A combination of pumpkin cake and carrot cake; a moist and flavorful layer cake filled with carrots, pumpkin, and warm spices and finished with tangy cream cheese frosting. A beautiful dessert for Thanksgiving or any fall occasion. VIDEO below!
Is it safe to say that the holiday season is upon us? Halloween is in a week and after that there’s no turning back.
This Pumpkin Carrot Cake has been part of our Thanksgiving dessert spread for the last several years and this year will be no exception. When I think of this cake I automatically think “Thanksgiving”, but, there’s no reason something this good should only be served on a special occasion.
Which is why on a random, cloudy Sunday in October I made this triple layer, fall scented, cream cheese smothered cake for no reason at all.
Yes, you read that right. No reason at all. It was glorious (and a tad indulgent). My family of four ate our fair share of the cake and then I sent the leftovers with my husband to work. It was gone in record time.
This cake is always met with rave reviews.
The Best Pumpkin Carrot Cake
What makes this cake so great? It’s tender and moist from pumpkin puree, crushed pineapple, and buttermilk. Pumpkin pie spice adds warm spices that will remind you of a pumpkin pie.
The sweetness of the cake gets balanced by the tangy cream cheese frosting. I covered the outside of the cake in toasted walnuts, which add a great crunch, but feel free to leave them off if you’d prefer.
Your guests/family/friends/co-workers/neighbors will devour every last bite of this beautiful cake.
So now you have two options: Bookmark this cake for Thanksgiving (or any other holiday celebration) OR just go ahead and bake it right now.
Forget to buy buttermilk? This Buttermilk Substitute works beautifully in this cake.
You might also like:
- Pineapple Carrot Cake
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes (with brown sugar cream cheese frosting!)
- Carrot Cake Cookies
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Recipe
Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups canned pumpkin puree
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 cup grated carrots, (about 2 medium carrots see note)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 12 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2-4 teaspoons milk
- 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts, optional
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease two or three 9-inch cake pans, and line the bottoms with a round of parchment.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt.
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat buttermilk, eggs, pumpkin, sugars, oil, vanilla, pineapple, and carrots until well combined. Slowly add flour mixture, beating until the flour is fully incorporated in the wet ingredients. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans (see note). Tap the pans on the countertop a few times to remove air bubbles.
- If using two cake pans, bake for approximately 35 minutes. If using three cake pans, bake for 25-28 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
- Beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract for several minutes, until smooth and creamy. Add milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.
- Using a butter knife or offset spatula, frost the cooled cake. Press chopped walnuts onto the sides of the cake. Transfer to the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!You might also like:
Sharon Chen
This cake looks perfect in every angle! I want to try it, too! 🙂
Esther
This looks so good. I am pinning this and might make it soon.
Brittany
Yum! This looks so good! I love pumpkin anything!
Khadija
Made this cake for my sister’s birthday, everyone at the party said it was the best cake they ever had. It is so good moist and delicious . I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter and nuts to the batter and raisins. I am making again for my husbands birthday
Celebrating Sweets
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed it. 🙂
Carol
I made this cake yesterday (11/6/16) for a friend’s birthday who likes all the main ingredients. If I had to toss all dessert recipes except one, this would be the keeper. DELICIOUS and MOIST. My friends liked it and I had four waitresses at the restaurant line up for a piece. One waitress said it was the best cake ever and “not too sweet”. People commented how you could taste each flavor–pumpkin, carrot, pineapple and coconut. It looked beautiful too, very much like yours, and appropriate for a special occasion. Something like Mom would have made for family celebrations.
I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour and 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum. Perfect.
Was not able to make a trial run of this cake and any worries were unfounded. Was it going to be done because it was so moist? Yes, few to no crumbs upon testing with a toothpick was fine. Was it overdone because the top looked so dark? No. Was it going to be moist enough if I served it within a few hours (seems some cakes taste better later in the day)? Absolutely. The layers were rounded out of the oven–how would the two layers stack together? They cooled to perfectly flat for easy assembly and decorating. Any trouble getting the cooled cake out of the well buttered and parchment bottom pan? Fell right out and the regular Wilton pan (not a non-stick) washed easily. And…I didn’t have a cake carrier so the frosted cake was uncovered a few hours before serving and the frosting was still soft.
I would be proud to call this my “signature cake” that I bring to all gatherings. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Carol. Thank you for your kind comment. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this cake, it is a favorite of mine too. Thanks for sharing your gluten free adaptation – that is great to know. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment. Take care!
Mae Quon
I made this cake for our Bible Study group…it was a hit!! I didn’t have walnuts and used chopped pecans instead and whole pecans to outline the top of the cake.. Still a great tasting cake. Our group couldn’t say enough about thismoist cake. I usually don’t make scratch cakes but this was worth the time. There was enough batter to make three layers. Instructions were very clear. The use of parchment paper freed the cake easily. On my next cake I will add some raisins too. Thanks for this delish recipe!! This is going to be my go to cake for special and anytime occasions.
Celebrating Sweets
Thank you for your kind comments! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Happy holidays!
Cathy Crocker
Could you use a bundt cake pan to make this recipe.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Cathy. I have never tried it, but according to the link below you should be able to. I think you might have a little too much batter for a standard sized bundt pan, so be careful not to overfill it. If you give it a try please let me know how it goes. Thanks! https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/8746-converting-layer-cakes-to-bundt
Dawn
Made this for myself for my birthday and everyone loved it. Myself included! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it. Happy belated birthday! Thanks for stopping by!
Julia Crow
Can I make this in cupcake form?
Celebrating Sweets
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, you should be able to. Begin checking them around 15 minutes.
Brian Jones
That sounds lovely, fab set of ingredients for a cake all of which bring their own unique sweetness.
Emma | The Cake Mistress
Never thought to add pumpkin into carrot cake before, but you’ve convinced me! This looks so moist and wonderful, and who can resist cream cheese frosting??