Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake

Get your autumn PSL fix in every bite of this soft and moist Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake! Made with freshly brewed pumpkin spice coffee and canned pumpkin puree, this recipe delivers the cosy and comforting flavours of a pumpkin spice latte. It’s finished with a velvety layer of maple spice cream cheese frosting and topped with buttercream pumpkins for an easy and adorable decoration!

This recipe is created in partnership with Whittard of Chelsea. I only ever recommend products that I personally love, use and trust!

Ingredients to make this Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake

Gather these ingredients to make this recipe:

• Unsalted butter (room temperature): Adds richness and moisture to the sponge. Make sure your butter is at room temperature—it blends beautifully and will make your cake extra fluffy and soft! You can substitute margarine or baking spread if preferred.
• Light brown sugar: Brings sweetness with a touch of caramel goodness. Brown sugar pairs beautifully with the flavour of pumpkin spice.
• 3 medium eggs (room temperature): Provides a fluffy texture and rich flavour to the sponge. You can substitute 2 large eggs if needed.
• Self-raising flour: Gives the cake structure and a lovely rise. If you don’t have self-raising flour, you can use 300g of plain flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
• Whittard Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee: Freshly brewed in a cafetière, this delicious coffee infuses the cake mixture with the flavour of pumpkin spice latte.
• Ground cinnamon: Add extra cosiness with a few additional spoonfuls of cinnamon spice.
• Canned pumpkin puree: In the UK, canned pumpkin can be tricky to find but I’ve had the most luck in the American sections of big supermarkets or on Amazon. Just make sure you choose a 100% all-natural pumpkin puree which doesn’t contain any added sugar. 

Pair with this Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream cheese frosting is always my go-to for vegetable cakes; the fresh and tangy flavour pairs perfectly with the subtle sweetness of the sponge. It’s especially delicious with this pumpkin loaf cake recipe — there’s something so irresistible about the combination!

For this recipe, I added a teaspoon of Whittard’s new Maple Spice Coffee Syrup to the frosting. It enhances the warming pumpkin spice and coffee flavours in the loaf cake while adding a hint of smoky sweetness to the frosting.

How to pipe the Buttercream Pumpkins

Piping buttercream pumpkins is a fun and cute way to decorate this loaf cake. To create them you will need: buttercream, orange food colouring, piping bags, a large open star piping nozzle and chocolate chips (for the stems).

Here’s how to make them:

1. First tint the buttercream orange using the food colouring.
2. Fit a piping bag with the nozzle and fill with the orange buttercream.
3. Hold the bag upright and pipe a large blob of buttercream. Then lightly press the nozzle in and pull up to release and create a peak.
4. Finish by adding a chocolate chip for the stem.

TOP TIP: practice on baking paper first to perfect the technique. You can scrape the buttercream back into the mixing bowl after you’ve finished practising so it doesn’t go to waste.

Quick Recipe Success Tips

• Use a 2lb loaf tin for recipe accuracy. The ingredient measurements and the baking time are only accurate if you use a 2lb loaf tin.
• Pay extra attention to the coffee measurements. To get a strong, bold and intense coffee flavour in this cake, we first brew 4 tablespoons of coffee with 150ml boiling water in a cafetière. However, once the coffee has been pressed, we only add 50ml of the coffee liquid to the recipe. Any more liquid will make the cake dense and claggy.
• Make sure the self-raising flour is fresh (preferably unopened!). This loaf cake contains a lot of moisture from the coffee and pumpkin puree, so the raising agent in the flour must be fresh and active to give the cake rise and prevent it from becoming too dense.
• Be careful not to over-mix the cake mixture. When folding in the flour, only mix until no visible flecks of flour are remaining. Over-mixing can result in a tough and stodgy cake.
• For the frosting, use cold cream cheese: Essential for making a thick, sturdy and spreadable frosting!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake

Get your Autumn PSL fix in every bite of this soft and moist Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake! Made using freshly brewed pumpkin spice coffee and canned pumpkin puree, this recipe delivers the cosy and comforting flavours found in a pumpkin spice latte. It's finished with a velvety layer of maple spice cream cheese frosting and buttercream pumpkins for an easy and adorable decoration!

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Print Pin Rate

Prep: 45 minutes minutes

Cook: 1 hour hour

Total: 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 10

Equipment

• 2lb loaf tin
• Cafetière
• Piping bag
• Open star nozzle

Ingredients

For the pumpkin spice latte loaf cake:

• 4 tablespoons Whittard Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee
• 150 millilitres Boiling water
• 200 grams Canned pumpkin puree
• 150 grams Unsalted butter room temperature
• 200 grams Light brown sugar
• 3 medium Eggs or 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 325 grams Self raising flour or 300 grams plain flour + 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon

For the maple cream cheese frosting:

• 200 grams Salted butter room temperature
• 400 grams Icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon Maple syrup I used Whittard's new Maple Spice Coffee Syrup
• 150 grams Full-fat Philidelphia Cream Cheese use cold from the fridge

Buttercream pumpkin decorations:

• Orange food colouring
• Chocolate chips

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Start by making the loaf cake

• Preheat the oven to 170° fan / 190° conventional. Line a 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
• Spoon the Whittard coffee into a small cafetiere and pour over the boiling water. Put the lid on and leave to brew for 4 minutes, then press the plunger down.
  4 tablespoons Whittard Pumpkin Spice Ground Coffee, 150 millilitres Boiling water
  
• Measure the pumpkin puree into a mixing bowl and pour in 50ml of the brewed coffee. Whisk to combine.
  200 grams Canned pumpkin puree
  
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. TIP: you can add a tablespoon of the 325g flour with each egg to stop the mixture from curdling.
  150 grams Unsalted butter, 200 grams Light brown sugar, 3 medium Eggs
• Fold in the pumpkin coffee mixture, flour and cinnamon in two stages until the cake mixture is smooth and combined. The mixture will be thick.
  325 grams Self raising flour, 2 teaspoons Ground cinnamon
  
• Transfer the mixture to the loaf tin and bake for 60-65 minutes until risen and the middle of the sponge springs back when lightly pressed. If the cake has cracked down the middle don't worry this is normal!
• Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then lift out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Due to the moisture in this cake, it's normal for the greaseproof paper to look oily.

Make the maple cream cheese frosting and buttercream pumpkins

• Beat the butter, maple syrup and icing sugar together until smooth and combined.
  200 grams Salted butter, 400 grams Icing sugar, 1 teaspoon Maple syrup
  
• Scoop out one-third of the buttercream into a separate bowl. Mix in a few drops of orange food colouring until the colour is bright and even. Spoon the orange buttercream into piping bag fitted with a large open star nozzle. Set aside for now.
  Orange food colouring
• In the other bowl of buttercream, gently fold in the cold cream cheese to make a smooth and creamy frosting. Be careful not to over-mix as this can cause the cream cheese to loosen and become runny. If your frosting is too thin, refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
  150 grams Full-fat Philidelphia Cream Cheese

Decorate the loaf cake

• Spread the cream cheese frosting over the cake and use the back of a spoon to create a swirly pattern.
  
• For the pumpkin decorations, hold the piping bag filled with orange buttercream upright and pipe large blobs on top of the cake. Finish by adding chocolate chips for the stems.
  Chocolate chips
  

Video

Notes

Store your Pumpkin Spice Latte Loaf Cake in a sealed container, in the fridge, for up to 3 days. 

This post contains affiliate links which means I will make a small commission if you purchase through those links. I only recommend products that I know, trust and use myself.