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These pumpkin pie cake bars are like two desserts in one. They have a cake-like bottom and a moist pumpkin pie top sprinkled with powdered sugar. Perfect for Thanksgiving!
I’m not sure what I love more. Pie or cake.
Both are delicious, but they call me at different times of the year. In the summer I want pie. All the fruit pie. Cherry pie. Peach pie. Blueberry pie. Give them all to me.
In the winter, I’m a cake girlie. I love a chocolate cake with white frosting. Sometimes, I crave the goodness that only a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting can fulfill. Other times, I’ll gladly take a slice of carrot cake.
You get it. I like desserts.
That’s where this autumnal treat comes into play. It’s the perfect texture combination of both pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake. That’s how it gots its name – pumpkin pie cake bars!
These delicious bars are creamy like pie but still have a soft cake-like crust. They’re the absolute best of both worlds, all wrapped up in pumpkin form.
Ingredients for pumpkin pie cake bars
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Brown sugar
- Kosher salt
- Vanilla extract
- Egg
- Browned butter
- Cream cheese
- Pumpkin puree
- Pumpkin pie spice
How to make
- Add your crust ingredients to a mixing bowl and blend until the mixture will stick together.
- Press into a parchment-lined baking dish and prepare the filling.
- Mix pumpkin puree and cream cheese and blend until smooth.
- Add in eggs, browned butter, and vanilla extract.
- Finally, mix in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.
- Pour over the crust, bake for an hour, let cool, and enjoy!
My Pro Tips
Recipe Tips
- Make sure you use pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie mix.
- Bake until the center is slightly jiggly, like cooking a traditional custard pie. This will ensure your pie portion is fully set but not overcooked.
- Let the bars completely cool before you attempt to cut them.
- The browned butter should be cooled but not hardened.
- Once cooled and cut, sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar or cover with whipped cream for serving.
More pumpkin recipes
Pumpkin Pie Cake Bars
Ingredients
For crust:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 4 tablespoons browned butter, cooled
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For filling:
- 1-½ cups pumpkin puree
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons browned butter, cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper.
For crust:
- In the bowl of a mixer, add flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add in egg, browned butter, and vanilla extract.
- Mix until the dough sticks together and can be pressed together. When you first start mixing it will be very crumbly looking. Just keep mixing and it will come together.
- Take dough and press into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.
- Rinse out mixer bowl to use for the filling.
For filling:
- In the bowl of your mixer add pumpkin puree and cream cheese. Mix until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes.
- Add in eggs, browned butter, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Finally, mix in brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.
- When the mixture is smooth and combined pour into the pan with the crust.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until the center is just slightly jiggly.
- Let cool until room temperature, cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These look amazing! And I’m totally jealous that you have a food blogger friend close to you!
Love how dense, crumbly and soft these look.
Brandy girl these look SO good!!! Also, sad because I want to be your food blogging friend IRL too 🙂
Sounds so fun! I sing and dance like nobodies business when it’s just me and the kittie. And these bars…There is nothing that I don’t like about these yummies!
I love that you watch old movies and eat pie bars. It makes me feel more normal. Although I tend to watch The Walking Dead constantly. I need an intervention. Maybe a batch of these will help keep me occupied until that happens.
Love watching old movies…and if I had these pumpkin pie cake bars to enjoy it would be all the better!!! Yum!
I dance with the blinds wide open…I’ve reached the age where I just don’t care anymore. My neighbors think I’m insane but I bet I could change their minds if I made them some of these cake bars. Pumpkin Pie Cake Bars that look like you could use to rob a bank. Holy cow these look amazing!
These pumpkin pie cake bars are genius! I don’t blame you for sharing! I would eat them all too!
Okay that second pic (as well as all of them, but especially the second!) is lovely! It has this dreamy quality to it and I love that green mug. Plus, the recipe sounds amazing. You’re so cool.
Pumpkin pie cake bars would be a super hit in my home. Your photo is gorgeous and so creative, too!