This is the best pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting! It is moist, comes together in one bowl, and is topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts.
We love making cakes in loaf pans and baking easy cakes, if you like easy cake recipes, you should check our apple upside down cake, apple sharlotka cake, moist honey cake, fudgy flourless chocolate cake, and our favorite marble loaf cake.
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Why this recipe works
- Topped with a dreamy cream cheese frosting.
- Have the best combination of spices and sweetness.
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Perfect for fall and the holiday season.
- Stays moist for 3 days!
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and easily.
Full measurements are in the recipe card below.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
Pumpkin puree- we like making our own pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkins. You can use either canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree, make sure that you strain the extra liquids from your fresh pumpkins.
Baking soda – to allow the bread to rise. 1 teaspoon of baking soda is what you will need for this recipe. Don't replace baking soda with baking powder!
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of this bread.
Sugar- we used granulated sugar for this recipe. You can use caster sugar as well.
Brown sugar-Â adds a nice texture and a rich flavor to the bread.
Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.
Cinnamon- Cinnamon is a must in pumpkin desserts unless you are allergic. Use ground cinnamon for this.
Spices- we like adding nutmeg and ginger for pumpkin desserts, but you can use your favorite spices like cloves, pumpkin spice, etc.
Eggs- you will need 3 large eggs for this recipe. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor. 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract is what you will need for this recipe.
Kosher salt- you will need about ½ teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
For the cream cheese frosting
Cream cheese– you will need to get your cream cheese to room temperature.
Butter– use room temperature butter.
Vanilla extract- for extra flavor.
Powder sugar– powder sugar works best for the frosting.
Instructions
Into a large mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vegetable oil, melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar, and mix with a whisk until combined.
Add the eggs and mix until combined.
Add the flour, and baking soda, and mix until just combined. Dont overmix.
Pour the batter into the parchment paper-lined loaf pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake and comes out clean.
Let the cake cool to room temperature before frosting. This step prevents the frosting to melt off the cake.
Make the frosting
Into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth. Then add ½ of the powder sugar at a time (you don’t want to be in a powder sugar cloud).
Add a pinch of salt, and the vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
Top the cake with the cream cheese frosting and make a wave pattern with an offset spatula. Top the cake with chopped nuts for an extra crunch. Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Mesure you flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the loaf cool for at least 20 minutes so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up. This cake is extra moist and melt in your mouth delicious, so it will be worth it to wait these 20 minutes.
Faq's
We like making our muffins with fresh pumpkin puree, but this is a personal preference. Using fresh pumpkin puree makes these muffins extremely tender and moist.
Usually, fresh pumpkin puree contains more liquids which makes these muffins extra moist and melt in your mouth delicious. However, canned pumpkin puree will give you pretty much the same result.
We use all-purpose flour for this cake. Cake flour will work great as well.
Yes. If you would like to consume less sugar or like less sweet pumpkin bread, reduce the amount of sugar.
Storing
This cake will last up to 2 days in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezing
This cake is very easy to freeze. After baking, let the cake cool to room temperature, transfer it into a freezer-friendly Ziploc bag, or wrap it tightly with a plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months.
To thaw: place the cake in the refrigerator overnight or place it a room temperature for a few hours.
Substitutions
There are a few substitutions that may be helpful for your diet:
Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, simply replace the flour with gluten-free flour.
Dairy-free- you can make this cake dairy-free by replacing the butter with vegan butter or using your favorite dairy-free cream cheese frosting.
Variations
Toppings- this cake can be topped with cinnamon buttercream frosting or maple cream cheese frosting. Use your favorite toppings that you like to make the most!
Add-ins- make this recipe your own and add your favorite add-ins: chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, chocolate chunks, banana slices, chopped fruit, etc.
More pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin banana muffins- These pumpkin banana muffins are moist and fluffy and filled with chocolate chips and topped with a cinnamon streusel topping.
Pumpkin snickerdoodles- These pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies are chewy and soft with crispy edges, filled with fall spices and pumpkin, and coated with cinnamon sugar.
No bake pumpkin cheesecake- This no-bake pumpkin cheesecake is creamy and velvety smooth that is made with a simple cinnamony graham cracker crust and topped with light and fluffy pumpkin cheesecake filling.
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📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Bread With Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Pumpkin bread
- 225 g Pumpkin puree
- 60 g Butter melted
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ¾ cup Brown sugar
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 2 cup Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
Cream cheese frosting
- 120 g Cream cheese
- 60 g Butter
- 2 cups Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
- Into a large mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vegetable oil, melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar, and mix with a whisk until combined.
- Add the eggs and mix until combined.
- Add the flour, and baking soda, and mix until just combined. Dont overmix.
- Pour the batter into the parchment paper-lined loaf pan and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake and comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool to room temperature before frosting. This step prevents the frosting to melt off the cake.
Make the frosting
- Into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth. Then add ½ of the powder sugar at a time (you don’t want to be in a powder sugar cloud).
- Add a pinch of salt, and the vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
- Top the cake with the cream cheese frosting and make a wave pattern with an offset spatula. Top the cake with chopped nuts for an extra crunch. Enjoy!
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Mesure you flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to eat this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the loaf cool for at least 20 minutes so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up. This cake is extra moist and melt in your mouth delicious, so it will be worth it to wait these 20 minutes.
Kasia
This time of the year I love to make pumpkin pie but this time I decided to make pumpkin Bread for the first time. It was quick and very easy to make. Came out very moist deep in flavor and instead of Cream cheese topping I melted some milk chocolate and spread it on top. It also makes a great combination, got a lot of compliments 😊 I divided a batter into two 9 x 5 loaf bread pans and baked for about 45 minutes
Ruby
A lovely moist cake with so much depth of flavour. Appreciate the metric measurements especially for us in Australia. Would you post the metric weights of flour etc please? The extra tips are very useful. Thank you.
RichandDelish
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! I'm glad you like it!
Vicki
225 g is how many cups
RichandDelish
Hi! I suggest weighing your ingredients as it's the most accurate, but it's about 3/4 cup.
Alessandra
Hi, I live in Panamá and here we wave Zapallo, it is like family of the pumpking but does not have to much flavor. Can I add more puree? It wont affect the recipe?
RichandDelish
It should work fine!