Julie Clark
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Pumpkin Cookie Cake
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If you love easy pumpkin recipes, you’ll want to make this pumpkin cookie cake that is bursting with pockets of cinnamon and crunchy pecans. It’s thick and soft with dollops of cinnamon buttercream.
From our kitchen to yours.
Pumpkin recipes are some of our favorites: pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake bread, pumpkin cinnamon rolls and even savory pumpkin dinner rolls.
The fact is, the blend of pumpkin and spices brings out beauty of the fall season, and our Pumpkin Cookie Cake is a fun way to celebrate! It combines the soft, chewy texture of a cookie with a pumpkin cake. Baked in an 8-inch round cake pan, it’s the new way of serving a frosted pumpkin cookie!
With its rich pumpkin flavor, sweet cinnamon chips, crunchy pecans baked on top and dollups of melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon buttercream, this dessert is a family-friendly masterpiece.
And there’s no eggs! Perfect for when egg prices go up. Make it vegan by using vegan butter.
A cookie…or a cake?
A cookie cake is simply cookie dough baked in a round cake pan. When I was in high school, this was my dream dessert because I always wanted to bake cookies (AKA eat cookie dough) but was too lazy to scoop cookies.
Boom. A cookie cake was born. It’s the same idea as cookie bars like butterscotch bars, chocolate chip oatmeal bars and congo bars, but baked in a round cake pan to mimic a round cake.
Ingredients
Notes about the ingredients:
- Make homemade cinnamon chips which will take your homemade baked goods to bakery style level. You could also use store bought cinnamon chips if you don’t have time to make homemade.
- Use pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling. The only ingredient should be pumpkin.
- The salted butter should be soft, at room temperature.
See the recipe card for full ingredients and amounts.
How to Make Pumpkin Cookie Cake
- In a medium-size bowl, use a hand mixer to mix together the sugars and butter. Add in the pumpkin and mix well.
- Add the salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda. Mix well.
- Then add the flour and mix until combined. The batter will be thick.
- Lastly, fold in the cinnamon chips.
- Spray a 9″ round baking pan with nonstick spray. Spread the pumpkin batter evenly on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the batter and press down lightly.
- Then bake the cookie for 20-23 minutes at 350º Fahrenheit, until it is cooked through.
Decorate with Cinnamon Buttercream
- In a small bowl, use an electric hand mixer to cream the butter for 2-3 minutes. It should get creamy and whitish in appearance.
- Add in the vanilla, cinnamon and powdered sugar and mix again. Pour in 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream and mix until the buttercream is the texture you would like it.
- Pipe the buttercream around the outer edge of the top of the pumpkin cookie cake using a decorating bag and Wilton 1M tip.
Recipe Variations
- Replace the cinnamon chips with chocolate chips or white chocolate chips for a chocolate chip cookie cake. If you love that, you’ll also love our chocolate chip pumpkin bread.
- Don’t have pumpkin spice seasoning mix? Add a touch of nutmeg, ground ginger, cloves and allspice to the pumpkin cookie cake batter.
- Looking for a different frosting? Try our cream cheese frosting or powdered sugar glaze.
Pumpkin Cookie Cake
Pumpkin Lovers…you'll love this Pumpkin Cookie Cake with bursts of cinnamon inside and melt-in-your-mouth cinnamon buttercream on top.
Servings 8
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Total Time 38 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup solid-pack pumpkin puree
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cinnamon chips
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Cinnamon Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup salted butter room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9" round cake pan with baking spray. Line with parchment paper if desired so that you can pull out the cookie cake to get pretty slices.
- In a medium-size bowl, use a spoon or a hand mixer to combine the sugars and butter. Add in the pumpkin and mix well. ¼ cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, ½ cup salted butter, ½ cup solid-pack pumpkin puree
- Add the salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda and mix until combined. Add the flour and mix just until combined. The batter will be thick. ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- Lastly, fold in the cinnamon chips. ¾ cup cinnamon chips
- Spread the pumpkin batter evenly on the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the batter and press down lightly with your hand so they stick in the batter. ¼ cup chopped pecans
- Bake the cookie for 20-23 minutes, until it is cooked through.
- While the cookie pie is cooling, prepare the buttercream. In a small bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter for 2-3 minutes. It should get creamy and whitish in appearance. ½ cup salted butter
- Add in the vanilla, cinnamon and powdered sugar and mix well. Pour in 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream and whip the frosting again, until the buttercream is the texture you would like it. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
- Use a decorating bag with a large tip (Wilton 1M or 2D) to decorate the edges of the cake.
Notes
Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
The calories shown are based on the pie being cut into 8 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of pie. 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.*
Nutrition
Calories: 520kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 66mg | Sodium: 339mg | Potassium: 93mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 3162IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 2mg
Thank you for this yummy recipe , we loved it! (from France)
I love having kitchen helpers…..it will be even nicer when mine are actually helpful! Ha!! You ladies did an awesome job on this cookie pie – so delicious AND pretty!
Thanks, Anita!