Pumpkin Crunch Cake (with Yellow Cake Mix)

‘Tis the season for pumpkin-flavored everything! And what a glorious season it is!! I make this dessert every Fall, usually around Thanksgiving. It’s the perfect Fall dessert! Not only is it a scrumptious pumpkin dessert, but believe it or not, people that don’t even like pumpkin love this dessert! It’s refreshing and light with its layers and fluffy frosting. It’s the perfect dessert after a big Fall meal! And the best part? It’s incredibly easy to make but so very impressive at the same time! This recipe is essentially like a pumpkin dump cake recipe met a pumpkin cheesecake!

This is my version of an old, old, old Paula Deen recipe that you can find HERE. Over the years I’ve tweaked it some and made it my own, but this is the original if you want to see where it started. (Mine is yummier! It’s all about the candied pecans!!!!)

Cake Base:

• 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree – For the pumpkin puree, make sure it’s not pumpkin pie filling. The pumpkin filling is already sweetened and we don’t want that. We just want a can of plain pumpkin puree.
• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk – You can find this in a can in the baking goods aisle. Don’t confuse this with condensed milk. It’s not the same thing, nor is it interchangeable. You want evaporated milk.
• 1 tsp cinnamon – Ground cinnamon is perfect here! You could use pumpkin pie spice or pumpkin spice if you wanted to amp up the pumpkin flavor. That would bring in more of the ground clove flavor if you like that.
• 1 cup granulated sugar – Also known as white sugar. This is what makes the cake sweet and delicious!
• 3 eggs, beaten – large size eggs are perfect here. Extra large can be a little too much, so stick with large size.
• 1 box yellow cake mix – just your regular old box of yellow cake mix. Any brand will do!
• 1 cup chopped pecans – Give them a rough chop, but don’t make them too small. Personally, I love bigger chunks of pecans in my desserts.
• 2 sticks butter, cut into small pieces – together, that’s one cup of butter. And it is a triumph!

• 1 8-oz package of cream cheese – let this soften to room temperature for easy mixing.
• 1 cup heavy cream – Don’t substitute here — you need the heavy cream to “whip up” the frosting and make it fluffy.
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar – Also called confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon – This goes beautifully with the cinnamon that’s already in the cake layers.

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 cup chopped pecan halves

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• 9×13 baking dish with lid – The lid makes it so convenient to store the leftover dessert later! I have this set and I love it.
• Electric hand mixer – Sometimes an electric hand mixer is super convenient, and this is one of those times! I have this mixer at home and I use it often! And I love that it’s got built in storage for the beaters!
• Mixing bowl set – This recipe does take several bowls at one time. I have this set and I use them nearly daily.
• Non-Stick Baking Mat – These little mats are SO wonderful! I use them for everything! Easy clean up and no sticking! Perfect for the brown sugar pecans in this recipe!
• Non-Stick Skillet – Also for the brown sugar pecans. Or really great eggs! I have this skillet and it’s my favorite I’ve ever had.

Preheat oven to 350*.

Grease a 9×13 baking dish with either butter or cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, whisk the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, ground cinnamon, and sugar until well combined.

Step 4

Add in the eggs and mix well.

Step 5

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared 9×13 pan and spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan.

Step 6

Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the top of the pumpkin-sugar-butter mixture.

Step 7

Sprinkle pecans over the top of the cake mix.

Step 8

Cut butter into small pieces and sprinkle over the top of the pecans.

Step 9

Place dish in oven and bake at 350* for 50-60 minutes until golden and cake is set. Let cake cool completely before icing. I just sit the entire dish on a wire rack so that the bottom of the dish gets some air too. It will cool faster this way.

Step 10

When you are ready to make the cream cheese frosting, using your electric mixer, in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese until it is light and fluffy.

Step 11

Add in the heavy whipping cream and whip on low speed until well combined and thick and fluffy.

Step 12

Add in powdered sugar and cinnamon and whip together until smooth.

Step 13

Spread the icing evenly over the cake. You can serve now if you’d like. Go to the next step if you want to add on the brown sugar pecans:

In a large non-stick skillet, combine all ingredients except for pecans and bring to a boiling/bubble for 1-2 minutes until sugar dissolves.

Step 15

Add in the pecans to the mixture, coat them evenly, and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to cover the pecans in the glaze.

Step 16

Spread the pecans on a sheet of parchment paper OR a non-stick silicone mat and let them cool completely.

Step 17

Break apart and sprinkle over the pumpkin cake! (You will have leftovers, you won’t want to use them all on the cake. And to be honest, I have usually snacked on half of them before they are even cooled. Cause they are that good!)

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you don’t have a lid for your dish, a layer of plastic wrap will work fine.

Speaking of leftovers… Do you need a little help with what to do with all those other Thanksgiving leftovers? Check out my post on Thanksgiving Leftover Lovin’ HERE.

This dessert doesn’t need one thing extra. BUT… if you wanted to really go for the gold, drizzle caramel sauce on top of the finished icing. It would be AMAZING.

I don’t necessarily serve this dessert with anything else (except maybe a cup of coffee!), but I could see some vanilla ice cream on the side being a delicious addition!

I have never changed out the cake mix flavors for this dessert, however, I’d imagine a boxed spice cake mix would also work delightfully well. It would change the flavors considerably, but if you are a spice cake fan, I’d give it a try and see! Spice cake and pumpkin work well together.

I think this is perfect as it is. But you could totally top the cake with some caramel sauce, or toffee bits , or brown sugar glazed pecans on top!

Seriously, I don’t like pumpkin-flavored anything either! The great pumpkin takeover every Fall season is lost on me! But with that in mind, I love this cake. It’s so amazing and delicious. The butter and cake and pecans are really what you taste. The pumpkin is just the ingredient that holds it all together and keeps everything moist. It has a very slight pumpkin taste, and it totally works with everything in the dessert.

You totally can — though I wouldn’t recommend making the cake any thicker. So, if you are going to use a different pan, use 2 so that you still have the same amount of space covered, if that makes sense. Meaning, if you are going to use a 9-inch baking pan, use 2 and make 2 cakes. If you make the pumpkin cake mix part too thick it will just be gooey and not set up. A spring-form pan would work really well because the sides can be removed and it would make it easier to serve and it would be a beautiful presentation.

I’ve never tried it, but you probably could if you are really set on no pumpkin. You could do cherry pie filling and it would probably be delicious. To do that, I’d eliminate using the electric mixer for the cake part so you don’t smash the cherries and eliminate the cinnamon from the cake and frosting. If you try that, let me know if it’s amazing!

Absolutely! This would be amazing with some chopped walnuts or almonds!

I’ve honestly never tried it. You could give it a go! You’d probably want to also substitute out the sugar in the filling as well and leave off the sugared pecans on top.

Hey — I get it. Pumpkin isn’t for everyone. I’m not a pumpkin person. BUT — these desserts are awesome, and really don’t taste a lot like pumpkins!

• Pumpkin Roll – From Tastes Better from Scratch
• Or yummy cupcakes?? Pumpkin Cupcakes – From Sally’s Baking Addiction
• Pumpkin Muffins – from Once Upon a Chef – these are sooooo good with the crust!
• Want a more traditional cake? Pumpkin Pie Cake – from Betty Crocker

So, this definitely isn’t your traditional pumpkin pie, but this family favorite recipe is a simple pumpkin dessert that everyone will totally enjoy! Pumpkin Crunch Cake (with Yellow Cake Mix) was a game-changer to my pumpkin recipe collection!! I hope you try today’s recipe during this holiday season! This time of year calls for the sweet flavors of Fall and the cinnamon spice and boxed cake mix make an incredible flavor combination that I absolutely love.

• Christmas Thumbprint Cookies
• Christmas Hershey’s Kiss Cookies
• Lemon Pound Cake
• Cinnamon Sugar Sprinkle Cookies