This moist, fluffy Pumpkin Bread recipe is the ultimate fall treat! Made with pumpkin puree, warm cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar, it’s soft, flavorful, and easy to bake at home. Perfect for breakfast, dessert, or cozy afternoon coffee.
Table of Contents
Ingredients and substitutions for Pumpkin Bread
- Butter: Unsalted butter is used for this, but if all you have on hand is salted, that works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe.
- Canned pumpkin: The reason we use canned versus homemade pureed pumpkin here is because canned has less moisture in it. This ensures consistent results whereas using a homemade pureed pumpkin might be more closely related to apple sauce in texture which would affect the texture of the cake.
- Sugar: The brown sugar helps to give warm flavor to the cake alongside the spices. You could replace with raw sugar or a mixture of brown and caster/superfine sugar.
- Egg: As well as adding structure to our dish, the eggs helps to bind everything together so is essential.
- Flour: Plain or all purpose flour adds a light texture to the cake and you’ll keep a light crumb by only mixing until combined.
- Baking soda and powder: These help the cake rise for a light crumb and avoid a stodgy result.
- Ground spices: The mixture of spices add depth to the bread and compliment the pumpkin flavor for a signature taste in this beloved recipe.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Pumpkin Bread:
Step 1: Dry: Toss all the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir together.
Step 2: Beat: Whip the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Step 3: Eggs a do: Add the eggs and beat until combined.
Step 3: Pumpkin: Add the canned pumpkin into the mixture.
Step 4: Dries: Toss into the batter and whip on the lowest setting.
Step 5: Fold it: Fold until the batter is smooth and well combined and pour into your loaf tin. Top with an optional line of butter in the center and top with the pumpkin seeds.
Step 6: Bake: Until golden.
Step 7: Serve: Slice and serve. Enjoy!
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Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients
- 110 grams / 3.9 ounces butter room temperature
- 165 grams / ¾ cup brown sugar
- 90 grams / 2 medium eggs room temperature
- 240 grams / 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 200 grams / 1 ¼ cups plain flour
- 5 grams / 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 grams / ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon star anise
- 30 grams / ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/320F and line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground spices into a bowl and stir until combined. Set aside.
- Place the butter and sugar into a separate bowl and whip on medium until pale and well combined, approximately 3 minutes.
- Add in the eggs and whip until well combined and lightly fluffy, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add in the pumpkin and combine until the mixture is smooth.
- Toss in the dry ingredients and whip on low until just combined and no dry portions remain in the edges of your bowl.
- Pour into your prepared tin and smooth out on top.
- Optional step: Place a thin line of butter into the center of your cake before baking (this helps it rise evenly in the center).
- Sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds evenly, pressing a little to hold in place.
- Bake until golden and a skewer comes out clean, approximately 55 minutes
- Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and placing onto a cooling tray to cool completely.
- Slice and serve.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Loaf tin: A traditional loaf pan is ideal for this recipe, as it allows the cake to bake evenly and gives it that perfect shape. The loaf tin used here fits 1 kilo or 2 pounds.
- Add ins: Feel free to add in walnuts, pecans, chocolate chunks or chips, butterscotch chips would all taste great.
- You can freeze this: Absolutely. Wrap the cooled loaf or slices and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temp.
- Recipe testing: This has been tested at least 8 times for a result that isn’t stodgy or underbaked and one of the key things is using both the baking soda and powder. Additionally using more pumpkin puree can be too heavy for the butter, eggs and rising agents to do their job.
Nutrition
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