Pumpkin Bars
Who said sheet cakes have to be boring? These Pumpkin Bars are lightly spiced, rich and tender, and decorated with cream cheese frosting!
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 471kcal
Equipment
- large piping bag + star tip (linked is a set that contains reusable bags and the closed-star tip I used)
- 2-3 small piping bags + tips (linked is a set that contains reusable bags and all the tips I used)
Ingredients
Pumpkin bars
- 5 eggs (beaten)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 cups pumpkin puree (about one 15 ounce can)
- ¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks; melted and cooled)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (for gluten-free bars I love Namaste’s Gluten-free Perfect Flour Blend - can't tell a difference!)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (one package; softened)
- 1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)
- 6 cups powdered sugar
- 2-4 Tablespoons whipping cream
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 3-5 large drops red, orange, and yellow gel food coloring
- 2 teaspoons maple flavoring (optional; see 'Maple Bourbon frosting' below)
- 3 Tablespoons bourbon (optional; see 'Maple Bourbon frosting' below)
Decorations
- Sprinkle mix of your choice (I used a seasonal mix but this one from Amazon is very similar!
- Edible gold leaf (optional)
Instructions
Pumpkin bars
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 10x15” jelly roll pan with non-stick or baker’s floured cooking spray.
- Mix eggs, sugar, canned pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Whisk dry ingredients together, and then combine with wet ingredients. Stir until well combined and pour into prepared jelly roll pan.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow to cool completely before decorating. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired. (The hang time while you’re waiting for your cake to cool is a great time to make your frosting!)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting:
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
(Maple Bourbon Frosting)
- This step is optional, but when I want a little bit of extra flavor to the frosting I take about one third of the frosting from the mixer bowl and add 2 teaspoons of maple flavoring (or ”mapeline”) and 3 Tablespoons of Eagle Rare bourbon – ohmyGOSH SO good! Does mean you'll have some tan/brown frosting in the mix though, so if you're picky about colors leave it out 🙂 )
Decorating!
- BEST part about sheet cake style recipes – SKIP the stacking and filling and crumb-coating and frosting that comes with a layer cake and get STRAIGHT to the fun part! ;)
- Separate frosting roughly into quarters and add food colors - I used orange, red, and yellow for the bars in the video, and left the last quarter white.
- Fill your piping bags with frosting – I used two large and two small piping bags/tips, and the links to the sets they came from are above!
- I started with several large swirls/pumpkin shapes to make a border and accents in the center, and then began filling in around them with smaller swirls/squiggles/dots/rosettes until the pumpkin bars were covered.
- Decorate the frosting with sprinkles to your liking. Another option - I added a bit of edible gold leaf to my border and loved the accent it added! It has no taste and is fun and inexpensive 🙂
- Note on the rod/ ‘Marconi’ dragee sprinkles – again, optional, but they add a fun texture and pop of shine! I usually only add these to cakes I’m going to serve a day later so they soften a bit sitting on the frosting – or I warn people they’re a bit tough to chew! :/ )
Video
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 471kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 22g