You and your family will love these moist pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting this holiday season! As they taste best when served cold, keep refrigerated.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 24 bars |
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin purée
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a sheet pan, then line it with parchment paper and grease the paper.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- Make the cake: Beat eggs in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer until foamy. Add sugar, vegetable oil, and pumpkin purée; beat on medium speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl. Beat flour mixture into egg mixture on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute. Pour batter into the prepared pan and spread out the edges.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- While the cake layer is cooling, make the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually mix in confectioners’ sugar until smooth.
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- Spread frosting evenly over cooled cake layer, then sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Allrecipes/Karen Hibbard
- Cut into 24 bars.
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Reviews
Decided to make this today because seriously, pumpkin bars are one of the BEST fall treats ever. So, I put it in for 25 minutes. Middle was still “liquid”. Another 10. Still uncooked. Put it in for another 20… well, it definitely takes longer than the 25 minutes as stated. This is more of a cake rather than the flatter dense bars I remember growing up. Overall, their alright.
Absolutely loved these bars!! I followed the recipe and then added 11/2 teaspoons of nutmeg to the cake batter. From reading some of the comments from other reviewers I decided to reduce the amount of icing sugar for the frosting to 3 cups instead of 4 and found that it still had a wonderful flavour. There was more than enough frosting for more pumpkin bars. Definitely going to make these bars again!!
LEGIT 5 STAR RECIPE!! I’ve been making pumpkin bars for over 20 years. I’ve tried a handful of other recipes and thought I’d found my favorite. I couldn’t find my recipe book after a recent move, so I gave this one a try. WOW!! it is really amazing! Perfect amount of cakiness, really subtle but rich flavor and the frosting was to die for. I did add heavy whipping cream to thin the icing, and that seemed to be a secret sauce success point. I also added a tiny bit of almond to the icing – just enough for a hint of nuttiness. So, so, soooooo good!
As others noted this is a cake recipe, not bars. Made it in a 9 x 13 pan, and added 1 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp ground cloves to dry ingredients. Bake 35-37 mins. Cut frosting recipe in half and it’s still more than enough to generously cover the whole pan. Don’t bother with the cinnamon “dusting”.
Amazing! More cake than bar, but all of my friends rave every time I make them. I’m going with 3 cups of sugar in the frosting next time, there’s more than enough.
Made this a few times. To rave reviews by everyone, and have shared the recipe with many. My mother calls me and asks for more. 🙂 It can’t be any simpler to make, and it’s moist and perfectly delicious. I follow the recipe exactly — always perfect.
I followed this recipe exactly…and gosh what a disappointment! The batter didn’t smell spicy like it should but I continued on since there were good reviews. After I put the bars in the oven I licked the spatula…the batter was flavorless. And after it was baked it was flavorless…not even the frosting could save it! Why are there no other spices besides cinnamon in this recipe? I’ll save my cream cheese frosting for something else.
I love this, I’ve made it about 6-8 times. My coworker loved it so much he asked me to make him one for his Thanksgiving dinner! I don’t have a jelly roll pan, so I make it in 9x11pan. I substitute 1/2c butter for 1/2 c of the oil. Also add about a tablespoon of lemon zest to the frosting. Takes it from A- to A+!
Everyone loved it so much at Thanksgiving that I made it again a week later! It’s delicious!
These were amazing!! I didn’t do frosting as the family is not a fan. They finished the whole batch in one day.
Even better than the ones my mom used to make!
Made this as a new dish for Thanksgiving dessert (just in case I wasn’t completely stuffed). Made it according to recipe and it was delicious. If you refrigerate because of the cream cheese icing be sure to put it out ahead of serving to let it come to room temperature. A sweet treat!
First time I made this awesome recipe. It came out great. I used just two cups of confectionery sugar for frosting. It was plenty sweet and delicious!
excellent
These bars have great flavor, but I had a heck of a time with the frosting. It stuck to the top layer of my cake when I tried to spread it and came off the next day after being in the fridge overnight. I assume it was use error and they still taste awesome.
I absolutely loved this recipe! I followed it directly except I added chopped walnuts and only used 2 cups of powdered sugar (instead of the suggested 4 cups) for the icing. Thanks so much for sharing!
Holy FFFF these are incredible. I halved the recipe and whipped the egg whites before adding the other wet ingredients. Also added ginger and other spices and used brown sugar but it’s the moistness of the bar (cake) that is so impressive. Pecans are a must. Leave them on top of the cake so they get toasty!
Perfect first time I made it. My family loved it.
My family really liked it! Very moist and tasty! Makes a nice large batch!
Delicious and so easy to make!
So moist and yummy! My hubby is diabetic so I reduced the white sugar to 3/4c plus a 1 cup equivalent of Truvia. Also thanks to other reviewers comments, I added about 1 tsp of vanilla to the batter and reduced the quantity of cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar (for the frosting). The original recipe makes way too much frosting. I would suggest halving the ingredients if you don’t want a bunch of frosting left over. Lastly, I added 1/2c chopped walnuts to the batter just before pouring into the pan. Thanks!