The Best Homemade Pumpkin Bread

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Lucky for you, this is the only pumpkin bread recipe you’ll ever need. It’s the perfect base for any additions (think chocolate chips, nuts, dates, more spices) but also incredibly good on it’s own. 

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An incredibly moist spiced pumpkin cake to make all your pumpkin dreams come true, easy to make and such a crowd pleaser 🎃.

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What ingredients do you need for a pumpkin cake?

Flour - Good all purpose (cake) flour to bind all your ingredients together

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Large eggs - Keep them at room temperature so they mix in well with the other ingredients

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Milk - Also let the milk come up to room temperature before using. Feel free to swap this out for a full-fat non dairy milk in case you’re lactose intolerant. And yes! We do want full-fat, otherwise you might as well just add water

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Pumpkin Puree - If you live in Europe (The Netherlands) like me, you might have a hard time finding canned pumpkin puree. Simply cut up some fresh pumpkin, boil until soft and blend with a mixer of immersion blender. Let it cool down before using 

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Spices - A good mix of spices is what’s going to give this bread it’s fall-like kick. The warmth of the flavours just works so well with pumpkin! 

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Sugar - This recipe is not too sweet, making it a perfect treat. Just enough sugar to keep things interesting

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Salt & Vanilla - Mega mega important to never skip your vanilla and salt, it deepens and enhances all the flavours in your bread

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Oil - We can’t make cake without a little fat! I used vegetable oil but you can swap this for any other neutral oil 

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Tips for making the best Pumpkin Bread

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Don’t overmix your batter - Stop mixing as soon as your dry ingredients are incorporated. Stirring too much means gluten formations will develop and gluten equals thougher and chewier bread. So! Don’t overmix and you’ll get that tender cake you’re looking for

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Use high quality ingredients - I can’t stress this enough, but the quality in your ingredients does show in most of your bakes. Don’t skimp here and get that good vanilla, good pumpkin puree and full-fat milk 

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Don’t overbake your cake - It’s a true art to not over or underbake your cakes. Continue reading to see how you can hit that sweet spot when it comes to baking

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Baking time and oven temperature

Baking time and oven temperature may vary depending on the oven you are using.  All oven temperatures in my recipes are based on a conventional oven. If you bake with a fan-assisted oven, turn down the temperature slightly as these ovens tend to become hotter than a conventional oven at that temperature setting. Ovens have the tendency to deviate from the temperature you set the oven to. I would highly recommend using an oven thermometer to ensure the inside of your oven is at the right temperature. My oven for example only goes up to 160C even though I turn it up to 230C 

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An oven that is too hot may result in an overbaked or burnt bake, an oven that is too cold may result in underbaked and soggy bakes. Having the thermometer will not only help in getting the right temperature but also helps in determining the right baking time. 

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Sticking a knife in the centre of your bake should tell you if your cake is done. Moist crumbs should still stick to your knife but not wet batter. That’s when you know it’s perfect! Did it come out completely clean? Then you most likely overbaked it so it’s definitely time to take it out the oven

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Other factors that may affect baking time

The size of your baking dish may also highly affect your baking time. A wider pan means that the batter spreads out more, resulting in it baking faster than in a smaller pan where the batter is thicker in height. 

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