
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Molasses Cream Cheese Glaze


Are you in search of the perfect cake for fall? This moist, light textured and oh so easy pumpkin cake is just what October called for. It seems to suit the season of falling leaves and cooling days. Not heavy and not too sweet. Not bundled up in frosting. The simple cream cheese glaze is the perfect foil for this cake. Because the cake is so moist it doesn’t need a lot of icing (and we all know that sometimes cream cheese frosting can overwhelm a cake). That makes the drizzle just perfect. Of course there is no need to frost the cake. A dusting of icing sugar would suit it well and the simplicity of our easy pumpkin cake makes it great for snacking too. Although we used fiddly mini bundt cake pans for our photographed version, this cake is really best suited to a simple tube pan. The recipe was slightly adapted from Rose Reisman. On her website, The Art of Living Well, you’ll see she’s a master of creating healthy and nutritious recipes that are delicious too.
PrintEasy Pumpkin Cake with Molasses Cream Cheese Glaze
Easy pumpkin cake with molasses cream cheese glaze recipe. Moist and light textured. Low in fat and less sweet than most cakes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tbsp. Crosby’s fancy Molasses
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Icing:
- 1/4 cup light cream cheese, softened
- 2 tsp. Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp. water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and flour a 9” tube pan.
- In a large bowl beat the beat the brown sugar with the oil. Beat in the eggs then the molasses, yogurt, and pumpkin.
- In another bowl whisk the flour with the spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk until no lumps remain.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cakes starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Remove to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Gently remove from pan and let cool completely.
To make the icing:
- Beat together the cream cheese, molasses, icing sugar and water. Set the cooled cake on a serving plate and drizzle the icing over the cake.
Notes
Slightly adapted from Rose Reisman
Diana Lea
EASY PUMPKIN CAKE WITH MOLASSES CREAM CHEESE GLAZE – how much oil is needed? Recipe only says 1/4 vegetable oil – is it cup, tbsp, tsp ???
Crosby Molasses
Oups! We fixed the recipe. It calls for 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Sorry about that. -Marie from Crosby’s Kitchen
Ann Pretty
Hi there.
The picture looks like they are baked in a muffin pan.
What would be the temperature and time to cook if you used a muffin pan?
Lindy
Does it have to be pumpkin purée? Will canned pumpkin, as in pumpkin pie filling, work?
Crosby Molasses
Hi Lindy, I have never used canned pumpkin pie filling in this recipe so am not sure how the cake might turn out. Pie filling has sugar and spices added to it so is a little different.
Catherine Crew
Hi Lindy,I use canned pumpkin,not the canned pie filling and it works for me. It’s plain with no added spices,I’ve used it in all pumpkin recipes.
Deborah Campbell
I am not understanding the scale for amount of ingredients to use. Which scale would I use for a normal sized tube pan? (9 in). Thanks
Giselle
Hi Lindy,
Pumpkin pie filling is not only sweet and spiced, it is already runny, the texture needed to bake in a pie shell. That is why you need to use a can of pure pumpkin puree – it is very dense. Of course if you make your own pumpkin puree, and keep it concentrated, that is the same as canned puree.
jerry
baking times seem to vary, mine baked in a tube pan 35 minutes and a bundt pan around 30 minutes……hope this will help someone!
Crosby Molasses
Hi Jerry, I appreciate this extra info, it’s a great help (for me and for readers). Thanks for taking the time to share.
James Hahnen
How long should the cakes cook if using the mini bundt pans (or muffin tins)?
Lynn Purdy
James, the time to cook will be reduced. They should only take 15-20 minutes, as they are in a smaller container. I hope this helped.
Fran
I bet this would work as cupcakes/ muffins too.
Julia Opie
I have those mini bundt pans as well. What are the baking instructions for those pans? How many does it make? (My pan makes 6 cakes).
Crosby Molasses
Hi Julia, My pan makes 6 mini cakes and this recipe fit perfectly. The one thing I found is that removal was a bit of a challenge because the crumb of the cake is fairly tender. (I don’t have much patience for fiddly cake removal either.) The mini bundts are so pretty though, especially with the glaze.