Happy Halloween, ya’ll!! I made you a cake! Tis the season, isn’t it for everything and anything Pumpkin Spice. Ummmm, Guilty! Sometimes Pumpkin Spice can get a little old, but not with this cake. This Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake has a special blend of warm fall spices with just a bit of a kick from a touch of black pepper. It’s delish!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake

Believe me, people will sit up and take notice at their first bite of this Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake, but I’m betting very few will actually be able to identify it in the cake. It just gives the cake a little touch of sumpin’ sumpin’ that is going to keep everyone guessing, and better yet, keep them coming back for more.

About Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake:

I haven’t made Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake for years, decades, maybe. I really don’t remember the last time. That first little taste, though (I just had to have a tiny little piece from the corner – no one will notice, right?) just took me back. Straight back to childhood. It was just like a jolt of taste memory, flavor explosion. Why, why, why haven’t I made Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake for so long?

It might be because I started making my Banana Sheet Cake which is really out of this world delish, and then there’s the thing that 99.999999 percent of the time I make a cake, it’s chocolate and then I either go fancy birthday or this Old Fashioned Chocolate Sheet Cake. And it might be that I just don’t make enough cakes. Especially now that the kids are grown.

I used to make a lot of cakes when the kids were young and we needed something to bring to bake sales or potluck dinners for their activities, Church socials, and for years, I baked for our funeral luncheons at Church. And I loved to make sheet cakes because they feed a crowd, they’re generally sturdy (usually you can pick up a piece in your hand and forgo a plate if need be) and they travel so well. It doesn’t hurt that sheet cakes are usually pretty easy and being thin, bake up in minutes and cool quickly so you don’t have to wait around forever to frost them.

As far as frosting, I frost these with my Mom’s Cream Cheese Frosting and you can decorate your Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake however you want. It’s very cute with a little fondant pumpkin in the center of each slice, a pecan in each slice is fun and there’s always sprinkle or chopped pecans as a fallback. If you’re using any Cream Cheese Frosting, add your decorations before the frosting sets up or they won’t stick.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake

Making Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake:

Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake really couldn’t be easier to make. It’s drop-dead simple and I usually make it with my hand mixer, but it can be made all by hand in a pinch. I love recipes like this that can be made just about anywhere with a minimum of equipment. They’re a perfect thing to make at the cabin or ski lodge or wherever you are.

Normally, I hardly sift anything anymore; I don’t even own a sifter. I think I donated it years ago, but I do like to sift together the flour and the spices for this cake. It’s not strictly necessary, but it helps to blend everything perfectly and helps Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake from being too dense. I just use a mesh strainer. Let’s talk about the texture, though. Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake isn’t a light airy cake; it’s a little heavier than some cakes, moist and so delish. It will bake up lighter and springier in an actual sheet cake pan rather than one of your standard Pyrex baking/casserole type pan, although I used that for all my cakes for years since that was basically all I had. Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake works for layer cakes or cupcakes, too.

When you bake any sheet cake, watch the cake carefully when it’s just about done and if it looks like it’s cooking unevenly, rotate it from front to back. Don’t move the cake when it’s not set up yet, though. Only rotate it if it looks done everywhere except for a few spots or patches that are still too moist and are obvious when you look at it. Hope that makes sense! Big pans sometimes interfere with the circulation in the oven, causing hotter and colder spots and uneven baking.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake

Saving Money on Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake:

Now is the best time of year, through New Years, to start watching for specials (and lots of coupons if you use them) for just about any baking items. Figure out what you need and pick up enough to last through Easter. Just about every baking item you can think of will be very competitively priced.

This is when you want to pick up (or make) your pumpkin puree, canned pumpkin. My sister-in-law mentioned once that canned pumpkin is best in pies after it’s been “aged” for a year. I swear I think it’s true! I stock up during the fall, and make sure I have a couple of cans stashed away for next year’s pie. It’s great to have on hand if you like to make savory dishes all winter long, like pumpkin soup.

I always watch the egg prices during the holiday sales and stock up. If they’re on sale around Halloween, I buy enough to last to Thanksgiving, then at Thanksgiving, I buy enough to last to Christmas, and so on. Eggs last for weeks past the “buy by” date, and for some items, like hard-boiled eggs or deviled eggs, it’s nice to have eggs that have a bit of age on them. I don’t eat eggs every day for breakfast, and if you do, you might not have enough storage for this strategy!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake

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I’ll be sharing Easy Pumpkin Spice Sheet Cake at Fiesta Friday #248. Our co-hosts this week are Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.com and Alex @ Turks Who Eat.