Pumpkin Apple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My pumpkin apple cake with cream cheese frosting is going to become your new favorite fall dessert! This deliciously moist, classic spice cake is filled with fresh apple and pumpkin flavors and finished with an easy frosting--all made from scratch.

And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my moist applesauce bread, too!

Soft and Moist - If you're one of those people who despises the word "moist" then I apologize because there is simply no better way to describe this pumpkin apple dessert. Ingredients like pumpkin puree and apples are often added cake batter in place of oil, butter, and eggs for moisture so adding them along with these components results in pure decadence.

So it has the perfect moist and dense texture without being too spongy and it doesn't even need frosting! But cake is not cake without frosting, to me, so I had to finish it off with homemade maple cream cheese frosting.

Fall Flavor - All the seasonal flavors come together beautifully with the flavor of crisp, fruity apples and sweet earthy pumpkin made perfectly cozy autumnal spices like cinnamon and ginger.

I love fall baking season and have so many goodies to share like my fall banana nut bread, pumpkin spiced snickerdoodle cookies, sweet potato dessert bars, fresh pear cobbler, and sweet potato pie ice cream!

What You'll Need for this Recipe

Pumpkin Puree gives this cake a nice orange color and imparts the flavor of pumpkin. Make sure not to use pumpkin pie filling, which has extra ingredients not necessary for this recipe.

Fresh Apple is grated right into the cake batter for authentic apple flavor and all the juiciness that comes with that. As an alternative, you can use applesauce.

Brown Sugar for sweetness with a hint of molasses flavor. You can use either dark or light brown sugar.

Sweet Warming Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and clove. Check your spices to make sure they aren't expired so that the cozy flavor shines through!

This easy pumpkin apple bundt cake recipe calls for one cup of puree, which is about half of the 15-ounce cans you'll find at most grocery stores. Wondering how can I use leftover pumpkin puree? Try my baked pumpkin donuts or pumpkin kitchen sink cookies or pumpkin hatch chile salsa for early fall.

For the Cream Cheese Icing

Cream Cheese for that classic tanginess. I recommend using a full fat cream cheese for the best and richest texture. Low fat cream cheese just won't hit the same.

Powdered Sugar aka confectioner's sugar is really the only kind of sugar to use here because it is fine enough to completely dissolve into something so smooth and spreadable.

Maple Syrup adds a touch of cozy woodsy flavor that we love so much at this time of year. Don't skip it!

Vegan or Vegetarian - Wondering can I make this pumpkin apple cake vegan? I have made this recipe egg and butter free, using plant-based milk and and it came out well, although the texture was definitely not the same and it did not come out quite as moist. The vegan version of this cake has a slightly springy texture but is still soft. As for the cream cheese frosting, using plant-based butter and cream cheese will give you a very similar effect.

Add Nuts for a pop of texture contrast. Walnuts, pecans or sliced almonds are my go-tos. Stir them into the flour mixture (steps below) to make sure they distribute through the batter evenly.

Pan Shape - This simple recipe presents beautifully as an apple pumpkin spice bundt cake but you can also use an oblong pan or two round cake pans to bake it.

How to Make an Easy Pumpkin Apple Cake

Step One: Mix together the pumpkin puree, butter, brown sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. (Photo 1)

Step Two: Whisk together the flour, rising agents, and spices. (Photo 2)

Step Three: Grate the apple then mix it into the flour mixture and combine with the wet mixture to form cake batter. (Photos 3 and 4)

Step Four: While the cake bakes, beat the frosting ingredients together until uniform, glossy, and fluffy. (Photo 5)

Step Five: Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into several points comes out clean. (Photo 6)

Step Six: Cool the cake fully then frost. (Photo 7)