Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting is half breakfast, half dessert, and I’m happy to eat it as either. I can’t resist a slice with my morning coffee, and I’m not above another one in the afternoon. The loaf starts with a can of pumpkin puree and a few pantry staples. We use spices from a blend we measure ourselves instead of a store-bought jar, so it’s completely customizable. The cream cheese frosting is thick enough to spread, with enough tang to keep the sugar in check.

Want To Save This Recipe For Later?

Enter your email to have this recipe sent to your inbox.

By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Casual Epicure.

Key Ingredients and Substitutions

The complete ingredient list and measurements are listed in the printable recipe below.

• Spices: Our pumpkin pie spice blend is 1½ teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cloves, and ¼ teaspoon allspice. Store-bought pumpkin pie spice varies by brand, and none of the labels say how much of each spice is in the jar. Some skip cloves, some skip allspice, and at least one adds mace. Mixing your own means the loaf tastes the same every time, and you can turn any one spice up or down. If you’d rather use a jar, swap in 3½ teaspoons of store-bought pumpkin pie spice and check the label so you know which spices you’re getting.
• Pumpkin puree: Use canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling. Puree is just cooked, mashed pumpkin. Pie filling is already sweetened and spiced, which would throw off the sugar-to-spice balance.
• Cream cheese and butter: Let both come to room temperature before you make the frosting so they beat smoothly, without lumps.

How to Make Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here are the quick, step-by-step instructions with visuals; you can find the full instructions, including the exact ingredients, in the recipe card below.

Pro-tip: Toast 3 tablespoons of pepitas in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until they start to pop and smell nutty, about 3 to 5 minutes. Let them cool, then sprinkle them over the frosting for a little crunch in every slice.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Ground spices and baking soda tend to clump in the jar, and sifting breaks those clumps up so you don’t bite into a pocket of cloves. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, eggs, and vanilla until the mixture is one even shade of orange with no streaks of egg.

Fold them together. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula, not a mixer. Stop as soon as you can’t see any dry flour. A few small lumps are fine. Overmixing builds gluten, which gives you a tough, dense loaf.

Prep the pan and add the batter. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick spray, then line it with parchment paper. The grease holds the parchment in place, and the parchment lets you lift the loaf straight out instead of flipping it, so the top stays intact. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. It’s thick, so spread it into the corners and smooth the top so the loaf bakes evenly.

Bake, then cool. Bake for about 50 minutes, then insert a toothpick or knife into the center. If it comes out with wet batter, keep baking and check every 5-8 minutes. When it comes out clean, the loaf is done. Expect a crack down the middle of the top. That’s normal for a quick bread and doesn’t need fixing. Leave the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift it out by the parchment and place it on a wire rack to cool completely (about 1-2 hours).

Make the cream cheese frosting. As the loaf cools, beat the room-temperature cream cheese and butter on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the vanilla, powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of milk, and beat until smooth. If it’s too stiff to spread, add more milk a little at a time. You want it thick enough to hold its shape on the loaf, not thin enough to drizzle.

Frost and slice. Once the loaf is fully cooled, spread the frosting over the top. Warm bread melts the frosting into a thin layer that slides off the sides. Slice it into 3/4 to 1-inch-thick slices for serving.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: Bake the loaf up to 2 days before you plan to serve it. Wrap it unfrosted and keep it at room temperature, then frost it the day you serve it.

How to Store: Store frosted bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, since the cream cheese frosting needs to stay cold. Unfrosted bread keeps at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Slice the frosted loaf and lay the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet.
How to Freeze: Slice the frosted loaf and lay the slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze until the frosting is firm, then pack the slices in a freezer container or bag with parchment or patty paper between each one so they don’t stick together. They’ll keep for up to 3 months. Pull out as many slices as you need and thaw them overnight in the refrigerator.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Spoon and level the flour. Scooping straight from the bag packs in extra flour, which makes the loaf dry and crumbly. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off with a knife.
• Mix a big batch of the spice blend. Multiply the five spices, store them in a jar, and measure out 3½ teaspoons per loaf. It’s also handy for pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin muffins.
• Wipe the knife between slices. Cream cheese frosting smears on a messy blade. Wiping it clean between cuts keeps each slice neat.