating ideas using kitchen utensils!

How to pipe pumpkins with buttercream

Make pretty piped pumpkins with a piping bag and any star shaped piping tip. I used a #32 and a #18. Add a drop of orange food colouring to the leftover pumpkin buttercream or make a few different shades. Put the tinted buttercream into a piping bag and pipe two curves for the outer edges of a pumpkin.

Work your way in towards the middle with smaller curves. By piping the lines in this order you’ll make the pumpkin appear more rounded.

Try different sizes of pumpkins and you can experiment with different piping tips too. To make pumpkins on top of the cake, squeeze out a blob and then pipe curved lines around it.

For the stems or stalks you'll need brown buttercream. Squeeze out any buttercream left in the piping bag and add brown colouring or melted chocolate. Switch to a piping bag with a small round or star piping tip like a #4 or #16. Pipe little lines going up from each pumpkin, pausing at the top while still squeezing. This makes a wide top of the stem or stalk, instead of leaving a point or peak.

How to store and serve this pumpkin spice cake

You can keep this pumpkin spice cake in the fridge for two or three days. Make sure you take it out 2 hours before you serve it so the cake and buttercream come to room temperature. That’s when they taste the best!

If you have any leftovers, cover the cut sides of the cake with cling film or Saran Wrap. Push the plastic firmly against the cake so it doesn't dry out.

Tell me in the comments if you’re going to make this cake! And remember to save this recipe to Pinterest!

You can also watch a video of how to make this pumpkin spice cake recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Cake

---

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

• Author: Emily

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Buttery spiced vanilla cake is layered with not-too-sweet cream cheese filling and frosted with lightly spiced pumpkin buttercream.

---

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the cake:

• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
• 2 cups white sugar (granulated sugar)
• 6 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 1/2 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

For the filling and frosting:

• 2 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 lb powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/8 teaspoon pumpkin spice or cinnamon

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

To make the cake layers:

1. Using a mixer with a beater/paddle attachment (not a whisk), beat room temperature butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl once during mixing to make sure no butter or sugar is stuck at the bottom.
2. Add room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing on the lowest speed after each addition for 30 seconds. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated before adding the next egg.
3. Add vanilla and mix for about 30 seconds to combine. Add room temperature buttermilk and oil and mix on the lowest speed to incorporate.
4. In a bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. Add to the mixing bowl and mix on lowest speed to incorporate, scraping down to the bottom of the mixing bowl to check that batter is evenly mixed.
5. Grease three 8" baking pans with non-stick oil spray or butter. Divide batter equally between the cake pans.
6. Bake at 160ºC or 325ºF for 35 minutes or until the cake bounces back up when you poke it.
7. Leave cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to loosen the cakes from the edges of the pans and then turn onto a wire cooling rack. Leave to cool completely.
8. Optionally, when the cakes have cooled you can use a serrated knife like a bread knife to trim off any domed tops of the cake layers to leave them level.

To make the buttercream filling and frosting:

1. Take butter and cream cheese out of the fridge 2-4 hours before making this. Sift the sugar to remove any lumps and check that the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature.
2. In a mixer with a beater (paddle) attachment, mix butter and a quarter of the powdered sugar on the lowest speed until incorporated, about one minute.
3. Scrape down to the bottom of the mixing bowl with a spatula to loosen any butter and sugar and add the next quarter of powdered sugar and mix for another minute on low.
4. Scrape down to the bottom of the bowl, add another quarter of the powdered sugar, mix for one minute on low, scrape, and add the final quarter of the powdered sugar and salt. Mix for one more minute on low, adding the vanilla once everything is mixed together and continuing to mix until it's incorporated.
5. Scoop about 1 cup of the buttercream into a small bowl. Add cream cheese and stir until combined. Cover the bowl with cling film or Saran Wrap until you're ready to assemble the cake.
6. Add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon to the rest of the buttercream and stir until combined. Cover and set aside.

To put the pumpkin spice cake together:

1. Spread a bit of cream cheese buttercream onto the middle of a cake board or plate and press your first cake layer down to attach it. Spread cream cheese filling onto the top of the cake and then place another cake layer on top. Repeat with another layer of filling and the final cake layer.
2. Put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and set. Then spoon half of the pumpkin buttercream on top and spread with an offset spatula or palette knife to cover the cake. Use a straight edges cake comb or frosting smoother to smooth the frosting but it doesn't need to be perfect yet! Chill in the fridge for another 30 minutes or freezer for 15 minutes to set this crumb coat of frosting.
3. Spoon the rest of the pumpkin buttercream onto the cake and spread to cover the cake. Smooth with a cake comb and optionally, add texture with the back of a spoon.
4. To decorate the cake with pumpkins, add orange food colouring to the leftover pumpkin buttercream and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star shaped tip e.g. #32. Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe two curves for the outer edges of a pumpkin. Pipe curves within those, working towards the middle of the pumpkin. For pumpkins on the top of the cake, pipe a blob of buttercream and then pipe curves to cover that. For stems or stalks, add brown food colouring or melted chocolate to the leftover orange buttercream and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip e.g #4 or small star tip e.g. #16. Pipe a line on top of each pumpkin.
5. You can refrigerate this cake for 2-3 days but take out 2 hours before serving so that the cake comes to room temperature.