Very Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake Recipe

I made this cake for 2024 Halloween, for the parents who accompanied the children. Halloween is not really a big thing in Germany, but more children are coming trick-or-treating each year. It also helps that the house is decorated thematically and also well-lit. They say: “Süsses order Saures” which literally translates into “something sweet or something sour/unpleasant“, implying that if they don’t get candy, there may be some mischief.

Go to Pumpkin Spice Cake Recipe

The short story about making the cake is that I found a Pumpkin Pie Spice mix, marketed for traditional American Pumpkin Pie and other pumpkin dishes, at the local market. It was a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, mace, and cloves. What’s interesting to note is that, currently, in Germany, there are mainly 2 types of Pumpkin Spice on the market: one that contains pumpkin powder and another one that doesn’t (here, there are also 2 options: sweet or salty), plus other pumpkin-related products like Pumpkin Latte mix. Since the mix is quite similar to Lebkuchen, I decided to bake a simple sheet cake, made of “stirred batter” (Rühreig), also known as cake batter. I also use this recipe for making a very simple Lebkuchen Backblech (Gingerbread Sheet Cake), replacing the Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix with a Lebkuchen Spice Mix (Cookie Spice Mix).

Ingredients for a pumpkin spice sheet cake (about 40x30cm):

• 5 eggs (60g with shell each)
• 200g sugar
• 50g honey (you can replace it with sugar)
• 500g flour
• 250g soft butter (room temperature, not melted)
• 250ml milch
• 1 sachet baking powder (16g ~ 1 1/2 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp pumpkin spice mix (you can adjust it to your taste)
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• peel of an orange (lemon or lime) + juice (about 2-3 tbsp)
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/374°F (no ventilation).
2. Line a sheet tray with baking paper. If the tray is smaller, the cake will be taller.
3. Mix the flour with the salt, baking powder, and the spices.
   
4. Cream the butter with the sugar and vanilla sugar. It should have a lightly creamy texture.
   
5. Add the honey and mix till incorporated.
6. Add the eggs, one by one.
7. Add the milk and mix until combined.
8. Add about 2/3 (two-thirds) of the flour and the citrus peel. Use a sieve to avoid clumps.
   
9. Add all the citrus juice (depending on the type of citrus used, you may get 2-3 tbsp; more is also fine).
10. Add the remaining flour and mix everything until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter should be rather thick.
    
11. Pour the batter into the pan and level it with a spatula.
    
12. Bake it in the preheated oven at 190°C/374°F for about 25 minutes.
13. Use a toothpick to check when is the cake done: stick it into the cake and if it comes out clean, it’s done.
    
14. If you like, you can also use a cream cheese frosting on top. Since this type of frosting is not that common in Germany, we usually eat the cake as it is. In this way, the cake lasts longer, without needing to be refrigerated.