If you're looking for a quick and simple recipe to satisfy your loved ones, keep the trick or treaters happy or for a Halloween bake sale, then this Easy Pumpkin Traybake is here to help! Traybakes are so easy to throw together, and the decoration requires minimal effort and is easily customised to your needs. I've covered this Easy Pumpkin Traybake with a cream cheese frosting as it pairs so well with the light spiced sponge. You could use a simple vanilla buttercream too if you like. Most important of all, it's a fast bake and it's delicious of course!
How to make a Pumpkin Traybake...
To make the sponge I whisked together vegetable oil and light brown sugar. Then I added eggs and pumpkin puree. Finally I whisked in flour and spices.
I poured it into my lined tin and spread the mixture out evenly. It baked for around 25 minutes until it was golden.
While it was cooling, I made the cream cheese frosting from butter, full fat cream cheese, vanilla extract and icing sugar. I spread it all over the cooled sponge.
I decided to add some orange and bronze sprinkles to jazz up the Easy Pumpkin Traybake before slicing it into squares for serving. You could leave it bare, or add some Halloween themed sprinkles.
Where can you buy pumpkin puree in the UK?
I've found tins of pumpkin puree in the American food section of large supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsburys. I have also heard that Waitrose stock it. It's sometimes available all year round, or sometimes only from September until December. It really does depend on the supermarket with this. Keep asking your local store, you may just bug them enough to get them to stock it! You can also buy it online, I have purchased it from Amazon before, and Sous Chef also sell it. It will be a little bit more pricey, but I've found good deals by buying several cans at once (it lasts over a year usually).
Can you make pumpkin puree from scratch?
Yes! If you can’t get hold of the canned version (the two brands I known of are Libbys and Baking Buddy) then you can make pumpkin puree from scratch. A 2kg pumpkin will give you roughly 675g pumpkin puree. The good news is, if you have too much you can freeze pumpkin puree. What you need to do is slice up the pumpkin, deseed it and scoop out the flesh. You can either roast or steam the pieces until soft – use a knife to check tenderness. Allow the pumpkin to cool. Remove the flesh from the skin and then use a blender to puree the flesh. You now have pumpkin puree! It’s also great stirred into risottos or curries if you have leftovers.
The sponge was lovely and light with delicious pumpkin and cinnamon flavour, and the cream cheese frosting was of course beyond yummy, as it always is!
Recommended equipment & ingredients*
| Traybake tin | Mixing bowls | Cooling rack |
| Kitchen scales | Electric hand mixer | Pumpkin puree |
*I earn a small amount of money if you buy the products after clicking on the links. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting The Baking Explorer!
More pumpkin recipes...
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| Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake (No Bake) | Pumpkin Pie | Pumpkin Scones | Pumpkin Cheesecake Chocolate Brownies |
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| Pumpkin Spiced Baked Donuts | Pumpkin Cupcakes | Gingerbread & Pumpkin Cake Truffles | Pumpkin Loaf Cake |
Easy Pumpkin Traybake
Ingredients
For the sponge
- 225 g Light brown sugar
- 125 ml Vegetable oil
- 3 Eggs large
- 200 g Pumpkin puree
- 275 g Self raising flour
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Mixed spice
- ¼ tsp Ground ginger
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
For the frosting
- 160 g Full fat cream cheese
- 120 g Butter or baking spread
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 280 g Icing sugar
- Sprinkles of your choice optional
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, grease and line a 12" x 9" traybake tin
- To make the sponge, mix together the oil and light brown sugar until smooth
- Then whisk in the eggs and pumpkin puree
- Then whisk in the self raising flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger and nutmeg
- Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool fully
- To make the cream cheese frosting use an electric hand whisk to mix together the butter and icing sugar, when they start to come together, add the cream cheese and vanilla extract and mix until smooth
- Spread the frosting on top of the sponge, then add sprinkles of your choice
- To serve, slice into squares. Store any leftovers in the fridge and eat within 3 days
Notes
If you like this, check out more of my Traybake recipes!
Pin for later!
I'm linking this recipe up with Cook Blog Share hosted by Curly's Cooking, and Fiesta Fridays hosted by Zoale and Life Diet Health.
Cat | Curly's Cooking
These are the perfect pumpkin bake for me. I'm in the process of updating my pumpkin cake bars recipe that was in desperate need of some new photos. I made them last weekend and they didn't last very long when I took them into work. I can image how tasty these are and I bet they didn't last long either! Thanks for sharing with #CookBlogShare.
thebakingexplorer
Thanks Cat! I am not surprised your pumpkin cake bars were popular too, it's such a yummy flavour!
Antonia
Your cake looks so moist! I never think of doing a traybake cake. I need to try this out for the holidays. Thank you for sharing at Fiesta Friday!
thebakingexplorer
Thanks Antonia! Traybakes are such an easy and quick option!
Jacqui Bellefontaine
Just my type of cake I do like a good tray bake.
thebakingexplorer
Me too Jacqui!
Mayuri Patel
The cake looks so moist and perfectly baked. Tempting with the topping of cream cheese frosting.
thebakingexplorer
Thank you Mayuri! Cream cheese frosting never fails to tempt me!
Kiara
Pumpkin bars are one of my favorites
thebakingexplorer
Me too Kiara!
Rose
I can easily substitute a diary free cream cheese but don’t usually do v well
gf flour substitutes. Any suggestions?
thebakingexplorer
Hi Rose, it would be best to use a gluten free flour blend. I'm not sure what country you're in but some brands we have in the UK are Doves Farm, and also many supermarkets like Asda and Tesco do their own gluten free flour blend. In the USA I think Bob's Red Mill is a popular brand that offer a gluten free flour blend. Let me know how it goes!
Darla
I found the mix too watery/liquidy. I used pumpkin pulp, so I don't know whether that influenced it. For pulp, I recommend adding more flour until it's a bit more solid, or using butter instead of oil. I also added a bit more cinnamon, but that was just my personal taste!
thebakingexplorer
Hi Darla, yes the recipe is for pumpkin puree so if you used pulp this will have created the extra liquid you described. I would recommend using puree next time. I hope you enjoyed the cake!
tammy
I puree’d and froze a pumpkin a few weeks ago and came across your recipe and baked it at 3am. I never had pumpkin cake before but your recipe was so good i used the leftover puree to make another one! So thank you! and I love your blog!
thebakingexplorer
Thank you so much Tammy, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the cake!