This super easy recipe produces the most delicious Pumpkin Spice Cake. You won’t be able to resist! It’s the perfect fall loaf cake with pumpkin, spices, nuts, and raisins. This quick and tasty cake goes great with a mug of hot tea or a creamy latte on a chilly autumn afternoon.
Autumn is here! I love this time of year. The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, and Thanksgiving is fast approaching. It is most definitely my favorite season… in part, because of pumpkins! I can’t help smiling when I go to the grocery store and see gorgeous orange pumpkins piled high in the produce section. It’s the symbol of the season. And it means that Pumpkin Spice Cake will be baking in my oven soon!
Pumpkin History
The pumpkin originated in Central America over 7,500 years ago and made its way throughout North America before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Native Americans cultivated pumpkins and prized them as a food source; because of their thick and solid flesh, they could easily be stored throughout the winter. Like other forms of squash, pumpkins are easy to grow. They became a favorite with immigrants to the New World, particularly in New England.
Pumpkins were (and still are!) prized for their versatility; they were cooked into pies, stews, tarts, soups, and puddings. The flesh could be boiled or roasted, fried or mashed. Pumpkin seeds were dried and salted as a nutritious snack food. In the early 1800’s, decorative pumpkins called jack-o’-lanterns were carved to celebrate the autumn harvest season. Washington Irving featured a jack-o’-lantern in his 1819 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as the “head” of his Headless Horseman character, which likely led to the jack-o’-lantern’s association with the Halloween holiday. In the mid 1800’s, it became stylish to serve pumpkin pies for the Thanksgiving holiday, a trend that continues to this day.
Why Bake With Pumpkin?
I love cooking and baking with pumpkin. Pureed pumpkin adds gorgeous color and moisture to baked desserts, and a special essence that just feels like fall. It adds moisture without too many calories, unlike oil and butter. When combined with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, pumpkin takes on a magical quality.
Case in point, my Pumpkin Spice Cake (or quick bread, if you want to call it that). This delicious loaf cake is one of my favorite harvest-style desserts. When you bake it, your house will smell like autumn. Every bite is soft, moist, sweet, and delicious. Try topping a warm slice of cake with salted butter for a real treat. I enjoy baking this cake for Thanksgiving, or Sukkot – or just because!
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Pumpkin Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- Pinch ground cloves
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Let the raisins plump in the hot water while you create the cake batter.
- Use an electric mixer to mix together sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and eggs till smooth. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Mix again till blended.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
- Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix together till blended. Do not overmix.
- Drain the raisins and pat dry with a paper towel. Fold the raisins and chopped walnuts into the batter.
- Grease a medium loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into the pan.
- Bake cake at 325 degrees F for about 1 hour, until the edges brown and a toothpick inserted into the thickest section of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
- Gently release the cake from the pan and place on a wire rack.
- Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Video
Nutrition
This is so so good… and easy… love it!
Made this as Christmas gifts for my neighbors in little loaf pans and 2 neighbors said it was “Excellent!” Made cupcakes for an event at my gym and one friend said, “This is the best cupcake I’ve ever eaten!” I AGREE! It is so very delicious and warming. Omitted the nuts because I would be sharing it with many and someone may have nut allergies. This is a keeper!
This. Is. Delicious!