This is a simple recipe for a moist spiced pumpkin sheet cake with a homemade cheese cheese frosting.
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Once upon a time there was a recipe blog that I loved called Tammy’s Recipes. It was super simple and for most of the recipes there weren’t even any pictures. At the bottom, Tammy reviewed each of her own recipes and usually gave them a 10/ 10. Pretty reasonable. Anyway, the best recipe on that blog was this pumpkin sheet cake.
I made it every single year without fail with only a few tiny tweaks. One year I went to go look it up, and the blog was gone. There was a Facebook page called Cooking with Tammy, but that something else. No more Tammy’s Recipes.
Luckily, I had printed it out and the recipe was somewhere in the depths of my recipe binder. The print date on it is 2008. I am republishing it here so that I have it forever and so that you can make it too. Please print it. You never know when I’ll disappear.
If Tammy is out there, I hope she’s okay, and I hope she doesn’t mind.
This recipe is very simple and is served right out of the pan… a cozy and unpretentious dessert. If you want to get fancy, it could certainly be baked in 8 inch cake pans and layered. You would definitely want to double the cream cheese frosting, as there is none left over.
Yes there is a lot of sugar, oil, and eggs in this cake. That is what makes it moist. I have tweaked the leavening and spices from the original recipe and I think it is better this way.
Baking pumpkin sheet cake, step by step
Make sure you fully combine the eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin before adding the dry ingredients. Once you add the flour, you want to mix as little as possible.
Use a jelly roll pan for baking. You want a shallow cake and the jelly rolls pan is the perfect thickness. When you remove the cake from the oven, it might look a little uneven. Just let it cool and it will even out over the next few minutes.
Make sure all your icing ingredients are at room temperature before mixing to avoid lumps.
All that’s left to do is frost and serve!
Pumpkin sheet cake recipe and video
Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups 1 (15 oz) can pureed pumpkin
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Frosting
- 5 tablespoons melted butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 dash vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray 10 x 15 jelly roll pan with vegetable oil cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
- Beat pumpkin, sugar, and oil until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time and beat until blended, scraping down bowl as necessary. Mix dry ingredients sepearately and add them 1 cup at a time, blending on low after each addition.
- Pour batter in to prepared pan, gently spreading to smooth it out.
- Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. After 15 minutes of cooling, cover with clean tea towel.
- After cake is cooled, make icing: blend butter, cream cheese, and vanilla with mixer until fluffy. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
- Spread icing on cake and serve directly out of the pan. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Looking for more simple fall desserts?
Caramel Apple Cobbler is about a thousand times easier than apple pie but just as delicious.
Try my soft molasses cookies, which can perfect any time from fall into Christmas.
Apple Bundt cake with cider glaze is a bit fancier and super delicious.
Elle says
https://web.archive.org/web/20171213070918/http://tammysrecipes.com:80/homemade_wheat_bread
Hi!
You can find some of her recipes, here.
Katie Shaw says
thanks Elle!
Tammy L says
Of course I don’t mind. <3
Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says
I miss your blog SO much!!!!
Lawrence says
I am so ready for cooler weather and the pumpkin recipes of fall! Bring it on. I set up a new fire pit off my patio Sunday while it was pushing 100 degrees here in Charlotte, NC. But, still, I know the cool breezes are on their way.
That does look super tasty!
Katie Shaw, Heart’s Content says
I am ready too! It’s still really hot here also and I am super over it.