Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
This Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake has all the rich and delicious flavors of Fall and is so simple to make. With a prep time of 15 minutes, it’s a show-stopping dessert that will be a crowd favorite.
We are big fans of a gooey butter cake in our house and this Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake is the best Fall treat for any party. It happens to be my sister’s favorite to bring to any potluck or gathering during the Autumn months.
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It’s similar to our viral Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake except that it uses pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice instead of chocolate for flavoring. With just a couple of bowls and pantry ingredients, the hands-on work is only 15 minutes. So you can have dessert in no time.
Thanks to Plugrà Premium European Style Butter that has 82% butterfat content (versus 80% that most American butters have), every bite offers richer flavor and a perfectly moist texture that’s impossible to resist. It makes your holiday treats taste richer, bake up prettier, and come together easier. It’s the little upgrade that makes a big difference.
If you love a Fall treat, our Pumpkin Coffee Cake and Pumpkin Spice Loaf are two of our other favorite recipes.
Laura Ashley’s Tip: Pumpkin butter adds an incredible texture and flavor. If you can’t access a jar, you can swap it with apple butter or canned pumpkin pie mix. You can also use 100% packed pumpkin as well, but you’ll need to add 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice and omit the flour.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Rich and creamy texture: The buttery, custard-like filling melts in your mouth with every bite.
- Perfect fall flavor: It’s packed with cozy pumpkin spice flavor that makes it perfect for autumn get-togethers and holidays.
- Easy to make: Uses simple pantry ingredients and a boxed cake mix for a stress-free dessert.
- Make-ahead friendly: Stays moist and delicious for days, so you can prepare it in advance.
Ingredients
Scroll Down for Ingredient Amounts Listed in the Full Printable Recipe Card Below
Crust
- Box yellow cake mix: The base to any great gooey butter cake.
- Pumpkin pie spice: Key to that signature pumpkin flavor. It’s a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Salted Plugrà butter: It’s not a gooey butter cake without lots of butter to add moisture and rich flavor. Because Plugrà is slow-churned, it’s smooth and easy to work with and makes the most irresistible treat!
- Chopped pecans: Adds nuttiness and crunch.
- Large egg: Binds everything together.
Filling
- Cream cheese: Makes the creamy texture and decadent flavor.
- Pumpkin butter: The star ingredient that adds all of that fall taste.
- Large eggs: Binds the filling together.
- Pumpkin pie spice: More spice here to add more delicious flavor.
- All-purpose flour: Helps to bind the filling together.
- Vanilla extract: Adds caramel and floral notes.
- Powdered sugar: Perfect way to sweeten the filling just right.
- Salted Plugrà butter: More butter to get that classic texture. More Plugrà = More Delicious!
- Garnish options: We love to use whipped cream, ice cream, powdered sugar, and pumpkin seeds.
Tools You’ll Need
How to Make Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the yellow cake mix, pumpkin pie spice, melted butter, pecans, and an egg. Stir until well combined.
- Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish to form the crust layer.
- In another mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, pumpkin butter, and eggs until smooth.
- Add pumpkin pie spice, flour, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and melted butter. Beat until creamy and smooth.
- Pour and spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust in the baking dish.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the center is just set.
- Cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired. Cut into squares or bars and serve garnished as desired.
Expert Tips
- Make sure you layer the ingredients correctly. You want to add the cake batter in the bottom and then pour the cream cheese layer on top for that classic gooey butter cake texture.
- Bake only until the center is set. It may still jiggle a little bit when you shake it and that’s ok. It will continue to cook as it cools to create the right texture.
- Make sure you cool completely before serving. This is so important with making this gooey pumpkin butter cake to guarantee it has the right consistency.
- Garnish if desired. We like to add more powdered sugar, whipped cream, or ice cream.
- Make your own pumpkin pie spice. Just combine 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves in a small bowl.
- Don’t have pumpkin butter? Totally fine! You can use apple butter or pumpkin pie filling instead. You can also use 100% packed pumpkin as well, but you’ll need to add 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice and remove the flour.
Storage
Store an leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can freeze the leftovers as well for up to 2 months – we can’t promise that once thawed, the gooey butter cake texture will be the same.
This pumpkin gooey butter cake is the best dessert to prepare in advance since it needs to cool completely before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
The outside edges and top will be set but the center will still be soft and jiggle slightly when baking.
Yes, it’s actually the perfect dessert to do so! It needs to cool completely in the pan before baking, so even making it the day before a party works well.
You probably didn’t bake it long enough. The center shouldn’t be undercooked, you want it to just slightly jiggle when you gently shake the pan.
Plugrà is a European-style butter that’s made a little differently. It has more butterfat (82% instead of 80%, which you find in traditional American butters) and is slow-churned, which gives it a super smooth, creamy texture.
More Easy Dessert Recipes
This post was created in partnership with Plugrà. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
Ingredients
Crust
- 18.25 ounce box yellow cake mix
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1 large egg
Filling
- 8 ounce cream cheese softened
- 10 ounces pumpkin butter
- 3 large eggs divided
- 1 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pound powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons salted butter melted and slightly cooled
- Garnish options: whipped cream, ice cream, powdered sugar, pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the yellow cake mix, pumpkin pie spice, melted butter, pecans, and an egg. Stir until well combined.
- Press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish to form the crust layer.
- In another mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, pumpkin butter, and eggs until smooth.
- Add pumpkin pie spice, flour, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and melted butter. Beat until creamy and smooth.
- Pour and spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust in the baking dish.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the center is just set.
- Cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar if desired. Cut into squares or bars and serve garnished as desired.
Notes
- Make sure you layer the ingredients correctly. You want to add the cake batter in the bottom and then pour the cream cheese layer on top for that classic gooey butter cake texture.
- Bake only until the center is set. It may still jiggle a little bit when you shake it and that’s ok. It will continue to cook as it cools to create the right texture.
- Make sure you cool completely before serving. This is so important with making this gooey pumpkin butter cake to guarantee it has the right consistency.
- Garnish if desired. We like to add more powdered sugar, whipped cream, or ice cream.
- Make your own pumpkin pie spice. Just combine 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves in a small bowl.
- Don’t have pumpkin butter? Totally fine! You can use apple butter or pumpkin pie filling instead. You can also use 100% packed pumpkin as well, but you’ll need to add 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice and remove the flour.
Nutrition
About Laura
Taught by some of the best, cooking and entertaining has always been my favorite hobby. Food is my love language! The conception of Dinner in 321 came from my family talks that sharing our dinners would help others learn new skills, tasty recipes, and make cooking fun! Read more…
