Pumpkin Bars with Cake Mix

2 ingredient pumpkin bars with cake mix is the best cake mix hack ever! An easy cheap dessert to make this Fall with cream cheese frosting or plain. Add white chocolate chips or nuts too if you like and enjoy this treat during the holidays.

Cake Mix Pumpkin Bars

Yes we share A LOT of cake mix recipes on my site because that base can be used to make all kinds of things. If you have only made a birthday or cupcakes with it you are missing out friends! Start with this one and then try a few others. I will share a few others with pumpkin puree down below too.

On the top you can use a ready made tub of frosting, powdered sugar with milk and vanilla extract whisked together or our Cream Cheese Frosting Without Butter works quite well too with Cool Whip. Nice and fluffy that is great with a tad of pumpkin pie filling spice or cinnamon folded in there too. I will talk about how to make this 2 ingredient pumpkin cake thin or thick too.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Let’s talk about dry mixes for a minute here. Now if you have been in the baking aisle at all in your life you know there are tons of selections. In the Fall you can find spice which works well for this one and things like our Cake Mix Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake. It already has those Autumn flavors right in there which makes less work for you.

Now if you cannot find that or it is more expensive than others you can use yellow cake mix or white. There will be quite a bit difference in flavors for sure so you would want to add a bit of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and maybe some nutmeg or make it homemade like this. The only thing you need to make this would be;

Ingredients

• 1 box spice cake mix has all the dry ingredients together in one bag
  • Spiced type is the best type but you could use any flavor
• Can of pumpkin puree, 15 oz.
• Frosting is optional but kinda’ expected I mean…..

What size pan should you use for cake mix bars?

You could make homemade pumpkin puree if you want to start with that step. For the size you see here at the top we used a 9×13 inch pan. An 8×8 will make them thicker but will need to be baked a few minutes longer.

Is pumpkin pie mix the same as pumpkin puree?

No, these are two different things. Puree is 100% softened and blended until smooth pumpkin. Pie mix has a lot of spices mixed in to give it that Fall flavor to make a pie.

This is a great solution to what can be done with pumpkin? If you have a can that is about to expire you bought the year before use it up this way!! The biggest caution I would say is to watch the bake time. Same with our Libby’s pumpkin muffins you do NOT want them to get dry. Start with 20 minutes and check with a toothpick.

If there is any wet batter, give it 2 more minutes and check again. If wet crumbs are attached that is fine. Let it cool in the pan on a cooling rack to cool completely if you are going to add frosting to the top. If warm it will slide right off so give it some time.

Libby’s Pumpkin Bars Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix and pumpkin puree until smooth. Spread the pumpkin mixture into a 9×13 baking pan.
  • (Either lined with parchment paper or sprayed with nonstick cooking spray).
• Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• While the cake is cooling, mix together 1 tub of cream cheese frosting and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon until light and fluffy.
• Spread frosting over the cooled pumpkin pie bars then slice into bars. ENJOY!

We use this same size for our pumpkin pudding cake and it works well. However, if you want thicker pieces you can use a 8×8 pan lined with parchment paper or non stick spray baked for 25 minutes.

Pumpkin Bars No Frosting

If you don’t want to add anything to the top of these I would instead put white chocolate chips inside. We did this with our Cake Mix Pumpkin Blondies and it was a great add in for a creamy pop of flavor. Crushed walnuts would be another great idea to add a bit of texture, or just leave them alone. 😉

Same goes for our Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cake Mix, you don’t HAVE to have a topping but in my household it is somewhat expected to finish that baby off. Up to you of course. Now if you do have leftovers you will want to keep them nice and moist so storing properly is essential.

After you fall in love with these, grab another box of the same spiced flavors and try making cake mix pumpkin donuts next.