It’s fall which means it’s time for allllllll of the pumpkin foods and drinks- pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin cake, which is what we’re talking about today. This recipe for pumpkin swirl cake is perfect for you pumpkin spice lovers, consisting of moist vanilla and pumpkin cakes swirled together along with a cinnamon spiced crumble. Top it off with a vanilla maple cream cheese glaze and you have the perfect cake for fall.
As an added bonus, this is a “cheater” recipe- meaning there’s some sort of shortcut involved. In this case, the shortcut is starting with a boxed white cake mix that, with a bit of help, turns into light, flavorful, and super moist cake.
Without further ado, let’s get into this recipe so you can enjoy this cake too!
RECIPE: Pumpkin Swirl Cake With Vanilla Maple Cream Cheese Glaze
Vanilla Cake Batter
Ingredients
- 1 Betty Crocker white cake mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (shop my favorite on Amazon here)
Pumpkin Cake Batter
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of vanilla cake batter
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 pinch ginger
- 1 pinch clove
Cinnamon Spiced Crumble
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Vanilla Maple Cream Cheese Glaze
Ingredients
- 3 ounces cream cheese
- 3 ounces salted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoons milk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
First up- make the vanilla cake batter.
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together all of the vanilla cake ingredients (white cake mix, eggs, sour cream, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract) until well incorporated.
3. IMPORTANT!!! Remove 1 1/2 cups of the vanilla cake batter, setting it aside in a separate bowl. This will be used to make the pumpkin cake batter.
Then remove an additional 1 cup of the vanilla batter and set aside in another bowl. This will be poured over the top of the cake before baking.
4. Pour the remaining vanilla batter into a sprayed 9 x 13 cake pan.
5. Spread the vanilla batter into an even layer using a spatula/spoonula. Set aside until you’ve prepared your other components and are ready to swirl your cake.
Next, make your pumpkin cake batter and cinnamon spiced crumble.
7. For the cinnamon spiced crumble- combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl. Super easy!
Now that you have all of your components prepared, you can swirl and bake the cake
As a reminder, at this point, you should have your base layer of vanilla cake mix in the bottom of your 9 x 13 pan. In 3 separate bowls, you should have your pumpkin cake batter, cinnamon spiced crumble, and vanilla batter to drizzle on top.
8. Drizzle your pumpkin cake batter across your base layer of vanilla batter in any kind of swirl/figure eight pattern you’d like. Just do not cover the vanilla cake evenly- this is not meant to look perfect.
9. Spoon your cinnamon spiced crumble onto the pumpkin layer, following the same pattern as the batter.
10. Top the pumpkin batter and cinnamon spiced crumble with the remaining vanilla batter, ensuring that the layers below are able to peek through the top layer of vanilla.
11. Using a knife or spatula, gently swirl the layers. Being gentle is key here, you don’t want to actually mix the different batters together- you just want to get that swirl effect.
12. Bake your pumpkin swirl cake at 350 degrees for 26-28 minutes, until the top is golden.
Now it’s time for the vanilla maple cream cheese glaze.
13. Place the butter and cream cheese in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until smooth enough to combine.
14. Place all ingredients (cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, powdered sugar, milk, and maple syrup) into a medium bowl. Mix on medium/high speed with a hand mixer until well combined and smooth.
15. Drizzle over the pumpkin swirl cake while it’s still warm, then enjoy!
Have you given this pumpkin swirl cake a try?
If you have, let me know in the comments how you like it. If you’re looking for another yummy cake perfect for fall (or any time), I highly recommend my recipe for cinnamon swirl coffee cake (it’s always a winner around here). Or, if you’re still in the mood for pumpkin, check out my Gilmore Girls-inspired recipe for pumpkin pancakes.
Pin the image below to come back to this pumpkin cake recipe later.
