This wonderful moist and easy Pumpkin Bread with Cream cheese frosting is the perfect Fall cake to enjoy during the pumpkin season. Fluffy Pumpkin Loaf infused with aromatic Fall spices you love and frosted with an easy, 3 ingredients cream cheese icing that is very well balanced in sweetness (also made without butter!).
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📖 What is Pumpkin bread
Pumpkin bread is typically made during Fall and is associated with colder weather and the pumpkin season in October and November. The texture is more like a classic cake with velvety crumbs and has nothing to do with bread as such.
Pumpkin bread is technically a loaf cake that is made in a pound cake tin using classic cake ingredients such as flour, egg, and sugar. Pumpkin puree and spices eg. cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. are the main flavorings of the cake and instead of butter, often oil is used that ensures extra moistness in the cake.
Pumpkin bread can be served with a great variety of toppings eg. cream cheese frosting, apple sauce, caramel sauce, etc. My recipe will teach you how to make the best Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting!
🌟 Why this is the best recipe
- It is extremely easy – You won´t need any fancy ingredients to make this healthy Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting. The recipe comes together really easily, a totally doable from scratch. Both the mixing process of the pumpkin cake batter as well as the baking process are very simple, even for beginners
- It is super quick – I do not overcomplicate anything in this recipe! My Pumpkin bread recipe is not just easy, but quick as well, all you need to do is mix the ingredients, bake and enjoy. The recipe is the perfect choice if you want something quick and impressive that is literally ready in an hour
- It is super delicious – I never compromise on taste! This cake is super moist with fall spices everyone loves, the perfect Pumpkin bread that will blow your mind. My healthy cream cheese icing is made without butter using only a small amount of sugar, you will love it! This icing is super light and perfectly balances the Pumpkin bread
- No special equipment is needed – All you need is a Loaf tin that you probably already have at home and you are good to go! However, if you do not own a loaf tin, this cake can be made in any cake tin
- It is super versatile – The Pumpkin bread can be made with tons of different spices eg. nutmeg, ginger would fit really well with pumpkin. Orange zest can be another great idea to spice up the Pumpkin bread, I can almost smell it as I am writing about it! You can also use a different glaze, eg. my butterscotch glaze would be wonderful. Or, why not add chocolate and turn this into a Chocolate chip Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting? Feel free to experiment!
📝 Ingredient notes
For the Pumpkin bread
- Oil: This is an oil-based Pumpkin bread recipe (no butter) that keeps the cake super moist, soft, and fluffy. Oil is the best substitute for butter, in fact, it is superior in this pumpkin bread recipe. Use no flavor vegetable oil
- Sugar: I am using a combination of granulated and brown sugar (light or dark brown sugar can both work). I absolutely love the brown sugar deep molasses flavor and regularly use it in Fall theme recipes, also with pumpkin. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my sugar guide
- Egg: Room temperature as always so the ingredients can perfectly emulsify
- Flour: I am using pasty flour but AP works too, they are so-called “soft flour” which are low on protein resulting in a delicate, tender texture. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my flour guide
- Baking powder + Baking soda: Just half a teaspoon baking soda and half a teaspoon baking powder will make the Pumpkin cake tender and helps the rise
- Salt: We always need at least a large pinch of salt in any cake batter to balance the flavors
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can use the spices of your choice eg. 1.5 teaspoon ground cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc. I used my homemade pumpkin spice or even a teaspoon of vanilla extract
- Pumpkin puree: Pumpkin Bread requires good quality, intense pumpkin puree! I like making my own pumpkin puree by roasting pumpkin and blending it. Feel free to use store-bought canned pumpkin puree or learn how to make home made pumpkin puree today! One key thing to remember is that for any pumpkin dessert whether it is pie, cookie, or cake, you will need a thick pumpkin puree that is not too watery so the flavors are intense enough and the consistency is not too wet. After roasting the pumpkin and hand blending it, you might need to cook the puree - if the mixture is too watery - until some water evaporates. The same applies to store-bought.
🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post
For the cream cheese frosting
- Mascarpone: For the Pumpkin bread glaze recipe you will need mascarpone, a very rich Italian cream cheese, that is exceptionally smooth and easy to spread or whip. The flavor is milky and naturally slightly sweet. Use the full-fat version. Many cream cheese frosting recipes call for butter, however, once you make it with mascarpone, you will never want to make it with butter ever again! I prefer the taste as well as the texture of the mascarpone and it is a way healthier cream cheese frosting due to less sugar. It has a somewhat mild, but milky very natural taste profile, and most importantly it does stay light even in the fridge, unlike butter. Do not overbeat though while whipping, stop as soon as it becomes creamy and fluffy to avoid grainy, soupy texture
- Cream cheese: For the Pumpkin loaf with cream cheese icing you will of course need some cream cheese. I always use full-fat Philadelphia tub (the one that is available in Europe) when I state cream cheese in my recipes, it makes the cream cheese frosting refreshing, and creamy. It is easy to cream and very pleasant in taste. I usually beat it with a hand mixer for a minute or two, just until it becomes fluffy and increases a bit in volume to avoid over whipping (similarly to mascarpone)
- Powdered sugar: Powder sugar or icing sugar is the first choice when it comes to whipping up the frosting. The question I often get is whether the quantity is a typo. NO, it´s not! You do not actually need a lot of sugar when you are using mascarpone! Instead, let the cream cheese and mascarpone shine and focus on the technique - that I will teach you in this recipe
🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post
👩🍳 How to make this recipe
1. How to make crazy moist Pumpkin Bread
This Pumpkin bread is the most amazing moist, fluffy loaf cake with velvety crumbs, incredibly delicious. It is also easy to prepare, the key is not to overwork the batter.
- Unless you are using canned pumpkin, make the pumpkin puree and DYI pumpkin spice in advance
- Prepare your Loaf pan. Make sure you either use place parchment paper inside the tin or butter and flour it properly. The quantity stated in the recipe makes a standard size 1 pound loaf tin that is 12x22cm / 5x8 inches.
- Pre-heat the oven to 175 C / 347 F (no fan). Use a Digital oven thermometer so you are aware of your real oven temp
- Ingredients must be all measured with a Digital scale
- Eggs and all other ingredients must be at room temperature
- In a large bowl, whip oil, egg, and the 2 different kinds of sugar for a few minutes until fluffy, then fold pumpkin puree in
- Sift dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices) before adding to the mixture
- Dry ingredients must be folded in by hand (using rubber spatula). Do not use a mixer at this point
- Pour Pumpkin cake batter into your Loaf pan
As you can see the mixing process of this super moist Pumpkin bread recipe is easy and quick. The secret behind making it crazy moist is using 1. the right ingredients eg. thick pumpkin puree, oil 2. on the right temperature (everything room temp) 3. with the right mixing technique!
💡 Top Tip: On top of the cake apply a very thin butter line (with the help of a pastry bag)– this will help the Loaf cake to open up nicely and evenly instead of breaking in a random way
2. How to bake
First of all, never bake any cake without properly pre-heating your oven first, so start with that before even preparing the cake batter. This Pumpkin bread will be baked at 175 C / 347 F (no fan). Preheat the oven +20C / 68F as the oven temperature will drop when you open the door. Always use Digital oven thermometer to avoid over-baked crumbly or under-baked cakes.
Each oven is different so you might need to adjust the time slightly but in my oven, I bake the Pumpkin cake for 45 minutes. It is ready when the cake has a nice rise and when a toothpick is inserted, it comes out clean. Make sure that the middle part is not raw when doing the toothpick test.
Remove cake from the oven, then wait 5 minutes until Pumpkin bread slightly cools in the loaf tin. Remove it from the pan and then let it fully cool on a cooling rack.
💡 Top Tip: Let the Pumpkin bread come to room temp before frosting, in fact, never frost any cake while it is still warm as the frosting would just melt
3. How to make cream cheese frosting icing for pumpkin bread
The topping for Pumpkin bread is my go-to cream cheese frosting without butter; it is made of whipped cream cheese, mascarpone, and a small amount of icing sugar whipped until fluffy, pipeable consistency. It makes the cream cheese frosting super fluffy and turns the Pumpkin bread not too sweet, in fact quite refreshing!
Whip the mixture with an electric hand mixer for a minute or two until it reaches a creamy, fluffy consistency then stop – that is where a lot of people make the mistake. Bear in mind that the frosting won´t get stiffer after this point, in fact, if you overbeat it, it will get only runnier then it will break. I don´t use my stand mixer to whip cream cheese frosting since it is really easy to overwhip it.
Well, that is it! Making the Cream cheese icing for Pumpkin bread is super simple and quick, and now you learned how to make it healthier, without tons of sugar!
💡 Top Tip: There are 3 rules to follow while making this cream cheese frosting without butter: 1. sift the powdered sugar 2. use full-fat cream cheese and mascarpone 3. do not over whip the ingredients, stop after it gets fluffy (1-2 minutes)
4. How to make the piping decoration
I used a middle-size round nozzle tip and a teaspoon to make the decoration on the Pumpkin bread, it is a super easy yet creative way to decorate any loaf cake!
- Make sure that your Pumpkin bread is chilled and not warm
- Move cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle tip
- Pipe one "row " at once on the shorter side of the loaf
- Then grab a teaspoon and gently press the back of the teaspoon on the piping pattern creating the effect you see in the picture
- Pipe another row of frosting
- Repeat the process with the teaspoon
- Continue until you got to the end of the loaf
- Decorate with pumpkin seeds
Voila, your Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting is ready to be served!
🎓 Expert tips
- Always make sure that your cake ingredients are all at room temperature for proper emulsification
- For the frosting, full-fat ingredients (mascarpone, Philadelphia cream cheese) whip up perfectly without using butter or tons of powdered sugar
- When whipping the cream cheese frosting make sure you do not overwhip the cream. Once the mixture is fluffy, stop whipping as it will only become runnier.
- Feel free to experiment with spices, eg. pumpkin spice mix, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla bean, etc. all great fit for the season. There are so many variations to make Pumpkin spice loaf with cream cheese frosting!
- Apply an appropriate cake pan preparation (butter + flour) or, use baking paper inside the tin
- Before baking, on top of the cake apply a very thin butter line (with the help of a pastry bag)– this will help the Loaf cake to open up nicely and evenly
- Avoid over-baking your Pumpkin bread as that would result in a crumbly texture. When applying the toothpick check, focus on the middle part of the cake where it is the highest
- Instead of the cream cheese frosting, why not drizzle the cake with a spoonful of delicious homemade pecan butter?
🥣 Equipment notes
First and foremost make sure you measure the ingredients with the help of a Digital scale.
For whipping the egg and sugar I suggest using an Electric hand mixer and then switching to a Rubber spatula when incorporating the dry ingredients. For the cream cheese frosting, I strongly advise not to use a Stand mixer as it is very easy to over whip the frosting with that, instead use a less powerful Electric hand mixer and pay close attention to the consistency while whipping.
For baking the Pumpkin loaf you will need a Loaf pan, the quantity stated in the recipe makes a standard size 1 pound loaf pan that is 12x22cm / 5x8 inches. Make sure you apply appropriate cake pan preparation as per below:
❓Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can, however, you will need to adjust the ingredient quantities and baking time accordingly. Having said that, the larger the cake the riskier that it won´t bake throughout, so anything bigger you might find difficult to properly bake
Most probably yes, you can, however, you can´t just leave out / change one ingredient without reformulating the entire recipe. When one ingredient changes, some other ingredients need to be changed too in order to keep the balance in the texture and flavor. Sadly, I am not able to provide substitutes for all sorts of allergies and diets.
A few reasons can cause dry, crumbly texture on your Pumpkin bread 1. ingredients not measured incorrectly eg. too much flour added to the mixture 2. inappropriate mixing technique eg. over mixed cake batter 3. over baked meaning it dried out too much
Probably the loaf would have needed more baking time which is either because it was taken out of the oven too soon or perhaps your oven under-heat. Consider investing in an inexpensive Digital oven thermometer if you tend to struggle with the baking part.
Another issue that can cause raw texture is measuring the ingredients inappropriately eg. adding less flour to the recipe. Use a Digital scale during baking, cups are not an accurate way of measuring for consistent results.
I recommend making cream cheese frosting for pumpkin bread, but you can also try maple glaze, chocolate glaze, butterscotch glaze, or even coffee glaze.
Once the Pumpkin bread is baked, let it cool before applying the cream cheese frosting. Any leftover cake can be stored in an air-tight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for 3-4 days. I suggest you cover the dessert so it does not absorb any smell from the fridge or from the kitchen.
You can totally freeze Pumpkin Bread however I suggest decorating with the cream cheese icing after thawing.
🍰 Other Bread and Loaf cake recipes
🎃 Other Pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese frosting
Ingredients
Pumpkin Bread
- 180 g (1½ cups) AP flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1½ teaspoon Pumpkin spice store-bought or make your own pumpkin spice
- 75 g (⅓ cups) Granulated sugar
- 75 g (⅓ cups) Brown sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 120 g (½ cups) Vegetable oil
- 200 g (¾ cups) Pumpkin puree Home made pumpkin puree recipe in.
Cream cheese frosting without butter
- 150 g (⅔ cups) Cream cheese full fat Philadephia
- 50 g (⅕ cups) Mascarpone full fat
- 25 g (3½ tablespoon) Powder sugar sifted
US customary cup measurement is an indicative figure only. Measure the ingredients with a digital scale by weight (gram). Baking is art but also science which requires precision and accuracy.
Instructions
Pumpkin Loaf Cake
- Unless you are using canned pumpkin, make pumpkin puree and DYI pumpkin spice in advance as per instructions.
- Prepare your Loaf pan (12x22cm / 5x8 inches)
- Eggs and all other ingredients must be on room temperature
- In a large bowl oil, egg and the 2 different kinds of sugar should be beaten with an Electric hand mixer for few minutes until fluffy, then fold pumpkin puree in
- Sift dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices) before adding to the mixture
- Dry ingredients must be folded in by hand (using Rubber spatula). Do not use a mixer at this point
- Apply a thin butter line on top. See picture above at the tips section
- Bake for 45 min or until skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean
- Cool the Pumpkin Bread on Cooling rack
Cream cheese frosting
- Make the cream cheese frosting by beating cream cheese, mascarpone and icing sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Use an Electric hand mixer (no Stand mixer) to avoid over beating as it can get runny, then break if beating for too long
Decoration
- Move frosting into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle tip. Pipe one "row " at once then grab a teaspoon and gently press the teaspoon on the piping pattern creating the effect you see on the picture. Pipe another row of frosting and repeat the process with the teaspoon. Continue until you got to the end of the loaf then decorate with pumpkin seeds
Notes
- All ingredients must be on room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, pumpkin puree etc.
- For the best taste and texture make sure that your pumpkin puree is not watery. Cook it for a few minutes if necessary so some water evaporates. Make your own pumpkin puree using my instructions.
- For the frosting use full fat mascarpone and full fat cream cheese - so it will whip up easily without using a lot of powdered sugar
- Digital scale is required for consistent, happy baking experience:)
- Do not overwork the cake batter, after the wet ingredients whipped up, switch to a rubber spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients
- On top of the cake batter before baking apply a very thin butter line – this will help the Loaf cake to open up nicely and evenly instead of breaking in a random way in the oven
- Use parchment paper in your Loaf tin so the Pumpkin Bread can easily be removed after baking or butter and flour it
- Always pre-heat your oven and consider using a digital oven thermometer for the best results
- Baking this Pumpkin bread takes 45 minutes in my oven however focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick check (it should come out clean) to avoid raw cake
- When whipping the cream cheese frosting make sure you do not over whip the ingredients. Once the mixture is fluffy, stop whipping as it will only become runnier. Do not use stand mixer for making cream cheese frosting as it is very easy to over whip frosting with it
- Only frost room temperature or chilled loaf, never frost hot loaf
Anne
I decided to try this recipe last week because of all the tips and explanations and the recipe did not disappoint! It’s the most delicious pumpkin bread with very must crumbs, my family loved it!!
Eileen
The recipe indicated the following which I think one of it should be baking soda.
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Baking powder
I do not have Mascarpone, can it replace it with 50g cream cheese full fat Philadephia?
Thank you
Kata
Thanks for your note, just fixed it!
Re Mascarpone, it gives extra creaminess and a milder taste but full fat cream cheese should work too. Let me know how it goes 🙂