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When the nights draw in and the cold creeps along, what better way to comfort ourselves than with these cute Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves?! Hello autumn, and HELLO sweet treats. So easy to make and the house will smell amazing. Get baking!

Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves with icing sugar on top.

Baking is one of my favourite things to do as the season changes to autumn and we need a little cosiness and comfort in our lives. And we definitely need CAKE!

These Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves are a classic. They fill the house with wafts of cinnamon and spice and they’re fantastic with a cuppa to treat yourself with, for serving to guests or for packed lunches. 

They’re a little bit spicy, a little bit warming, golden in colour, and they taste exactly like autumn (if autumn was a flavour). They’re also super simple to make, even for baking beginners (or indeed lazy bakers, like me!) 

We don’t even have to faff around with actual pumpkins for this, we just use a handy pumpkin puree instead! (Which is a relief because I really don’t enjoy scooping out pumpkins and chopping them up!) A lot of supermarkets stock them these days.


Why you’ll love this Pumpkin Bread recipe

⭐️ Comforting and spicy autumnal flavours

⭐️ Easy but impressive cakes

⭐️ Great for packed lunches or an elevenses treat


Mini Pumpkin Bread Spiced Loaves cooling on a wire rack straight out of the oven, drizzled with icing sugar.

Other easy autumnal recipes

⭐️ Roasted Butternut Squash Soup ⭐️

⭐️ Easy Apple Cake ⭐️

⭐️ Salted Caramel & Apple Autumn Pavlova ⭐️

⭐️ Parsnip Soup ⭐️

⭐️ Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole ⭐️

⭐️ Beef Bourguignon ⭐️

⭐️ Slow Cooker Porridge ⭐️

⭐️ Vegan Chilli with Butternut Squash ⭐️


More pumpkin recipes

⭐️ Pumpkin Cake {Better Than Starbucks!} ⭐️

⭐️ Halloween Pumpkin Bundt Cake ⭐️

⭐️ Pumpkin Spiced Latte Cake ⭐️

⭐️ Easiest Ever Pumpkin Cake (simplified version!) ⭐️


Mini Pumpkin Bread Ingredients

  • Tinned pumpkin puree – See notes on this below
  • Soft dark brown sugar
  • Caster sugar
  • Sunflower oil
  • Water
  • Eggs – I use medium free range
  • Lemon – Just the zest
  • Plain flour
  • Baking powder
  • Sea salt
  • Cinnamon
  • Ground nutmeg

NOTE: A tin of pumpkin puree is approx 425g and this recipe uses far less, which is a bit annoying but unavoidable. To avoid wastage, you can freeze the remainder to use in a cake for another day. Simply spoon it into a freezer bag, remove the air out of it and freeze. Defrost thoroughly before you use it.


A perfect autumn treat, Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves in a row, ready to eat.

How to make Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease the tin with butter, being sure to reach the corner.
  2. In a bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sugars, oil, water, eggs and lemon zest. Beat until combined. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
  3. Add the dry and wet ingredients together and fold to combine. Spoon into the loaf tin.
  4. Bake for about 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool and repeat until your batter is finished.
  5. Mix the icing sugar and lemon into a paste and drizzle over the cakes.

Substitutions

  • Gluten free – This recipe can easily be made gluten free by substituting the plain flour for a gluten free equivalent.

Storing

Store these in a cake tin or sealed airtight container. You don’t need to refrigerate. They should last at their best for up to 3 days (if they haven’t been devoured by then!)

Freezer friendly These are also fine to be frozen. Just make sure you wait until they’re completely cooled and when you’re ready to eat, defrost them thoroughly first.

Top tips

How to zest lemons

The best way to zest lemons is to invest in a great zester. It will change your cake-making life! I like this Microplane Zester, which I’ve had for years and it makes the job SO easy.

Type of mini loaf cake tin 

I love this mini loaf tin as it makes really striking little cakes and is really handy to use and the cakes pop out easily.

Mini Pumpkin Bread FAQs

How do I know if the loaves are cooked all the way through?

You can use a skewer or thermometer to check. A skewer should come out clean.

Can I use fresh pumpkin for this recipe instead?

Yes, you can if you like! You’ll have lots of pumpkin – to use it all up, scoop out the flesh, cook it, puree it and then freeze any leftovers into portions so you can bake another day.

Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.

Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).

4.55 from 11 votes

Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves

What better way to comfort ourselves in autumn than with these cute Mini Pumpkin Bread Loaves?! So easy to make and the house will smell amazing. Get baking!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 36

Ingredients 

  • 150 g Tinned pumpkin puree
  • 50 g Soft dark brown sugar
  • 150 g Caster sugar
  • 6 tbsp Sunflower oil
  • 3 tbsp Water
  • 1 Medium egg, Free range.
  • 1/2 Lemon, Zest only.
  • 125 g Plain flour
  • 1 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Sea salt
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg

For the icing:

  • Juice of the lemon
  • 150 g Icing sugar

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Grease the mini loaf pans with butter, being sure to get into all of the corners.
  • Mix together the pumpkin, sugars, oil, water, eggs and lemon zest. Beat until combined.
  • In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold in until just combined.
  • Spoon into each of the loaf tin sections, filling about two thirds of the way. Don't overfill or your loaves will be difficult to get out and look a bit wonky.
  • Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes and ease out the loaves allowing them to continue cooling on a wire rack.
  • Rinse the tin and repeat the greasing, filling and baking. Do this until you've finished using all of the batter.
  • When all cool, make the icing with the icing sugar and enough of the lemon juice to make a thick paste. Drizzle or pipe over the cakes and allow to set.

Notes

Pumpkin puree: A tin of pumpkin puree is approx 425g and this recipe uses far less, which is a bit annoying but unavoidable. To avoid wastage, you can freeze the remainder to use in a cake for another day. Simply spoon it into a freezer bag, remove the air out of it and freeze. Defrost thoroughly before you use it.
Topping: If you’d prefer to top these loaves with a robust topping, follow my recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting here.

Nutrition

Calories: 74kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 1gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.001gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 35mgPotassium: 28mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 655IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 9mgIron: 0.3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Family Food
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14 Comments

  1. Hi, can’t wait to make these. Can I freeze them before icing? I’d like to make a batbatch that I can save for later