Pumpkin Cake with Yellow Cake Mix and Brown Sugar Glaze

Sliced pumpkin cake with brown sugar glaze on cake plate.

Pumpkin Cake with Yellow Cake Mix and Brown Sugar Glaze

Canned pumpkin + spices turn a simple boxed cake mix into something so delicious for Fall! The brown sugar glaze really amps things up - and any leftover glaze is delicious stirred into coffee!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Cooling Time 2

Total Time 3 5

Servings

Calories 455kcal

Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

For the cake:

15 ounces yellow cake mix see notes
15 ounces canned pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the glaze:

1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
¼ cup butter
½ cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and liberally butter and flour a bundt pan.
In a large bowl, beat together the cake ingredients using an electric mixer until well combined, light, and somewhat fluffy.
Add batter to the prepared bundt pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool for 15 minutes in the bundt pan before turning onto a cake platter to finish cooling. Cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze:

Add the brown sugar, cream, and butter to a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir constantly as the butter melts.
Once melted, stop stirring and bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.
Whisk in the powdered sugar and a pinch of salt until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes to thicken up a bit before drizzling over the cake. If the glaze cools too much, reheat just enough to make it pourable again.

Notes

Cake Mix: Cake mix sizes are changing often these days, generally shrinking. We’ve found that anywhere from 15-18 ounces of mix works well in this recipe. If you have a smaller cake mix, I'd add a couple tablespoons of flour.

Pumpkin: Be sure to use pure pumpkin puree and not canned pie filling as the pie filling has other ingredients added to it.

Leftover Glaze: If you don’t use the full amount of glaze on the cake, leftovers can be stored in a mason jar in the fridge. We like to stir it into hot coffee or warm it up a bit and drizzle it over ice cream.

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