Pumpkin Cake

The warm colours of autumn are a highlight of the season, and this Pumpkin Cake Recipe captures everything that’s wonderful about autumn.

There’s the pumpkin, of course, which comes into peak season as the weather starts to turn cool.

The maple cream cheese frosting and spiced crumble which sit atop this Pumpkin Cake also help to make it a perfect afternoon treat as the days start to fade a little earlier in autumn. 

Choosing a pumpkin

Pumpkins, which are technically a fruit rather than a vegetable, should have “thick, unbroken skin” and “feel heavy for their size” according to the experts.

Once cut, look for “moist-looking interior and brightly coloured flesh.”

Pumpkin Cake: the ingredients

To make this cake, you’ll need:

• butter
• caster sugar
• boiled and mashed pumpkin
• eggs
• salt
• golden syrup (or light corn syrup, honey, agave or molasse)
• SR flour (or all-purpose flour with baking powder added)
• sultanas.

To make the maple frosting, you’ll also need:

• cream cheese
• butter
• icing sugar
• maple syrup.

And, finally, for the spiced crumble topping, you’ll need these ingredients:

• rolled oats
• sliced natural almonds
• cinnamon
• brown sugar.

All quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Making Pumpkin Cake

The pumpkin really is the star of this cake. A sweet and flavourful pumpkin is perfect for baking cake.

The maple cream cheese frosting and spiced crumble add another layer of flavour to this Pumpkin Cake.

You can, though, spice things up even more by adding 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves to the cake mixture.

You could also substitute the caster sugar for brown sugar for a richer, more autumnal, colour and flavour.

Step-by-step instructions for making this cake can be found below in the recipe card.

Nana Ling’s Pumpkin Cake recipe

Keep scrolling for the tested and tweaked version.

(And if you have an abundance of pumpkin, you might like to also check out the Pumpkin Croquettes recipe.)