Pumpkin Loaf Cake

Moist spiced loaf cake made with pumpkin puree, topped with cream cheese frosting

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Cake

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 25

Servings

Calories 433kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

Pre-heat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
Mix together the light brown sugar and vegetable oil using a hand whisk, until combined
Add the pumpkin puree and eggs, and whisk in
Add the self raising flour, bicarbonate of soda and all of the spices and whisk in
Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for an hour, or until a thin skewer or cocktail stick inserted in the centre comes out clean, I usually check it after 45 minutes. Leave to cool fully either in the tin, or remove from the tin and leaving to cool on a cooling rack
To make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until smooth. Then mix in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth and combined
Next, add the cream cheese and the vanilla extract and mix in until the frosting is thick and smooth - this won't take very long so be careful not to over mix
Pipe or spread the frosting over the cooled cake and add sprinkles or other decorations, or leave plain if you prefer
Store in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 3 days

Make sure all your ingredients (particularly the eggs) are at room temperature before you start baking.
I used unsalted butter and Philadelphia cream cheese for the cream cheese frosting.
If you live in a place where pumpkin pie spice mix is easily available, then you can use 3 tsp of that instead of the mix of spices I've listed in the recipe. I live in the UK so pumpkin spice mix is not something that's sold here.
I really recommend using light brown soft sugar if you can for the cake, but if you can't get hold of it, caster sugar will work well too.
You will need a 2lb loaf tin for this recipe (you can test the size of your loaf tin by seeing how much water the tin can hold, 2lb will hold about 2 pints/1100ml of water). If you have a 1lb loaf tin, simply halve the ingredient amounts.
For easy lining of the tin, use a loaf cake tin liner.
Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50).
For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.