Scotcheroos
Samantha Seneviratne
709 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
709
20 minutes, plus cooling
Pumpkin Sheet Cake With Molasses Cream-Cheese Frosting
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:One 9x13-inch cake
- ½cup/113 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), softened but cool, plus more for the pan
- 2cups/256 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- ¾teaspoon kosher salt
- 2teaspoons ginger
- 2teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼teaspoon ground cloves
- 1½cups/330 grams light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ¼cup/60 milliliters grapeseed or other neutral-flavored oil
- 2large eggs
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1(15-ounce/425-gram) can pumpkin purée
- ½cup/4 ounces/113 grams cream cheese, softened but cool
- ¼cup/57 grams unsalted butter, softened but cool
- 2cups/226 grams confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1tablespoon molasses
- 1teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ½teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch kosher salt
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices until well combined.
- Step 3
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the brown sugar, butter and grapeseed oil. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for about 20 seconds between each. Add the vanilla extract and pumpkin purée and mix until well combined, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Step 4
Turn the mixer to low, and add the dry ingredients. Stir until a few spots of flour remain. Remove the bowl from the mixer, and use a rubber spatula to finish folding in the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick and fluffy, so make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure it is evenly mixed.
- Step 5
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and firmly tap the pan on the countertop a few times to release any large air bubbles. Bake the cake until golden and puffed, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Step 6
Cool the cake, still in the pan, on a rack for 15 minutes, then use the tip of a knife to loosen the edges and carefully invert it onto the rack to cool completely.
- Step 7
Make the frosting: Add the cream cheese and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high until smooth. Turn the speed to low and slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, mix until the sugar is moistened, then turn the mixer up to medium-high and whip until smooth. Add the molasses, lemon juice, vanilla and pinch of salt, and whip until smooth.
- Step 8
Invert the cooled cake to a serving platter, frost and serve. Alternately, you can also frost and serve this cake in the pan it was baked in, if you’d rather not transfer it to a serving platter.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Elizabeth
This turned out AWESOME! Love the cake... No changes except to use canola oil since I didn't have grapeseed. Frosting recipe didn't seem quite right... I doubled the cream cheese, doubled the vanilla and only used about 1 1/2 c of powdered sugar. Definitely will make again!
Stacie P
Moist cake and very flavorful....i thought all that ginger and cinnamon would be too much but it was balanced. As described in the recipe the batter was fluffy and perfect. My only set back was the molasses, i ended up icing the cake as is and then this morning, scraped it and diluted the intense molasses flavor with an extra half recipe of the cream cheese icing. It helped....molasses is no joke!
Lydia
Also makes great cupcakes (~24), bake them for 17ish minutes at the same temperature. The frosting recipe is not enough to pipe on all of them, but it never hurts to make a double batch!
Ann Olszewski
I made a half recipe in an 8-inch square pan. Used crystallized ginger bits instead of the nuts, and subbed butternut squash puree for the pumpkin. Also added some 5-spice powder along with the prescribed spices. The plain cake was so moist and flavorful I could skip the frosting. (lucky, as I didn't have any cream cheese)
Tracy
A "sheet cake" is generally a rectangular (as opposed to round tiered) cake. For home cooks 9x13 is pretty standard. A sheet pan is something altogether different, as you say, but you don't need one for this cake.
lg
Made as directed except I did take others advice and only used 1 tsp of molasses. It was delicious. The cake was moist and light and the frosting was perfect. Will make again.
Kathryn
I had never baked a cake using both oil and butter before. This recipe created a REALLY moist cake. So smooth, in fact, that it really reminded me more of pumpkin pie than a cake. I was only going to give this recipe 3 stars because the mouthfeel was kind of off-putting to me but then I put some chopped toasted pecans on top of it and it really was the missing key, because then there's something to actually chew while you get all the delicious flavor of the pumpkin spice and molasses. USE NUTS!
Megan
Delicious. I made the cake as per the recipe except that I slightly increased the nutmeg and ginger. Nice pumpkin flavor, good balance of spices, and the texture is perfect: light but not too fluffy, and moist but not gummy. For the frosting, I whipped up 8 ounces of softened cream cheese with some maple syrup, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. I didn't want to open a new bottle of molasses because my wrists were sore and nobody else was awake yet, but I think molasses would be a good flavor.
Betsy
This cake came out wonderfully as the recipe was written! I was a little shy about the molasses in the frosting, so I added it in a teaspoon at a time until it suited my own taste. Served it at a block party and everyone raved. Definitely looking forward to making this crowd-pleaser again.
pl
I made this cake twice with rave reviews both times. It will be a go-to for Fall potlucks. Everyone asks for the recipe. Other family members make the leftovers mysteriously disappear overnight. So good! I might bake it slightly longer than written to make it a bit firmer next time. Once I substituted a cup of whole wheat flour for the regular white flour and liked that better because it made the cake a bit more substantial. Love the molasses frosting and wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Allison K
Cake is a perfect light sponge, even with all the pumpkin. Frosting: used maple syrup rather than molasses; doubled the cream cheese; used the original amount of butter, used maybe 1.5 times the original amount of sugar; added salt to balance sweetness. Everyone who has eaten this has asked me to make again.
Alice O
Followed the suggestion of upping cream cheese in the frosting to 8oz, and decreasing the powdered sugar by just a bit, probably 1 2/3 cup, otherwise all the same. This cake was PERFECT.
Tori
The texture of this cake is beautiful -- it's light, moist, and surprisingly delicate for a pumpkin-based thing. Next time I'll add more spices (I'll start with 1.5 times what the recipe calls for).
Madeline Nelson
I've made this twice, with fresh winter squash instead of canned pumpkin. I made it in quantity (tripled the 1st time, doubled the 2nd). Plain and simple, much appreciated. The 2nd time I may have used too much squash-- 16 oz/2 cups rather than 15 oz/1 can-- and balanced that by using an extra egg. I found the result gummy and too dense. I only made the frosting once. I found it too dense and a bit too sweet. The other time I made a boiled milk frosting, which suited it better.
StillLucid
Fantastic cake! Very moist, and a snap to make. Spicing was perfect. We did not wait to ice it...
Nancy Chek
Both a six-year-old and an 80-year-old exclaimed it was the best cake they'd ever eaten.
Suzanne
I accidentally undercooked it, had to put it back in the oven after it had cooled a bit and I realized my mistake. And it still tasted delicious! Didn’t have molasses so added some maple syrup as suggested and it was wonderful. Will def make again and cook a bit longer - it will not dry out.
Greg Mowery
Made this as part of a dessert tray for a large gathering of friends. The cake is spectacularly moist and tender. Not too sweet, even the frosting was smooth and soft. I took one reader's advice to use maple syrup instead of the molasses. This appealed to me more. And the advise to add some chopped pecans to the top of the frosting was genius. I toasted them before cooling and chopping them. It was a big hit. This will be a regular dessert for parties and larger gatherings in the future. loved t
KKD
Made exactly as written. Loved it. However, I only iced half the cake. I liked the sponge so much that I wanted some w/o frosting. Thank you, Yossy Arefi- you are reliable.
Lisa RD
Being a Registered/Licensed Dietitian with a wheat sensitivity, my intention was to convert this recipe to a Gluten-free version. I used a commercial 1:1 GF flour plus about 1/4 c oat flour in place of the all-purpose flour, then followed the recipe. The result was a very moist cake that fell apart after cooling. I baked it for an additional 10 minutes. That improved the cake but it still did not hold together well.
Anne Olson
SO light, moist, yet warm and flavorful. Packs a huge autumnal punch. Don't skimp on the frosting, I made a 1.5 batch to really give a strong layer and it was a hit! Trying it out again tomorrow with GF flour for a friend who was bummed she couldn't have some of the first cake!
rachel
This is so good! Make exactly as is except only 1 tsp molasses as per other comments
Karen
Can you make this in advance and freeze it?
becki
I made this exactly as the recipe states and it is absolutely fantastic recipe! Yum yum. Love that lemon juice in the frosting- who knew!!
Jane S
Followed the recipe except for using avocado oil as I had no grapeseed oil. Having read other comments was not sure about the frosting but followed the recipe and personally think the frosting works perfectly with this cake. Very moist, flavorful cake. Tip: the recipe states remove from oven when a tester comes out clean. So I did. But the middle of the cake was too soft. Next time I will wait for the center to really puff up giving it a few minutes past the point where a tester comes out clean.
pl
I made this cake twice with rave reviews both times. It will be a go-to for Fall potlucks. Everyone asks for the recipe. Other family members make the leftovers mysteriously disappear overnight. So good! I might bake it slightly longer than written to make it a bit firmer next time. Once I substituted a cup of whole wheat flour for the regular white flour and liked that better because it made the cake a bit more substantial. Love the molasses frosting and wouldn’t change a thing about it.
Carla Hawks
I was a little disappointed in this recipe. I would rather have pumpkin pie I guess. I doubled the frosting with 3 cups powdered sugar instead of 4 and it was a perfect amount. I'm just not a fan of powdered sugar though. I would not make it again. Instead I would make cupcakes or better yet, pie.
Tori
The texture of this cake is beautiful -- it's light, moist, and surprisingly delicate for a pumpkin-based thing. Next time I'll add more spices (I'll start with 1.5 times what the recipe calls for).
Private notes are only visible to you.
Advertisement
