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Pumpkin Swirl Cake With Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze 1

Pumpkin Swirl Cake With Vanilla Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

The perfect fall dessert for all pumpkin lovers, this cake is a lovely mixture of vanilla and pumpkin flavors with a cinnamon-spiced topping and maple cream cheese glaze. Plus, this recipe starts off with a little shortcut that will save you some time- a boxed cake mix.
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 28 minutes
Total Time: 58 minutes
Yield: 1 9 x 13 cake
Author: Camy

Equipment (Shop on Amazon)

Ingredients

Vanilla Cake Batter

  • 1 Betty Crocker white cake mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup avocado oil (or other neutral oil)
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract (shop my favorite on Amazon)

Pumpkin Cake Batter

  • cups vanilla cake batter
  • ½ cup pure pumpkin
  • ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 pinch ginger
  • 1 pinch clove

Cinnamon Spiced Topping

  • cup light brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice

Vanilla Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

  • 3 oz cream cheese
  • 3 oz salted butter
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract (shop my favorite on Amazon)
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tsp milk
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Vanilla Batter

  • In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all of the vanilla cake batter ingredients until well incorporated.
    1 Betty Crocker white cake mix, 4 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, 3/4 cup avocado oil, 1 tbsp vanilla extract
    A close up of a white hand mixer mixing the vanilla cake batter.
  • 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. 
  • Pour the remaining vanilla batter into a sprayed 9 x 13 cake pan.
    Drizzling in the vanilla batter.
  • 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. 
    A close up of the vanilla batter being spread in an even layer on the bottom of the pan.

Pumpkin Cake Batter

  • Add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, ginger, and clove to the 1 1/2 cups of vanilla batter you had previously set aside. Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Set aside while you make your spiced cinnamon crumble.  
    1½ cups vanilla cake batter, ½ cup pure pumpkin, ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice, ¼ tsp cinnamon, 1 pinch ginger, 1 pinch clove
    The bowl of vanilla batter that had been set aside, with the pumpkin that will be put in it.

Cinnamon-Spiced Topping

  • Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl.
    ⅓ cup light brown sugar, ¼ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice

Assembling & Baking the Cake

  • As a reminder, at this point, you should have your base layer of vanilla cake batter in the bottom of your 9 x 13 pan. In 3 separate bowls, you should have your pumpkin cake batter, cinnamon-spiced topping, and vanilla batter to drizzle on top.
    All the components of the cake- the pan with vanilla batter in it, the pumpkin cake batter, the cinnamon crumble, and the small bowl of vanilla batter for the top.
  • Now, drizzle your pumpkin cake batter across your base layer of vanilla batter in any kind of swirl/figure eight pattern you’d like. Do not cover the vanilla cake evenly- this is not meant to look perfect. 
    Adding the pumpkin cake batter to the cake.
  • Spoon your cinnamon-spiced crumble onto the pumpkin layer, following the same pattern as the batter. 
    Sprinkling the cinnamon spiced topping on the batter.
  • 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. 
    Adding the vanilla batter to the top.
  • 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. 
    The Completely Swirled Cake
  • Bake your pumpkin swirl cake at 350°F for 26-28 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 
    The cake on a cooling rack when it got out of the oven.

Vanilla Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

  • Place the cream cheese and butter in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until smooth enough to combine. 
    3 oz cream cheese, 3 oz salted butter
  • 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.
    ½ tsp vanilla extract, ¼ tsp almond extract, 1¼ cup powdered sugar, 4 tsp milk, 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • Drizzle over the pumpkin swirl cake while it’s still warm, then enjoy! 
    A close up of the finished cake.

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