Let’s make fall official! If you’re crazy for an ultra-moist, rich-tasting cake with a mouthwatering frosting, the Arkansas Pumpkin Cake will help kick off this pumpkin harvest season in a big way! This is a dessert that I absolutely love, and I think you will too! The recipe was sent to me by Mary Koeplin of Glendale, Arizona whose husband John was making the cake for her birthday that day. Little did Mary know that her email actually came on my birthday, and it turned out to be a wonderful gift for me, too!
“Dear Jan, I’m having this cake for my birthday and I think you would love it. I got the recipe in 1973 from my cousin Vivian Hanson who lives in Marietta, Georgia. She gave it to me when I was first married 40 years ago. It’s a very unusual cake in that it stays moist forever! Fall seems to be the best time of the year for this spice cake. We’ve only made it as a Bundt cake and it always turns out well.”
I’ve made Mary’s Arkansas Pumpkin Cake in a large Bundt pan and in a 9X13 inch baking dish. I’ve also made the recipe and divided it into two smaller, 8×8 cake pans and froze one for later. The icing is fabulous with this over-the-top moist dessert, and it’s just as delicious refrigerated as it is room temperature. Thank you, Mary! Yet another reason to be thankful as we kick off the holiday season!
| Servings |
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
- 2 cups cake flour like Softasilk or Swans Down, *See Note
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- ¼ cup softened butter 4 tablespoons
- 2 cups or more powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Ingredients For the Cake:
For the Frosting:
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- In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. Blend well. Add cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix. Add pumpkin and mix well. Pour into well greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until toothpick comes up clean.
- Mix together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and pecans. While cake is still warm, spread frosting over top. (Or, turn Bundt cake over onto a serving plate. While cake is still warm, spread frosting over top.) Refrigerate cake. Extra frosting can be frozen.
*Note about Cake Flour: Cake Flour is a finely ground low protein flour (about 8% vs. all-purpose flour which has 10%-12% protein) made from soft winter wheat that is very light in texture. Because less gluten forms when you mix it into a batter, it produces a cake with high volume and a fine, soft, even crumb.
