Name: Boozy Pumpkin Sheet Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 box spice cake mix; 3 eggs; 1/2 c pumpkin puree; 1 cup of Bailey's Pumpkin Spice Irish Creme; 1 batch of boozy Pumpkin Spice buttercream

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Easy boozy pumpkin sheet cake is a pumpkin lover’s ultimate cake recipe. Bursting with the warming pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree, this boozy pumpkin sheet cake is the boxed cake mix hack you need this fall. Bake this cake for any fall occasion or for an unforgettable Thanksgiving dessert.

Square Slice of Boozy Pumpkin Sheet Cake on white plates on wood background — Boozy Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Fall does something to my basic girl DNA. I short circuit and need to bake all the things. Immediately.

The weird part of this whole thing is I don’t even really bake anymore. Back in a time long ago, known as Before Kids, I used to bake homemade from scratch cakes and desserts all the time. I was the girl baking up cakes in my dorm kitchen in college and feeding all my 20 something friends homemade chocolate cake and buttercream icing.

Boozy Pumpkin Sheet Cake in glass baking dish on wood with pumpkins and bottle of Bailey's Pumpkin Spice — Boozy Pumpkin Sheet Cake

But no more. The part of my brain that was reserved for baking and the science that goes along with baking has taken a vacation. It’s full of holes like Swiss cheese. In other words, I don’t have the time or energy to measure out all my dry ingredients from scratch. Nope. Don’t like that these days. Instead, I will hack the heck out of a box of cake mix to make a cake from a box that tastes as delicious as any from scratch cake does. I’ve done it before with box cake by using coffee creamer instead of water, which is still one of my favorite tricks. I’ve also done it before subbing alcohol for water in this shortcut Bailey’s cake. And the alcohol substitution works super well in box mix brownies too like these Kahlua brownies.

How to Hack Box Cake Mix to Make Pumpkin Sheet Cake

For this pumpkin sheet cake, I used spice cake mix as my base. Can’t find spice cake mix in the store? No prob. Grab gingerbread or a yellow cake mix. If you grab a yellow cake mix, whisk in a teaspoon or two of pumpkin spice.

Instead of following the instructions on the box of cake mix, I subbed Pumpkin Spice Bailey’s for the water and pumpkin for the oil. Popsugar notes that you can substitute pumpkin for oil at a 1:1 ratio, which is exactly what I did here.

The result of my substitutions? A delicious perfectly spiced pumpkin sheet cake with a moist crumb that is so easy to make.

Make Easy Pumpkin Sheet Cake in a Snap!

To make it you only need one bowl and a handheld mixer. Nothing fancy.

Then you just add your box mix to a bowl and dump in the pumpkin, Bailey’s, and eggs. Then mix away. When the cake is thoroughly mixed, you can pour the batter into a 9×13 baking dish that you’ve sprayed with nonstick spray. Then just bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Then let it cool and slather it with this Boozy Pumpkin Spice Buttercream or use The Best Creamy Vanilla Buttercream Icing if you would rather.

If you’d prefer, feel free to make a batch of your favorite vanilla buttercream or cream cheese frosting instead. Either would be super delicious. Then, because it’s a sheet cake just slather the frosting right on top. No need to pipe it and get fancy.

Then serve it up with a hot spiked pumpkin spice latte and feel those glorious fall vibes. Fair warning, doing this may result in a flock of basic fall girls showing up at your house unannounced to tell you everything they love about fall. I’ll be one of them.

Looking for other fall desserts? Try these: