Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake is baked with real pumpkin and a combination of warm baking spices. It’s the perfect way to celebrate fall baking season!

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Ah, pumpkin spice season. A good pumpkin spice latte on a crisp Autumn day is a thing of beauty. Same goes for pumpkin spice donuts, cinnamon rolls and a whole array of other delicious baked goods. But pumpkin spice season seems to be arriving sooner and sooner, amiright?

It turns out pumpkin spice season (well at least Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte season) is indeed arriving earlier and earlier. Last year, Starbucks moved up its’ #PSL release date by 6 days – to August 24. That’s a full 2 weeks earlier than in 2015. 2 weeks! Pretty soon, we’ll be seeing pumpkin spice lattes in July.

As much as I do love pumpkin spice, I feel like the flavors just need a crisp Autumn day. We live in the mountains of North Carolina, and we get some beautiful crisp Autumn days here…but not in mid-August!

Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

The mornings are getting cooler here now, and that means we can officially break out the pumpkin spice seasonings! I love baking with cinnamon, nutmeg and the other flavors in pumpkin pie spice. I channeled those flavors into a pound cake recently, and it was absolutely delicious!

This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake features a generous amount of pumpkin pie spice in addition to a whole can of pumpkin puree. That’s right. Actual pumpkin in a pumpkin spice recipe! Call me crazy, but if something is called ‘pumpkin spice,’ I expect to see both pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice in there. This cake has both…and it’s topped with a cream cheese glaze, too!

What is Pumpkin Pie Spice?

Pumpkin pie spice is a charming blend of warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and cloves. Pumpkin pie spice, sometimes just called pumpkin spice, is largely an American spice blend. (It is similar to the British ‘mixed spice,’ though.) While there is no actual pumpkin in pumpkin pie spice, the spice blend is commonly used to add flavor to pumpkin pies.

This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake is a classic pound cake in many ways. After all, it features a whole bunch of eggs, a lot of butter and even more sugar. There is nothing healthy about this cake. But it’s darned tasty, and it goes well with a mug of coffee on a cool fall morning! It’s also a great dessert for a crisp fall evening.

Years ago, a classmate of mine in grad school would welcome fall baking season by bringing in loaves of pumpkin bread topped with cream cheese frosting. I channeled those cream cheese vibes for this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake, although I did loosen the frosting up by adding a bit of cream. That allowed the glaze to drizzle over the pound cake a bit easier.

Storing Leftover Pound Cake

Leftover pound cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. This cake can also be frozen! Just let the cake cool completely and wrap slices tightly in plastic wrap. Place the slices in freezer bags and freeze for up to 4 months. Let thaw at room temperature for an hour or two.

If you’re in the baking mood, I highly recommend this pumpkin pound cake recipe! It’s not a traditional pound cake in that it includes both pumpkin and a bunch of spices. If you’re looking for a classic version, grab this Classic Pound Cake recipe instead. But I promise this pumpkin spice version will be met with lots of ooo’s and aah’s! Happy baking!

Did you bake this Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!

Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

This Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake features is baked with real pumpkin and a combination of warm baking spices. It's the perfect way to celebrate fall baking season!

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 servings

Calories: 473kcal

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

• 1½ cups unsalted butter room temperature
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1½ cups light brown sugar
• 7 large eggs room temperature
• 3¼ cups all-purpose flour plus 1-2 more tablespoons for flouring the pan
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice see note
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• vegetable shortening for greasing pan

For the Glaze

• 1¾ cups confectioner’s sugar
• 4 oz. cream cheese softened
• ¼ cup half-and-half or heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake

• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes on medium speed).
• Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Using a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl; mix until well combined.
• Add heavy whipping cream; mix until well combined.
• Add remaining dry ingredients, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract; mix until well combined.
• Scrape sides and bottom of bowl to ensure batter is well combined.
• Grease and flour a 10-12 cup Bundt pan. Transfer batter into pan. (See note below.)
• Bake for 60 minutes. Tent top of cake with foil and continue baking for 45-50 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire baking rack. Let cool completely before glazing.

For the Glaze

• Using a medium bowl, combine all of the glaze ingredients; whisk together until smooth.
• Pour glaze over cooled cake. Let glaze completely set (1-2 hours) before slicing.

Notes

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in the pantry, it’s easy to make your own. For 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, use ½ tablespoon of ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground cloves and ¼ tsp ground allspice.

Bundt cakes can be stubborn when it comes to removing them from the pan. I’m sure we’ve all had that moment when you flip the pan over only to have half of the cake come out. I’ve found two tricks that help make sure those pound cakes come out of the pan with no trouble: 1) Make sure to use a good nonstick Bundt pan (not one that’s 20 years old!) and 2) grease the pan generously with vegetable shortening. I rarely (if ever) use shortening in a recipe, but I swear by it for greasing Bundt pans. Just generously grease the pan, making sure that the entire pan is greased. Then add 1-2 tablespoons of flour and swirl it around the pan so the entire pan is coated – the flour will stick to the shortening, so you can easily find any spots you missed!

Looking for more pound cake recipes? Check out some of these other favorites, too: