Moist and tender, From-Scratch Amish Pumpkin Cake is the perfect snack cake or after-dinner dessert throughout the year. With a touch of sweetness and a punch of warm and flavorful spices, this pumpkin cake will change how you think about cake!  If you love pumpkin, make sure to check out this amazing pumpkin pie cake!

Pumpkin Cake

How to Make Pumpkin Cake

Start by mixing together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.  In the bowl of a mixer, beat the lard and sugar until fluffy.  One comment I get frequently is that the Amish did not use electricity.  So, for clarification purposes, yes, I do use a stand mixer when I make this recipe.  The recipe itself is from an Amish friend, but I have modified it to fit my lifestyle:).  If you prefer to be authentic to the recipe, then be prepared to put in a little extra elbow grease.  If you decide to use your mixer though, you can now reduce the speed down to medium and add in your eggs, one at a time.  Followed by pumpkin and vanilla.  Beating until everything is combined.    Next, add the flour mixture in three individual parts.  Transfer to a prepared bundt pan.  Tap the sides to settle the batter and smooth out the top with a spatula.

The mixture needs to be baked between 60-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let it cool in the pan for about 20-30 minutes.  Gently use your hands to pull the cake away from the pan, working your way around the entire cake.  Invert the dish onto a cooling rack and then pull the pan away.  Once completely cooled you can dust with powdered sugar and serve!

Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

There are a few questions people always have about this particular cake recipe:

Why lard in this Amish Pumpkin Cake recipe?

Well, that is how my Amish friend makes it. She renders her own lard and yields a pure, white, almost flavorless lard. (She butchers her own pigs and told me that she tends to use the kidney fat for her baking lard.) You can also buy “clean” lard from most grocery stores. This is a perfect cake to use lard in as the pumpkin flavor is so strong that any hint of pork is undetectable. (The flavor of pig usually only comes through in homemade lard, store bought is mostly flavorless.) You can absolutely use Crisco in place of the lard if you don’t have any!

Is there a difference between homemade pumpkin puree and canned?

Yes, most definitely. In my experience, homemade is much less sweet than canned. My Amish friend told me that is why she always dusts this cake with confectioners sugar. If you are able, I do recommend trying the homemade pumpkin puree, but the canned will definitely work!

Can I just use Pumpkin Pie spice in place of all the different spices?

I suppose you could in a pinch, but make sure it is as fresh as you can get. However, this recipe is perfect as is and works best when you add each individual spice.

My friend actually grates her cinnamon and nutmeg on a microplane, as well as grinding whole cloves into a powder just prior to adding it to the cake batter. Her Pumpkin Cake is the most flavorful cake I have ever tasted!! However, I am not in the spice grinding business just yet and have found the store bought spices work just fine. 🙂

This recipe is by far my family’s favorite Pumpkin Cake!

This is the REAL DEAL pumpkin cake!
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AMISH PUMPKIN CAKE

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Moist and tender, From-Scratch Amish Pumpkin Cake is the perfect snack cake or after-dinner dessert throughout the year.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • teaspoons baking powder
  • teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 cup lard, or solid vegetable shortening
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • cups homemade pumpkin puree, or 1 (15 ounce) can
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 350°F and generously grease a 12-cup bundt pan.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to combine. Set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the lard and sugar on medium speed until fluffy scraping down the sides as necessary.
  • Reduce the speed to medium-low and add in the eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined before adding the next.
  • Scrape down the sides and add the pumpkin and vanilla, beating just until combined. Reduce the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three additions. Scrape down the sides and mix for a few seconds longer just until a few streaks of our remains.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared bundt pan. Tap the sides of the bundt to settle the batter and smooth the top with a spatula.
  • Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan until warm enough to handle, 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Gently use your hands to slightly pull the cake away from the pan, working your way around the entire pan.
  • Invert onto a cooling rack and pull the pan away from the cake. Allow cake to cool completely on the cooling rack.
  • Gently dust with confectioners' sugar.

Did you make this recipe?

You can tag me at @iamhomesteader.

Photography by The PKP Way.

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Reader Comments

  1. It says 1 1/2 cups homemade pumpkin puree or a 15 Oz canned puree from store.

    Can’t wait to try this out

  2. I am interested in this recipe also so I found what looks like the same one on another site. They have listed 2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin.

  3. I would like try this cake. I would like to know exactly how much pumpkin puree to use? Could you let me know?
    Thank you

  4. I would like to try making this, as it sounds delicious. But I also would like to know how much pumpkin puree you used? it just says 1 but doesn’t say cup or anything else.

  5. How much is one homemade pumpkin purée? I live in South America and make my pumpkin purée out of huge, hard gourds. How much should I put in?

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