Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese frosting

This wonderful, moist, and easy Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting is the perfect Fall sweet bread to enjoy during the pumpkin season. Fluffy pumpkin loaf has velvety crumbs infused with aromatic Fall spices and a super easy 3 ingredient cream cheese frosting. It is very well-balanced in sweetness, super moist, and also made without butter!

This recipe was first shared on the blog back in 2021. Since then, I've updated it with new photos, added helpful baking tips, and included several flavor and ingredient substitution options.

Best pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting recipe

You won't need any fancy ingredients to make this pumpkin bread. The quick recipe comes together easily and is suitable for baking beginners.

All you need is some basic pantry essentials, common baking equipment, and a short amount of time. It's a quick and easy recipe, but I never compromise on taste!

I use both brown sugar and white sugar to get a richer and more caramel taste, and the fluffy cake-like texture is irresistible.

This spiced pumpkin bread is so tender and full of that iconic pumpkin pie spice flavor that everyone loves. The frosting is super light and fluffy, and the rich and tangy cream cheese perfectly balances the pumpkin bread flavor.

This is one of my all-time favorite Fall pumpkin desserts for a reason!

The bread batter comes together easily

Line your loaf pan with parchment paper or grease it with butter and dust with a light coating of all-purpose flour. This will prevent it from sticking! I am using a 9x5 inches / 22x12 cm loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whip the oil, room-temperature eggs, and both kinds of sugar for a few minutes, just until fluffy. Then, fold or mix in the pumpkin puree.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spices into the wet ingredients.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture by hand using a rubber spatula. Do not use the mixer at this point. Only fold them until they are just combined into a batter; do not overmix.

Pour the pumpkin cake batter into your prepared loaf pan and apply a very thin butter line down the center with the help of a pastry bag. This will help the loaf cake to open up nicely and evenly as it bakes in the oven.

Now it is time to bake

Be sure to preheat the oven to 175 C / 347 F (no fan) before you begin so it is at the correct temperature when you are ready to bake your homemade pumpkin bread.

Bake it at 175 C / 347 F for 45 minutes. It is ready when the cake has a nice rise, and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove the baked pumpkin bread from the oven and wait for 5 minutes to allow it to cool slightly in the loaf tin. Then, remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a wire cooling rack before decorating.

Whip up the cream cheese frosting

Sift the powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and whip it together with the cream cheese and mascarpone using an electric hand whisk for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. You can use a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, but this makes it much easier to overwhip, so I do not recommend it.

Move the cream cheese frosting into a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle tip and pipe a row of small mounds of frosting onto the pumpkin bread. Then, gently press a teaspoon onto the piping pattern to create the effect you see in the pictures.

Repeat the process until you have decorated the whole loaf, and then scatter with pumpkin seeds (optional).

Want to store the bread for later?

Any leftover pumpkin bread can be stored in an air-tight container either at room temperature or in the fridge for 3-4 days. But it usually disappears much faster than this!

You can easily freeze pumpkin bread; I first double-wrap it in plastic food wrap and aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Do not decorate it until you defrost it. The cream cheese frosting can go grainy after freezing, so I do not recommend it.

There are many delicious flavor variation options

This pumpkin bread can be made with different spices to suit your tastes. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg or ginger and perhaps a teaspoon of grated orange zest or vanilla extract.

You can also add some extra texture by adding finely chopped nuts to the pumpkin cake batter before baking. Pecans and walnuts both work so well with pumpkin and other Fall flavors.

You can also use a different decoration instead of cream cheese frosting. For a super decadent finish, try my whipped chocolate ganache frosting.

My butterscotch glaze, coffee glaze, maple glaze, or chocolate glaze recipes will all taste delicious, too. You could even drizzle a spoonful of homemade pecan butter on top! The homemade streusel topping is my other favorite way to bring extra crunchiness to the top.

There are so many ways to adapt this pumpkin loaf bread recipe to suit you once you have mastered it.

If you need to substitute the ingredients, do it wisely

When making substitutions in baking, it is important to consider the ingredient's role and understand that your finished baked goods may have a different taste and texture.

Sadly, I cannot provide substitutes for all sorts of allergies and diets, but you can read my baking guides to see what swaps can be made.

You could, for example, use one of these egg substitutes for an eggless cake. However, remember that pumpkin bread will have a different result than egg products.

Read my flour guide to see what other types of flour you could use, like gluten-free flour. Check out my mascarpone cheese substitute guide in case you have run out or can't find any.

Naturally, there is no butter in this pumpkin bread recipe, and oil is the best substitute for butter here! It makes the pumpkin loaf wonderfully moist and means it will not go hard. Use a flavorless oil like vegetable oil.

Some more expert tips

1. Always make sure that your cake ingredients are all at room temperature before you begin for proper emulsification. This might mean taking the eggs out of the refrigerator ahead of time.
2. Only use full-fat ingredients (mascarpone and Philadelphia cream cheese) for the frosting.
3. Do not skip the salt, as it is essential to enhance the flavors and balance the sweetness! While it might seem odd to add salt to a dessert, I promise you it makes sense.
4. Do not overwhip the frosting, or it can become runny. Only whip cream cheese frosting until fluffy, which takes around 1-2 minutes.
5. Either line your baking tin with greaseproof paper or prepare it by greasing it with butter and dusting it with a fine coating of all purpose flour to prevent it from sticking.
6. I find it can help to preheat the oven to +20C / 68F higher than the specified temperature to compensate for the drop in heat when you open the door.
7. Overbaking your pumpkin bread can result in a dry and crumbly texture. Use the toothpick test on the middle part of the cake where it is the highest. It should come out dry. If it still has batter on it, the pumpkin bread needs a little longer in the oven.
8. Wait until the pumpkin bread has completely cooled before decorating, or it can melt the frosting.

What equipment to use

Always measure ingredients by the gram using a Digital scale for precision. Baking is a science, and you will get better, more consistent results this way.

I recommend using an Electric hand mixer to combine the wet ingredients and then switching to a Rubber spatula when incorporating the dry ingredients. Use the electric hand mixer to whip the frosting rather than a stand mixer. Using a stand mixer runs the risk of overmixing!

You will need a 22x12 cm, 9x5 inch loaf pan to bake this easy pumpkin bread recipe. Allow it to cool on a wire rack after baking.

Use a Digital oven thermometer to ensure you are baking at the right temperature. Most baking mistakes happen when the oven is too hot or too cold!

Try some of my other pumpkin dessert recipes

If you enjoyed my pumpkin spice bread with cream cheese frosting, try some of these other recipes next.

• Pumpkin banana muffins
• Puff pastry pumpkin turnovers
• Baked pumpkin spice donuts
• Pumpkin pie with sweetened condensed milk
• Pumpkin hand pies

Have you tried this recipe?

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