Pumpkin For Pie Cake with Pudding

Batter goes down first, then you pour pumpkin over it and don’t touch it. That’s it. The two layers separate themselves while it bakes—cake on bottom, custardy pumpkin middle, pudding frosting on top. One pan. Forty minutes of your time. Fall dessert that looks like you planned it.

Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake

Takes 20 minutes to throw together. Actual baking is an hour, but you’re just watching it happen. Tastes like three desserts stacked into one—cake, spiced custard, vanilla pudding. Works for potlucks where you need something that feeds people. Cold or room temp. Keeps for days. Tastes better the next morning when the spices settle in. Cleanup isn’t much. One bowl for batter, one for pumpkin, one for topping. A pan. Done. Looks fancy. Isn’t. The layers just happen while it sits in the oven.

What You Need for Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake

Yellow cake mix—not from scratch, the box version. Half a cup vegetable oil. A cup of milk instead of water, which matters more than you’d think. Three eggs split between two parts: one for cake, two for the pumpkin mixture. A can of pumpkin puree, the one that’s just pumpkin. A can of evaporated milk or half and half if you want it richer. Two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice. Light brown sugar, half a cup. Instant vanilla pudding mix, the kind that needs cold milk. Two more cups of cold milk for that pudding. Cool Whip straight from the freezer. Nonstick spray for the pan—nine by thirteen, the standard one.

How to Make Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the pan heavily on the bottom and sides so nothing sticks to the edges when it comes out. Get the spray everywhere because stuck cake is tragedy.

Dump the cake mix, oil, milk, and one egg into a big bowl. Whisk until no dry flour shows. Don’t go crazy beating it—just combine. Two minutes, maybe less. The batter gets thick and stays that way, which is right.

Pour it into the greased pan and smooth it flat with a spatula. Doesn’t need pressing. The batter’s already thick enough.

In another bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, the two remaining eggs, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Whisk hard enough that lumps disappear but you’re not trying to make it fluffy or anything. Just homogeneous.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Slowly drizzle the pumpkin mixture over the cake batter. Start at the edges, work toward the middle. Go slow. Don’t stir or swirl. Just pour and let it settle. It’ll look marbled. That’s correct. It’ll sink as it bakes and create layers.

Slide the pan onto the middle rack. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The edges bubble and turn golden, the center jiggles a little but isn’t wet. A toothpick in the middle comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs stuck to it—that’s done. Under 55 minutes usually if your oven runs hot.

Let it cool on a rack until room temperature. Takes about 30 minutes minimum. Don’t skip this or the pudding topping melts.

While it cools, whisk the instant pudding with two cups of cold milk. Two minutes of whisking and it thickens. Add half a teaspoon more pumpkin pie spice if you want it darker. Then fold in the Cool Whip gently so it stays light and airy instead of dense. Spread it over the cooled cake evenly.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Tips and Baking Notes

The two-layer thing works because you’re not stirring. Pumpkin’s heavier. It sinks. Cake batter floats underneath. They stay separate the whole time.

Don’t skip cooling to room temp before adding the pudding topping. Warm cake melts it and it pools instead of staying on top.

The pudding mix speeds this up a lot. If you want to make pudding from scratch with eggs and cornstarch and heating it on the stove, go ahead. This version doesn’t require it.

Evaporated milk vs. half and half—evaporated is thinner so the pumpkin layer stays custard-like. Half and half is richer but sometimes it gets almost cheesecake-dense, which isn’t bad, just different. The original calls for evaporated. That’s what works.

Leftover pudding layer keeps for a day. The cake part keeps for three or four days covered. Cold is better than room temp for slicing cleanly.

Pumpkin For Pie Cake with Pudding

By Emma

Prep:

20 min

Cook:

55 min

Total:

1h 15min

Servings:

12 servings

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk (instead of water)
• 3 large eggs (divided 1 for cake, 2 for pumpkin mixture)
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 can evaporated milk (or substitute half and half)
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
• 2 cups cold milk (for pudding)
• 1 cup Cool Whip
• Nonstick cooking spray

Method

1. 1 Set oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Oil a 9x13 inch pan liberally to avoid stuck edges.
2. 2 In a large bowl, dump cake mix, ½ cup vegetable oil, 1 cup milk (not water here), and 1 egg. Whisk just enough to combine but no heavy beating. The original suggests 2 minutes medium speed but I go until no dry chunks remain.
3. 3 Pour batter into greased pan. Spread evenly with spatula. No need to press down; batter thick.
4. 4 In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, 2 remaining eggs, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice until homogeneous. No lumps, lightly fluffy.
5. 5 Here’s the key: slowly drizzle pumpkin blend over entire cake batter, edges first, then center. Go slow to let mix seep down. Do not stir or swirl. Batter looks marbled now and will sink as it bakes.
6. 6 Pop pan into center rack of oven. Bake for roughly 50 to 60 minutes — edges should bubble and become golden, center slightly jiggly but not wet. A toothpick inserted in center will come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
7. 7 Once done, cool on wire rack until room temp, at least 30 minutes.
8. 8 While cooling, whisk instant vanilla pudding with 2 cups cold milk and ½ teaspoon extra pumpkin pie spice until thickened, about 2 minutes.
9. 9 Fold in Cool Whip delicately to keep it airy. Spread this topping evenly over cooled cake. Avoid warm cake or topping will melt and run.
10. 10 Refrigerate at least 1 hour for flavors to meld and pudding to set fully. Serve chilled for best slices.

Nutritional information

Calories

258

Protein

4g

Carbs

55g

Fat

3g

Print Recipe Save to Pinterest

Frequently Asked Questions About Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake

Can you make this ahead? Bake it the day before. Store covered. Add the pudding topping the morning you serve it or the night before if you want. Cold setting helps it stay on the cake instead of sliding.

What if you don’t have evaporated milk? Half and half works. So does sweetened condensed milk thinned with a little water, though it gets sweeter. Just needs to be a liquid that’s thicker than regular milk.

Can you swap the cake mix? Not really. Spice cake or pumpkin cake mix makes it too much pumpkin and not enough cake contrast. Yellow cake is the right amount of plain to balance the spiced pumpkin layer.

How long until it’s ready to eat? An hour total—20 minutes prep, 55 minutes baking, plus cooling time. Then refrigerate at least an hour after the topping goes on so the pudding sets. So realistically, two and a half hours start to finish before you cut into it.

Is the center supposed to jiggle? A little, yeah. Not like liquid. Like a set custard that moves when you shake the pan. Overbaked and it gets too cake-like and loses that creamy layer. Underbaked and it’s pudding in the middle, which isn’t the vibe.

Does the pudding layer separate? Sometimes it slides a tiny bit if you jostle it while it’s still setting. Don’t move the pan around for the first 30 minutes after you add the topping. After that it holds fine.

Can you use homemade pumpkin puree? Yes. Make sure it’s not too wet—canned is denser. If homemade pours like soup, drain it through cheesecloth first or it changes the texture of the pumpkin layer.

What’s the difference between this and pumpkin cheesecake? This has cake baked into the bottom instead of a crust, and vanilla pudding on top instead of cream cheese frosting. Easier to make. Less heavy. Falls apart if you try to move it but tastes better that way.