A fall favorite and the star of your Thanksgiving dessert table! This perfectly spiced Pumpkin Pound Cake is moist and topped with the most deliciously sweet glaze.
A Delicious Alternative to Pumpkin Pie
Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. Or would it? This perfectly-spiced Pumpkin Pound Cake might change a few minds and turn a few heads. Vibrant pumpkin-colored cake with a bright white glaze make it a stunningly simple cake that’s as gorgeous to look at as it is delicious to eat.
It’s sure to impress on your holiday dessert table!
Pound Cake Perfection
What is pound cake? This delicious cake gets its name from being made with a pound of each of four basic ingredients: flour, sugar butter and eggs. They’re usually baked in a Bundt pan or a loaf pan and dusted with powdered sugar or drizzled with a glaze.
While the exact weight of the ingredients varies as much as the toppings, what doesn’t change is how scrumptious pound cake is! Some of my favorites are Susu’s Sour Cream Pound Cake, Banana Pudding Pound Cake and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake. SO delicious.
Pumpkin Makes Pound Cakes Mega Moist
I literally have a shelf stocked with pumpkin and pumpkin spice so I can bake all things pumpkin over the season. From Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls to Baked Pumpkin Fritter Bites or this scrumptious Pumpkin Cheese Ball recipe, I have so many yummy pumpkin recipes.
Pure pumpkin makes rich, dense, buttery poundcake even more moist and delicious. And between the pumpkin pie spice and the simple, sweet glaze, there’s so much amazing flavor. But can we talk about how gorgeous this cake is.
The vibrant pumpkin color against the pure white of the glaze — this cake is going to be a stunner at your Thanksgiving dinner.
What Do I Need to Make Pumpkin Pound Cake?
(see recipe card at the bottom of this post for measurements and details)
Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Canned pure pumpkin
- All-purpose flour
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
Supplies:
- Electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
- 10-inch (12 cup) round Bundt pan
More Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin spice and everything nice! When sweater weather approaches, I turn to my collection of the Best Pumpkin Recipes for Fall.
How to Make Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch (12 cup) round bundt pan. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each one is well incorporated.
- Add vanilla and pumpkin.
- Beat on low speed until just incorporated.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
- Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating at low speed until just blended after each addition.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a long wooden pick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes before inverting onto the wire rack to cool completely (about 2 hours).
- Once the cake is cooled, make the glaze: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and vanilla until icing is smooth, thick and of drizzling consistency. If glaze is too thick, add a little more milk. If glaze is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
- Immediately drizzle glaze over the top of the cooled cake.
How to Store Pumpkin Pound Cake
How to store leftover pumpkin pound cake: Store covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to a week from the date it was baked.
To freeze, let the cake cool completely and then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then wrap in foil or place in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To defrost, place in the refrigerator overnight and then keep covered to bring to room temperature before glazing and serving.
Holiday Hint!
Making this cake in advance?
The flavor and texture of this pumpkin pound cake is at its best if kept at room temperature after baking. If making it ahead of your holiday celebration, I would recommend allowing the cake to cool completely. Then cover the cake in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 4 days and then glazing just before serving.
More Thanksgiving Recipes You’ll Love
Let’s get you ready for the big feast with these festive, delicious and easy Thanksgiving recipes everyone is sure to be thankful for!
If you make this Pumpkin Pound Cake, be sure to snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram @thebakermama so I can see. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to join my Friends of The BakerMama group to connect and share all the fun and yummy recipes of mine that you make! 
I just love seeing how inspired and creative y’all get with the ideas I share. Enjoy!
xoxo,
Pumpkin Pound Cake
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16-20 slices
Description
A fall favorite and the star of your Thanksgiving dessert table! This perfectly spiced Pumpkin Pound Cake is moist and topped with the most deliciously sweet glaze.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch (12 cup) round bundt pan. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each one is well incorporated. Add vanilla and pumpkin and beat on low speed until just incorporated.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
- Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating at low speed until just blended after each addition. Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a long wooden pick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes before inverting onto the wire rack to cool completely (about 2 hours).
- Once the cake is cooled, make the glaze: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk and vanilla until icing is smooth, thick and of drizzling consistency. If glaze is too thick, add a little more milk. If glaze is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. Immediately drizzle glaze over the top of the cooled cake.
Ok, changing my review to 5 stars. I recently switched to a Vietnamese cinnamon from my local spice store. I noticed it made a big difference in some of my other recipes so I thought I’d try this one again and make my own pumpkin pie spice. Wow! Much better flavor this time around. I did add 1/4 tsp of salt to the batter too but everything else was the same. The quality of the cinnamon made a huge and wonderful difference.!
Hi, Julia! Oh, how interesting! Thank you for sharing about the Vietnamese cinnamon. I will have to give that a try,too!
yes made it And it’s in the oven don’t have a wire wrack to cool it on
Hi, Kathy! You could always lay one of your oven racks across your stove (so long as it’s cool) and place the cake on that. Or crumble some heavy duty aluminum foil and place the cake on that. Hope this helps! Enjoy!
Good texture, moist and dense like a pound cake should be — but not too heavy. Baked up perfectly done at 65 minutes. Not a lot of flavor though. Tastes mildly of pumpkin with a bit of spice. Needs punching up, maybe additional spice and a bit of salt would have helped. Icing doesn’t add much, just a bit of prettiness on top.