Moist Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon and Ginger
This pumpkin bread has a tender orange crumb, a gently domed top and enough cinnamon and ginger to make the pumpkin taste warm and rounded. The batter comes together with a whisk and spatula, without creaming butter. Bake it as one generous loaf, let it cool properly and slice it for breakfast, an afternoon coffee or a simple fall dessert.
Although we call it bread, this is a sweet quick loaf made with baking powder and baking soda. There is no yeast or rising time. Pumpkin purée supplies moisture, oil keeps the crumb soft and two eggs hold the slices together. The result should be tender, not wet or pudding-like in the middle.
Use plain pumpkin purée
Choose unsweetened pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling already contains sugar and spices, sometimes with a different consistency. This recipe needs one and a quarter cups of purée. Stir the container before measuring so the thick solids and any separated moisture are evenly mixed.
Homemade purée can work if it is smooth and thick enough to hold a soft mound on a spoon. Watery purée makes the centre slow to bake and can leave a heavy stripe near the bottom. Drain excess liquid through a fine sieve before measuring. Do not reduce the flour to compensate for a thick purée; the loaf needs its structure.
If you have more pumpkin to use, creamy pumpkin soup is a savoury option for another meal. Keep that purée plain before adding it to soup. Once it has been seasoned with broth, salt or onion, it is no longer suitable for this loaf.
Measure the flour without packing it
For the English volume measure, stir the flour, spoon it lightly into the cup and level it. Scooping directly with the cup compresses the flour and can make a dry loaf. A scale is even more consistent: one and three-quarter cups here means about 220 grams.
Brown sugar gives the loaf a little depth without making it taste like molasses. Pack the half cup of brown sugar, but do not pack the flour. Those two ingredients are measured differently on purpose. White sugar supplies the rest of the sweetness and helps the crust brown.
For another straightforward loaf, cottage cheese banana bread uses a different moisture balance. Do not swap pumpkin and banana directly between recipes without considering the other ingredients. Each purée brings its own sweetness and texture.
Mix and bake
Whisk the wet ingredients
Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the centre. Grease a nine-by-five-inch metal loaf pan and line it with parchment, leaving a little overhang along the long sides. Whisk the eggs, white sugar and brown sugar together until smooth. Add the oil, pumpkin purée and vanilla, then whisk until evenly orange.
Use neutral oil such as canola or sunflower. Strong olive oil changes the flavour noticeably. The mixture does not need to become foamy or double in volume. You are dissolving lumps of sugar and blending the ingredients, not whipping a sponge cake.
Fold in the dry ingredients
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Whisk thoroughly so the small amounts of leavener and spice are distributed. Add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture and fold with a spatula, scraping the sides and bottom.
Stop when there are no dry flour pockets. A few small lumps are fine. Long, vigorous mixing after the flour goes in can give a tougher crumb with tunnels. The batter should be thick but spreadable, falling from the spatula in a heavy ribbon rather than pouring like pancake batter.
Fill the pan and check the centre
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for fifty-five to sixty-five minutes. Begin checking at fifty-five minutes, but let the loaf’s centre determine when it is ready. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs, without shiny raw batter.
If the top darkens before the centre is ready, tent it loosely with foil. Do not wrap the pan tightly. Let the loaf stand in its pan for fifteen minutes, then lift it onto a rack. Cool completely before wrapping or slicing thinly. Cutting too early compresses the warm crumb and can make a properly baked loaf seem gummy.
Chef tips for an even loaf
I recommend sticking with a nine-by-five-inch pan for this quantity of batter. A smaller pan makes a deeper loaf that can brown outside before cooking through. Do not fill a pan more than about three-quarters full. If your pan is smaller, bake excess batter separately as muffins rather than forcing all of it into the loaf pan.
The crack along the top is normal. The outside sets first while the centre continues to rise. There is no need to hide it with icing. This loaf is sweet enough to eat plain, though a thin spread of butter on a cooled slice is pleasant.
If you prefer individual portions, apple cinnamon muffins, lemon blueberry muffins and banana chocolate chip muffins are other baking projects with their own timings. Smaller portions bake faster, so loaf and muffin times are not interchangeable.
Substitutions
For a simpler spice mix, I’d use two and a half teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice in place of the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Check that the blend contains spices only. For a chocolate version, fold in half a cup of chocolate chips with the last few strokes. Chopped toasted walnuts work in the same quantity, but the plain loaf needs neither addition.
Do not replace the oil with the same amount of applesauce and expect the same crumb. That reduces fat and increases water. If you want an apple dessert, moist apple cake or apple crisp with oats is a better starting point than changing several ingredients here.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the middle gummy?
The usual causes are underbaking, watery purée, too small a pan or slicing while hot. Check the actual centre with a skewer, not just the edge. Let the loaf cool fully on a rack so steam can escape before wrapping it.
Can I freeze it?
Yes. Wrap the cooled loaf or individual slices tightly and freeze for up to two months. Separate slices with parchment so you can take out only what you need. Thaw wrapped at room temperature, then unwrap once thawed to avoid leaving the crust damp.
How should I store it?
Keep the fully cooled loaf airtight at room temperature for up to two days. For longer storage, refrigerate up to five days or freeze. A thick slice can be warmed gently in a toaster oven. Avoid wrapping a warm loaf, which traps moisture against the surface.
More simple baking ideas
For a lighter citrus flavour, try lemon yogurt cake. A one-bowl vanilla cake is useful when you want a plain cake to serve with fruit. If chocolate is the request at your table, cocoa brownies offer a much denser texture. This pumpkin loaf sits between those styles: moist and substantial, but still easy to cut into clean slices.
For more ideas, browse our winter squash and pumpkin recipes.
Moist Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon and Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour spooned and levelled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup neutral oil
- 1 1/4 cups plain pumpkin purée
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan with parchment.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk eggs with both sugars until smooth. Whisk in oil, pumpkin and vanilla.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until no dry flour remains. Transfer to pan and smooth the top.
- Bake 55–65 minutes, until a centre skewer comes out clean or with moist crumbs, not wet batter. Tent loosely with foil if browning early.
- Cool in pan 15 minutes, then lift onto a rack and cool completely before slicing.
