Jazz up a boxed cake mix for an amazingly easy pumpkin pie cake that your family will love! Topped with brown sugar and pecans, every bite is a pumpkin spice dream.

Once upon a time a reader made our pumpkin dump cake, but didn’t quite follow the instructions. What she thought would be a total failure, ended up being a deliciously easy pumpkin pie cake that her family loved!

We couldn’t help but try this ourselves. And we were pleased with the delicious results. Let’s make this easy cake!

What you’ll love about this cake:

easy cake mix recipe
full of pumpkin spice flavor
soft, moist, dense texture
mixes in one bowl
failure-proof recipe!

How to Make Easy Pumpkin Pie Cake

This cake bakes best in a 9×13 baking pan. It doesn’t work great as a layer cake. This of this as more like a coffee cake than a traditional cake. It’s dense and moist. Don’t expect a light fluffy cake. If you’d like that in a pumpkin cake, try this recipe.

Mix. In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the eggs and mix again. Add the pumpkin and milk. Mix again. Add the salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and cake mix. Mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Layer. Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the pecans over the batter. Then sprinkle the brown sugar over the pecans.
Bake. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

This cake takes awhile to bake. If it looks like the pecan topping is getting too brown before it tests done, cover loosely with a piece of foil for the remainder of baking.

Note: You can use any flavor cake mix you’d like. Our favorites are spice cake mix, butter golden or butter pecan cake.

Can you make this cake in advance?

Yes! Although this cake is delicious fresh from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, we also loved it the next day. The flavors seemed to blend and pop more when served the day after baking.

slice of pumpkin cake with a bite out of it

How should you store this cake?

This cake is safe to store at room temperature for about 2 days. After that I recommend refrigerating or freezing in an airtight container.

Easy Pumpkin Pie Cake

4.80 from 5 votes

Jazz up a boxed cake mix for an amazingly easy pumpkin pie cake that your family will love! Topped with brown sugar and pecans, every bite is a pumpkin spice dream.

Servings 15

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

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Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
15 ounces solid-pack pumpkin
12 ounces evaporated milk
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 box butter pecan cake mix Betty Crocker (15.25 ounces)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350º Fahrenheit and grease a 9×13 pan with butter or cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar. Mix well.
Add the eggs and mix again.
Add the pumpkin and milk. Mix again.
Add the salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and cake mix. Mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the pecans over the batter.
Then sprinkle the brown sugar over the pecans.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Check the cake at about 45 minutes while baking. If it is getting too brown, cover with foil for the remainder of baking.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes

The calories shown are based on the cake being cut into 15 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of cake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**