When the weather begins to get colder, nothing is more comforting than the familiar flavors of pumpkin spiced drinks and treats. This layered Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake is perfect with a cup of coffee and great for dessert!
How to Make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Don’t be fooled by the layers, this recipe is easier than it looks. To make it, you will need to get three bowls and make each layer separately.
Prepare your oven by preheating to 350 degrees and spray a bundt cake with nonstick cooking spray and let’s get started!
Ingredients for the pound cake layer, you will need:
- Canned Pumpkin
- Eggs
- Vegetable Oil
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Vanilla
- Flour
- Pumpkin Spice
- Baking Powder
Start by using an electric mixer on medium speed to combine the pumpkin, eggs, sugars and vanilla until smooth. Lower the speed of the mixer, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Pro-Tip – Be careful not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can cause the gluten to over develop which will result in a tough and chewy cake.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake Filling
Ingredients for the cream cheese filling, you will need:
- Cream cheese
- Sugar
- Egg
Use an electric mixer on medium low speed and mix until smooth.
Getting those beautiful layers may look complicated, but it’s super easy! Simply pour half the pound cake batter in the prepared pan. Carefully spoon the cream cheese layer in next, then top with the remaining batter.
Baking the Perfect Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Bake for about an hour or until cooked through. This cake is dense, so don’t be surprised if it takes longer. If your cake begins to brown too quickly, you can cover with foil toward the end of baking time.
Remove from the oven, cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out onto a serving platter. Cool completely.
To make the glaze, you will need:
- Powdered Sugar
- Milk
- Cream cheese
Combine the ingredients until smooth. You can adjust the consistency by adding more or less milk. Pour around the cooled cake, in the center of the ring and allow the glaze to drip off the sides.
Pan Size & Storage Tips
This pumpkin cream cheese pound cake recipe uses a standard 10’ bundt pan. If you don’t have a 10’, don’t worry! You can still make this recipe in a 9 or 11 inch and it will turn out perfectly fine.
Because this cake contains cream cheese, you should put any leftovers in the fridge. I love a slice of this cake cold with a hot cup of coffee, but if you want it room temperature just pull it out about 30 minutes before you plan to enjoy it.
Alternatively, you can freeze it and thaw as needed.
Checking for Doneness
You will know when your pumpkin cream cheese pound cake is done when the top is cooked through and a knife inserted in the cake comes out mostly clean.
The cream cheese layer will spread a bit on the knife, but the orange pumpkin batter should not spread when the knife is removed. You can also use a toothpick or actual cake tester.
Fresh vs Canned Pumpkin
For this recipe, it is OK to take a short cut and use store bought canned pumpkin. Just make sure to choose plain 100% pureed pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.
If you want to make your own puree, check out our complete guide to making your own puree from fresh pumpkin.
Gluten Free & Other Variations
I have experimented making this pumpkin pound cake recipe with a 1/1 gluten free flour replacement and while the texture was a bit more crumbly, it tasted just fine. So if you have food allergies, you can still make this dessert
If you do not care for pumpkin pie spice, or there is a particular spice you prefer to leave out you can adjust the spices as needed. Simply put, you will want to add 1-2 tablespoons worth of spice to the cake layer and you can adjust that to your personal taste.
This recipe tastes great using only cinnamon as well, but pumpkin pie spice gives it that well-rounded classic fall flavor.
More pumpkin recipes:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Pumpkin Pound Cake Layer:
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree , canned or fresh*
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
Cream Cheese Layer:
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup sugar
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 3 tablespoons milk , more or less as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, prepare the pound cake batter by mixing the pumpkin, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla on medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Lower the speed and add in the flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking powder. Mix just until incorporated. Set aside.
- Prepare the filling in a separate bowl by mixing the cream cheese, egg and granulated sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer.
- Pour half of the pound cake batter into the bundt cake.
- Gently spoon the cream cheese filling layer into the pan and top with the remaining batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes or until cooked through. Cool completely before glazing.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, cream cheese and milk until desired consistency is achieved. Pour over bundt cake and allow to set before serving.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or ratings.
Notes
Nutrition
I made this yummy cake! After baking, it looks like the filling separated from the cake inside (there is space between the layers). Any ideas why? Also, the cake portion is not as moist. Maybe I over mixed the batter- but do you think I should use slightly less flour? Also to kick up the flavor, should I use more pumpkin pie spice? Many thanks!
You can surely use Pumpkin Pie Spice- I’m thinking maybe it sat in the pan for too long and essentially steamed? How long did you let it cool until you flipped it?
I think I let it sit for 10 mins before I flipped out of the pan and let it cool completely for about an hour.
Hmmm.. was it a humid day? You can also email me at jessica@savoryexperiments.com to chat it out. I hate it when things don’t work and want to troubleshoot so I can add that info to the post for others.
Hello-this looks amazing, but you did not note if the pans needs to be greased or greased and floured. I presume since you do not mention it, it does not need any grease or grease, but hesitate to waste the ingredients cooking this if it gets stuck in the pan.
Hi Ann- the first step is to preheat the oven and spray the pan cooking spray. Hope you like it!
This cake looks amazing! One of my favourite fall flavours, so I am SO going to try this soon! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
I love the photo if this pound cake and even though I am looking at it on the computer, I get the feeling it would smell AMAZING!! Yum, love the swirl of icing right in the middle and the way the cooking makes the top of the cake open up to release the delicious aroma of the pumpkin. Can’t wait to give this a go!
I am all about the pumpkin recipes at the moment and these looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it.
I absolutely love this pound cake. The fall flavors are perfect and I cant say enough about the cream cheese in the middle, yum!