Pumpkin Bundt Cake

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If you love pumpkin desserts, this ultra moist, spiced Pumpkin Bundt Cake is sure to become a favorite!

Sliced Pumpkin Bundt Cake on a cake pedestal.

This simple scratch cake recipe comes together in no time, and has become our latest go-to fall cake.

It has wonderful spiced pumpkin flavor and is topped with a delicious caramel glaze, and sprinkled with chopped pecans and toffee bits.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Here's a look at the star ingredients for our cake! You'll find the full listing in our recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake ingredients.

Canned Pumpkin This is canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling).

Cake Flour makes for a more tender cake as it has less protein. (See notes for substitution).

Spices Pumpkin Pie Spice and Cinnamon add fantastic pumpkin spice flavor.

Unsalted Butter We like to use unsalted butter because it allows us to know for sure how much salt is in the recipe for consistency. (Some brands of salted butter contain more salt than others.)

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this scratch Pumpkin Bundt Cake! Here are just a few:

How to Make Pumpkin Bundt Cake

This Pumpkin Bundt Cake is really simple to make and is so delicious. You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

  • Preheat the oven to 325℉. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan (see notes).
  • In a medium sized bowl, add these dry ingredients: cake flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to blend thoroughly. Set aside.
Bowl of dry ingredients and whisk.
  • In the bowl of your electric mixer (using paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), add softened butter and white sugar. Mix for 3-5 minutes, until lightened in color and fluffy.
Butter and sugar mixture in mixing bowl.
  • Next, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended in.
Adding eggs to butter and sugar mixture in mixing bowl.
  • In a medium sized bowl, combine the wet ingredients: canned pumpkin, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
Wet ingredients for Pumpkin Bundt Cake.
  • With the mixer on low speed, and beginning and ending with the flour mixture, add the flour mixture alternately with the pumpkin mixture. We did a total of three additions of the flour mixture and two additions of the pumpkin mixture. Mix just until incorporated.
Mixing bowl filled with pumpkin cake batter.
  • Scoop the batter into the prepared tube pan or bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed with no crumbs or just a few crumbs attached. The cake should also spring back when lightly touched.
Freshly baked Pumpkin Bundt Cake in cake pan, cooling on wire rack.
  • Allow the cake to cool in the cake pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning out. Allow to cool completely before adding the caramel glaze.

For the Caramel Glaze

We decided to top our Pumpkin Bundt Cake with a simple and delicious homemade caramel glaze. We've used this caramel sauce on many of our cake recipes, including our Maple Pound Cake and Butter Pecan Pound Cake. We just love this caramel recipe and it tastes amazing with pumpkin!

You'll see the instructions in the recipe card, but this is easy caramel glaze is prepared by heating unsalted butter, brown sugar, a pinch of salt, vanilla extract, and heavy cream. Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 6 minutes before cooling.

Saucepan of simmering caramel sauce.

The caramel glaze will thicken as it cools. You can speed up the cooling process by refrigerating until it reaches the desired consistency for glazing.

Bowl of homemade caramel sauce, with spoon.

Final Details

Once the Pumpkin Bundt Cake had cooled, and the caramel glaze had cooled and thickened, we applied it to the cake.

You can spoon the caramel over the cake if you'd like, but today we applied our glaze with a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.

Applying caramel glaze to the pumpkin bundt cake with a disposable piping bag.

Then, we sprinkled the top with chopped pecans and toffee bits. We especially love the combination of the pumpkin, caramel, and pecans!

Pumpkin Bundt Cake with caramel glaze, topped with pecans and toffee bits.
Sliced Pumpkin Bundt Cake on a cake pedestal.

Recipe FAQs

No, this cake is fine to leave a room temperature for 2-3 days in an airtight container or under a cake dome. You can then move it to the refrigerator for freshness for a bit longer. 

Yes, just as with most of our cakes (from pineapple pound cake to sour cream pound cake, strawberry pound cake and more), this cake freezes beautifully.

After baking, cool the bundt cake until slightly warm (or room temperature). Then, wrap tightly with plastic wrap followed by foil. freeze for up to three months!

Unlike our layer cake recipes, pound cakes and bundt cakes take longer to thaw because they are so large and thick. For this reason, it is best to move the wrapped cake from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before you need it. Then, the next morning, move to the kitchen counter to continue thawing.

The canned pumpkin that this recipe calls for is simply a pumpkin puree. It should be 100% pumpkin. (We most often use Libby's brand but there are several good options).

We have not used Pumpkin Pie Filling in our recipe, but it contains additional sugar and spices that may alter the outcome of the recipe.

Many of our favorite cake recipes (from lemon cake to yellow cake and more) call for cake flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all purpose flour, and for this reason, the batter develops less gluten. The results is a softer, more tender cake.

More Fall Cakes

We've made so many fall cake recipes over the years! In addition to today's pumpkin bundt cake, some favorites are our carrot cake recipe, sweet potato cake, caramel cake, and Italian cream cake.

Thanks so much for stopping by, we hope that you enjoy this recipe! Make sure to check out the hundreds of cakes in our cake recipes section! You'll find more cake recipes from scratch as well as favorite cake mix recipes!

If you are interested in learning more about cake decorating, make sure to check out our collection of hundreds of free tutorials! We have tutorials for every occasion and season, including our favorite fall cake designs! We hope that you enjoy scrolling through.

Sliced Pumpkin Bundt Cake on a cake pedestal.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

This ultra moist and flavorful Pumpkin Bundt Cake is perfect for fall celebrations! We've topped it with a homemade caramel glaze and chopped pecans.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15
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Ingredients

  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened. (170g) (Soft enough to easily dent when pressed but still hold shape.)
  • 2 ½ cups white sugar (500g)
  • 3 eggs, room temperature (if in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
  • 3 cups Cake Flour (342g)
  • 2 teaspoons Baking Powder (8g)
  • ½ teaspoon Baking Soda (3g)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (5g)
  • 1 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon (2g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 15 oz Canned Pumpkin Puree (425g)(Not Pumpkin Pie Filling. We used Libbys 100% Pure Pumpkin)
  • 1 cup Milk (We use whole milk or 2%.) (242g)
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (6g)
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil (54g)

For the Caramel Glaze

  • ½ stick unsalted butter (57g)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar (packed into measuring cup) (217g)
  • ½ cup heavy cream (126g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
  • 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup (18g)

Optional Topping

  • Chopped Pecans and/or toffee bits for sprinkling onto glaze.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325℉. Grease and flour a tube pan or bundt pan. (see notes)
  • In a medium sized bowl, add the cake flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to blend thoroughly. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of your electric mixer (using paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), add softened butter and sugar. Mix for 3-5 minutes, until lightened in color and fluffy.
  • Next, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk has blended in.
  • In a medium sized bowl, combine the wet ingredients: canned pumpkin, vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla. Set aside.
  • With the mixer on low speed, and beginning and ending with the flour mixture, add the flour mixture alternately with the pumpkin mixture. We did a total of three additions of the flour mixture and two additions of the pumpkin mixture. Mix just until incorporated.
  • Makes approximately 8 cups of cake batter.
  • Scoop the batter into the prepared tube pan or bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed with no crumbs or just a few crumbs attached. The cake should also spring back when lightly touched. Baking times may vary! It is best to peek in as the end time approaches.
  • Allow the cake to cool in the cake pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before turning out. Allow to cool completely before adding the glaze.

For the Caramel Glaze

  • Using a medium size saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
  • Add the brown sugar and the remaining ingredients and heat on medium high heat.
  • Stir to blend, try to keep mixture off the sides of the pan. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low.
  • Simmer for 6 minutes, checking often to make sure that it is not going to boil over. It should still be bubbling. After 6 minutes, remove from heat.
  • Keep in mind that the caramel with thicken up a bit as it cools. You can pour it into a long glass casserole dish if you want it to cool more quickly. We often refrigerate to cool it off as well.
  • Makes about 1 cup caramel sauce. It can be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Spoon over the cooled cake or for more control, pipe it on using a disposable piping bag (or ziplock bag) with the tip snipped away.
  • Sprinkle with chopped pecans and/or toffee bits if you'd like for a bit of crunch and another layer of flavor!

Notes

 
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.
 
 
Bundt Pan: Our bundt pan has a baking capacity of 12 cups and measures about 10 inches. If you are working with a smaller pan, it will take longer to bake. Be careful not to overfill. (General rule of thumb: don't fill pan past ¾ full)
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