Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is the best pumpkin bread recipe and it needs to be on your fall baking list! I mean, is it even fall without pumpkin bread?! 

It's soft texture melts in your mouth and immediately reminds your tastebuds why pumpkin spice is the most beloved flavor of fall baking. It's truly perfect on its own, but utterly irresistible with the cream cheese frosting. 

For more comforting fall recipes, try Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, Apple Cider Bundt Cake, Apple Streusel Coffee Cake, and Brown Butter Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls. 

Ingredient Notes

• Flour: Use high-quality, unbleached all-purpose flour.
• Leaveners: You'll need both baking powder and baking soda to give this pumpkin bread the perfect rise.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice: Use store-bought pumpkin pie spice or make your own.
• Pumpkin Purée: Libby's canned pumpkin is my favorite! Be sure to use pumpkin purée NOT pumpkin pie filling. 
• Sugars: I used dark brown sugar in this recipe for a deeper flavor of molasses, but you can use whichever brown sugar you have on hand. You'll also need granulated sugar for the batter and powdered sugar for the cream cheese frosting.
• Oil: Use a neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable. I recommend using light-tasting olive oil.
• Eggs: Be sure to use room temperature eggs so they incorporate into the batter properly.
• Vanilla: Warm fall baked goods MUST have some good quality vanilla.
• Cream Cheese: Use cold block cream cheese for the frosting.
• Butter: I recommend European-style butter for best flavor.

See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.

STEP 1: Combine dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin spice. Set aside.

STEP 2: Combine wet ingredients. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil. Then, whisk in the eggs and vanilla, and lastly the pumpkin purée.

STEP 3: Finish batter. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk until fully combined and smooth. 

STEP 4: Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Use a knife to draw a line down the center in order to encourage the batter to split down the middle as it bakes. Bake the pumpkin bread for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs. Tent with aluminum foil around the 40 minute mark to prevent it from getting too dark.

STEP 5: Make the cream cheese frosting. In a medium bowl, add the cold cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the room temperature butter and salt, and mix until fully combined and smooth. Add the sifted confectioner's sugar in 2-3 additions, and mix on low speed until smooth.

STEP 6: Decorate & serve. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Pipe the frosting in zigzags on top of the cooled pumpkin bread and enjoy!

Storage Tips

Store this pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Without cream cheese frosting, the pumpkin bread will last for 1 week. Individual slices can also be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a freezer bag to be frozen for up to 3 months. 

All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale. 

If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.

But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!

Happy baking! x