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This Pumpkin Sheet Cake is a crowd pleaser! Rich pumpkin cake and dark chocolate chips are topped with a cream cheese icing. It’s always a fall favorite.
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This chocolate chip pumpkin sheet cake recipe is perfect for parties, potlucks, and get togethers over the holidays! Everyone loves the rich pumpkin flavor paired with chocolate morsels and luscious cream cheese frosting.
Because it’s one of the easiest pumpkin cakes to make, it is one of our most popular pumpkin desserts. You can frost the cake completely, or make it more decorative as pictured below.
Ingredients in Pumpkin Sheet Cake
All you need is a sheet pan and a few pantry ingredients, and you will soon have a gorgeous dessert for any fall occasion.
- Pumpkin puree – A 15-ounce can of pumpkin is perfect, or you can use homemade pumpkin puree.
- Sugar – Regular white sugar is what I used for sweetness.
- Vegetable oil – Corn or canola oil works too!
- Sour cream – This gives the cake such a moist texture.
- Large eggs – Whisk four eggs and then add to the pumpkin mixture.
- All-purpose flour – Combines the ingredients and creates a thicker batter.
- Baking soda – Always helping baked goods rise while in the oven.
- Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg – These spices are the perfect combination of fall! They all blend well with pumpkin treats. You could also sub these for pumpkin pie spice. Other spice options are cloves and allspice.
- Salt – Helps enhance flavoring with the ingredients. A pinch of salt goes a long way!
- Mini chocolate chips – (optional)
Health Benefits of Pumpkin
There truly are great health benefits that come from eating pumpkin – and this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Sheet Cake uses real pumpkin. While my favorite pumpkin recipes are desserts, pumpkin is also delicious in soups and casseroles.
A couple of my favorite pumpkin recipes to make in the fall are Dinner in a Pumpkin and Pumpkin Cobbler. Pumpkin has a squash-like taste and texture, and adds a lot of flavor to recipes. It’s worth giving it a try to get the boost of vitamins and antioxidants pumpkin provides. Additionally, here are just a few of the health benefits of eating pumpkin:
- Better Eyesight – One cup of cooked pumpkin contains more than 200% of the recommended daily intake of Vitamin A. Additionally, Vitamin A aids vision, especially vision in dim lighting.
- Weight Loss – One cup of cooked pumpkin has three grams of fiber and only 49 calories! This makes you feel a little better when you eat that slice of pumpkin pie, right? Fiber makes you feel fuller longer, so you eat less.
- Cancer and wrinkle prevention – According to the National Cancer Institute, beta-carotene may play a role in cancer prevention, and pumpkin is chock full of beta-carotene. Health Magazine also reported that the carotenoids in pumpkins can also help keep skin wrinkle-free.
- Energy – Pumpkin contains more potassium than bananas! Potassium restores electrolyte balance after a workout and keeps muscles functioning at their best.
Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting
For the frosting, use a hand mixer to whip the unsalted butter and room temperature cream cheese together with vanilla extract and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
- Butter and cream cheese – Soften both ingredients ahead of time to make it easier to cream together.
- Vanilla – Adds a hint of flavor to the creamed mixture.
- Powdered sugar – Makes the frosting smooth and rich with flavor.
Additions and Substitutions to this Pumpkin Cake
- If you love chocolate and pumpkin together, add chocolate chips! I like to use mini chips because they distribute more evenly and give you a little chocolate in every bite. Larger chocolate chips can turn large parts of the cake brown and consequently, don’t distribute as evenly.
- Add your favorite chopped nuts to the top of the cake. Pecans or walnuts are delicious options.
- You can spread the entire cake with the soft cream cheese icing, or make it more decorative. Spoon the frosting into a Ziplock bag and cut a small hole in one corner, then squeeze the frosting in a decorative pattern on top of the cake.
“The smells coming from my oven right now can NOT be beat by anything but a newborn baby’s head. 😂 Making this for a family gathering tomorrow. Thank you for sharing!!”
-Robin
Frequently Asked Questions about Pumpkin Cake
While this pumpkin spice sheet cake can be stored at room temperature, I like to keep it in the fridge. As a result, the frosting holds its shape better.
Yes! This pumpkin sheet cake can be made up to five days ahead of when you want to serve. Just keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator.
You can bake the cake and freeze it, but do so BEFORE you frost it. I would suggest frosting the cake after it thaws and before you serve. Cream cheese frosting doesn’t freeze well.
More Pumpkin Recipes
If you are in the mood for more pumpkin treats, try some of these delicious pumpkin recipes.
How to Make Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Video
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 15 ounces pumpkin (1 can)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 4 large eggs beaten
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients:
- 1 bag mini chocolate chips (optional)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the wet ingredients in a large bowl and stir together the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
- Add the dry mix to the wet mix and thoroughly combine. Stir in chocolate chips (optional).
- Spray a sheet pan with cooking spray. Pour the batter in and bake for 25 to 30 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Beat together the cream cheese frosting ingredients.
- When the cake is completely cooled, spread the cream cheese frosting evenly over the cake. Keep cake refrigerated.
- Option: Spoon the cream cheese frosting into a frosting bag with a tip, or into a resealable plastic bag and a tip cut off of one corner. Decorate the top of the cake in a pattern. You can see how I decorated it in this photo.
Notes
Make Ahead Pumpkin Sheet Cake
- This pumpkin sheet cake can be made up to five days ahead of when you want to serve. Just keep it tightly covered in the refrigerator.
Storing Leftover Cake
- While this pumpkin spice sheet cake can be stored at room temperature, I like to keep it in the fridge, so the frosting holds its shape better.
Nutrition Information
The smells coming from my oven right now can NOT be beat by anything but a newborn baby’s head. 😂 Making this for a family gathering tomorrow. Thank you for sharing!!
LOL you win best comment! I also agree 🙂
I just made this cake for a friend’s birthday and it was AMAZING. Instead of a bundt cake, I decided to make a multi-tier 9-inch round cake. Doubling the recipe produced two 9-inch round cakes. I cut those in half and stacked three on top of each other. You can then use the other half to make some cake pop toppers or mini cakes. Hope this helps!
So glad you liked this recipe! Thank you for sharing how you creatively prepared it, yum!
Does the cake need to be refrigerated if icing has not been added yet?
It would probably be ok either way. I like the taste of it chilled but that’s just me!
How many people does this serve?
A sheet cake usually has 30-40 small servings. It really depends on how big of eaters you have and/or if there are any other desserts present (i.e. a potluck) Hope this helps!
What size cookie sheet. The large one of the 9 X 13?
The large shallow type, not the 9×13.
I am making this cake now and thought I’d let you know there is no measure for the chocolate chips.