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:
Emily
Omg I’m drooling at this, carrot cake is my favourite and this is probably the best looking one I’ve ever seen, can’t wait to try it!
Silvia
Oh my, this cake would be perfect for our Christmas dinner 🙂 It’s really my kind of cake.
Patty
That cake looks amazing, it’s very original too, I’ll try it as soon as I can get all the ingredients! Love your carrot cake sandwich cookies too!
Karly
THISSSS is perfection. I mean, the cake and the frosting look like the pb&j of cake ingredients.. truly the perfect combo!
Andrea
I changed this up a bit! I used vanilla yogurt for the buttermilk, 2 bananas instead of pineapple, only 1 cup of sugar, left out the oil, coconut shreds. Mostly b/c I had banana I need to use and no buttermilk but it worked :)! So good!
Celebrating Sweets
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your adaptations. Thanks for stopping by!
Geraldine Pierce
I cook pumpins, puree them and freeze in freezer bags. This of course is more liquid than canned but I would love to use it in this cake. Would I just add less or keep to the same amount? This looks soooo good!
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Geraldine. I have never baked with frozen pumpkin before. Since it will have more moisture than canned, I would recommend that you either reduce the pumpkin puree (maybe to 1 cup?) OR use the full amount of pumpkin puree and leave out most or all of the crushed pineapple. Those are my best suggestions for balancing out the extra moisture. If you try it please let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Michelle
This is fantastic! Thank you! I subbed powdered chai spice for the pumpkin spice as that’s what I had and used 1/2 the sugar in the cake (up here at 9100 feet, less sugar helps things raise nicely) and 1/4 the sugar in the frosting along with a wee bit of maple syrup. Oh, I also threw in some hemp seeds. It was a huge hit with everyone. Huge ?
Celebrating Sweets
I’m happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing your changes. The addition of chai spice sounds AMAZING!
Hillary
This recipe sounds delicious and just the combination of buttermilk and pumpkin I was looking for! Do you think this would be good if I added a buttermilk glaze to the cake layers before frosting it with the cream cheese frosting?
Celebrating Sweets
I think it would taste fine, I’d just worry about it being too wet. This is a very moist cake to start with. If you try it let me know how it goes. Enjoy!
Laura
We made this for Thanksgiving and ADORED it!!! Fabulous recipe. Thank you!
Celebrating Sweets
Glad to hear that! Thanks for stopping by to let me know. Happy holidays!
Laurie Reilly
I made this for Thanksgiving and I’m so glad I did! My family and guests raved about it. The little bit that was left from Thanksgiving was shaved off bit by bit at breakfast and gone by 10:00 a.m.! So moist! I added finely chopped toasted pecans to the batter as well. I love a cake or bread with texture and partnering carrot cake with pumpkin is so perfect for the holidays. It’s something a little different that no one else will bring to the celebration. This is a sophisticated cake that would be great at any celebration.
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for the kind review. I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. Happy holidays!