Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

5 from 43 votes

Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Frosting

This Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Brown Butter Frosting is nicely spiced, moist, fluffy and has the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor. The frosting is nutty, buttery and gives this cake the perfect balance of sweet and salty. It's ready in 1 hour and it's easy enough for anyone to make. Top it with Homemade Sprinkles then serve it with Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese and the Best Caesar Salad for a cozy dinner!

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Decorating10

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: slices or 1 (9x13-inch) cake

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Cost: $12

Equipment

1 (9x13-inch) baking pan or 2 (12-cavity) cupcake pans or 2(8-inch or 9-inch) cake pans
1 medium bowl
1 Stand-up Mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and paddle attachment
1 small saucepan
1 small bowl
1 offset spatula

Ingredients

One-Bowl Pumpkin Sheet Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups white granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup neutral oil (such as avocado, vegetable or safflower oil)
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Brown Butter Frosting:

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter divided (2 sticks are just room temperature)
4 cups powdered sugar sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

To Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch cake pan with cooking spray and line with a sheet of parchment (this makes it easier to remove it from the pan) and set aside. Alternatively you can make cupcakes and cake pans
In the a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of a stand-up mixer (or a large bowl using an electric mixer), whisk together the eggs, neutral oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth it out using an offset spatula or butter knife. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack. BE CAREFUL IT'S A BIG CAKE.

To Make the Brown Butter Frosting:

If you’ll notice in the recipe it calls for the butter to be divided so! Two sticks (1 cup) are going to be room temperature. One stick (1/2 cup) of the butter is what we’re going to brown.
Go ahead and start by adding the room temperature butter to the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (OR a medium bowl using an electric mixer).
Cube up 1/2 cup of the butter (1 stick). In a small saucepan, set over medium heat, add the cubed butter. Once it’s melted, it will begin to foam up and bubble a bit. Allow it to cook until you begin to see lightly browned specks beginning to form. Give it a stir and cook until it’s browned. You should also start to smell its nutty aroma. Remove it from the pan and continue to stir to cool it down.
Transfer it to a small bowl (freezer-safe) and place it in the freezer to chill, for about 10 to 15 minutes. We want it to be around room temperature butter. After it gets to that room temperature butter-firmness (it can be a bit softer—that’s ok), transfer it to the bowl with the other room temperature butter.
Sift in the powdered sugar and add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream. Beat the frosting for about 3 minutes. The fluffiness from the heavy cream really lightens up this frosting so be sure to beat it for the full 3 minutes.

To Assemble the Cake:

Pour all of the frosting on the cooled sheet cake and spread it around, creating cute swoops as you go. Top it with some sprinkles and cut it up and slice! Cake will stay moist for about 3 days when wrapped properly.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

Trick to make the best swirls in your frosting: You gotta plop all the frosting right in the center and then push it out. It really works splendidly. It also takes under 5 minutes. If you mess with it too much then it starts to look too purposeful. The decorating needs to look casual yet cute. Don’t put too much effort into it, you know. It just takes some swoops and swirls with a trusty off-set spatula or even a butter knife and that’s it. Here is the cake pan I love using, and here is a link to the sprinkles I made!
*If you don’t have pumpkin spice, you can make your own by adding this to the dry ingredients: 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, Pinch of ground cloves.
Make cupcakes: This recipe will make 24 cupcakes. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Make a layer cake: Divide the batter into two 8-inch or 9-inch cake pans. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Let’s talk about different oils! In the cake pictured, I used vegetable oil. But avocado oil (a very neutral healthy oil) will work great. As will coconut oil, though it will give off a bit of a coconut flavor so beware.

Nutrition