Chocolate With Grace

Simple Desserts, Treats and Everyday Recipes

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Classic pumpkin bars that are super soft and moist and spread with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting. 

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

* This post was originally published in September 2015. I’ve updated the recipe and photos.

So on this rainy fall evening, I bring you the second pumpkin recipe of the season! Because it’s time for #pumpkineverything. It’s amazing how fast the weather can change. Yesterday it was 90 degrees and humid and today was rainy and barely over 70. And I loved everything about today because it genuinely felt like fall and justified my obsession with pumpkin. 

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you’re like my sister, whose least favorite season is “pumpkin season” hang on because I have some other fall recipes.  But, I think this is a classic recipe that everyone needs on their fall baking list. The recipe is super easy and basically impossible to mess up, perfect for those times where you need a quick dessert that everyone will love.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

The other great thing about this recipe is that it makes enough for a crowed. You can either have 24 large pumpkin bars or 36 regular sized. Or if you’re serving these pumpkin bars for a dessert bar, you could even cut them into 48 pieces.

If you’re looking for other pumpkin desserts, check out my layered pumpkin cheesecake bars, pumpkin sheet cake with brown butter frosting or my pumpkin dump cake. All of them are easy and perfect for all the pumpkin lovers out there.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 36 bars
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours

Classic pumpkin bars that are super soft and moist and spread with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Bars

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin, (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 4 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon salt

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • a pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 8 x 13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and gently stir until well combined. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

To make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter on high until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth. Do not over-beat. Spread on top of cooled bars. Cut into bars.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1 piece
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 241 Total Fat: 9g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 4g Cholesterol: 52mg Sodium: 242mg Carbohydrates: 37g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 27g Protein: 3g
Nutrition information may vary significantly based on ingredients used and portion sizes. We are not responsible the reliability of this data or your reliance on it. We are not responsible for the results of any recipe you try from this blog/website, Chocolatewithgrace.com. Your results may vary due to differences in ingredients, humidity, altitude, cooking temperatures, errors, or individual cooking abilities.
© Mallory
Cuisine: American / Category: Bars and Brownies
Here are some other fun pumpkin bars to try this fall:

Pumpkin Spice Latte Blondies from Julies Eats and Treats

Pumpkin Nutella Cookie Bars from Crazy for Crust

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars from Roxana’s Home Baking

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirled Brownies (5)

 Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Buttercream

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream - An ultimate fall treat! | Chocolate With Grace

 Apple Blondies

Apple_Blondies (Small)

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Classic pumpkin bars that are super soft and moist and spread with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. I’d like to make these for Thanksgiving dessert. Is it possible to make the cake portion a day in advance and the frosting the day of to keep it from hardening? Would I be sacrificing quality at all if I do this? In other words, how would I preserve the moistness?

    Reply

    • Yes, you can make the cake a day ahead and then frost the next day. However, if you frost it the same day you make it, the cream cheese frosting will not harden if you cover it tightly.

      Reply

  5. Hi,
    In you directions for the dry ingredients you mention baking powder, however that isn’t listed in the ingredients. Curious if it needs baking powder?
    Thanks
    Trish

    Reply

  6. Just made this recipe and, OMG, so good! Super moist and pumpkiny and the cream cheese frosting is so light and fluffy it’s like eating a sweet, tangy cloud. The frosting recipe is definitely going in my recipe box for use on future sweets.

    Reply

  7. Just put these in the oven! Pumpkin pie might be my least favorite, but pumpkin cake bars with extra spice added plus cream cheese sounds right up my alley 🙂

    Reply

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