You need to make this Pumpkin Molasses Bread for dessert on Thanksgiving this year. Trust me. It’s really easy to whip up (who needs something complicated on Thanksgiving? NO ONE), it’s super delicious, and it totally tastes like Autumn. The deep flavor of molasses brings extra richness to the pumpkin spice flavor and keeps the loaf deliciously moist and tender. Plus this pumpkin spice bread will make your house smell better than any autumn flavored candle, hands down. ;)
Originally posted 11/14/2012, updated 11/5/2021.
Recipe Updates
I made some significant changes to this recipe, since many readers had a difficult time getting their bread to cook all the way through. I reduced the ratio of molasses and other wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and reduced the cooking temperature slightly in order to help the bread bake more evenly. The result is a tender but moist crumb, without any pockets of unbaked batter in the center.
What Kind of Loaf Pan to Use
I used a standard loaf pan, which is 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches. My loaf pan is made of metal, which heats quickly in the oven. You can use a ceramic or glass loaf pan, but you may find that you need to bake your bread slightly longer.
How Do You Know When the Bread is Done?
Ovens can vary a little bit so it’s always best to test your bread to make sure it’s cooked through. There are a couple of different reliable methods.
- The Toothpick Method: insert a clean toothpick into the center of the bread. If the toothpick is coated with raw batter when you pull it out, the bread needs to bake longer. If it just has a few moist crumbs stuck to it, the bread is finished baking.
- An Instant Read Thermometer: The same instant read thermometers used to check the doneness of meat can also be used to check the doneness of quick breads! For quick bread, like this Pumpkin Molasses Bread or Banana Bread, you want the internal temperature to be between 200-205ºF. This is the temperature at which the batter will be set into a nice crumb.
What Kind of Molasses to Use
I used Grandma’s Original Molasses, which is the type you’re most likely to find in most U.S. grocery stores. You can usually find it in grocery stores either near the pancake syrup, jams and jellies, and peanut butter, or in baking aisle. It just depends on the store. I have not tested this recipe using black strap molasses, which has a thicker texture and more pronounced flavor (some would say it’s slightly bitter).
How to Serve Pumpkin Molasses Bread
This rich and sweet bread is absolutely divine with some softened butter smeared over top. The creaminess of the butter perfectly compliments the warm spices and sweet molasses flavor. The flavors in this bread would also be absolutely perfect with a hot cup of coffee. :)
Pumpkin Molasses Bread
Servings 8 1-inch thick slicesIngredients
- 1 15oz. can pumpkin purée ($0.95)
- 2 large eggs ($0.58)
- 1/3 cup cooking oil ($0.21)
- 1/4 cup molasses ($0.59)
- 3/4 cup sugar ($0.12)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour ($0.14)
- 1 tsp cinnamon ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg ($0.05)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1.5 tsp baking powder ($0.05)
- 1 tsp butter ($0.03)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin purée, eggs, oil, molasses, and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, and stir them together just until combined. It's okay if there are a few small lumps. Avoid over stirring.
- Coat the inside of a loaf pan with butter. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread it out smooth.
- Bake the pumpkin bread for about one hour, or until the internal temperature reaches 200ºF, or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay, just no raw batter stuck to the toothpick).
- Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool, then slice and serve.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Pumpkin Molasses Bread – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, whisk together one 15oz. can pumpkin purée, 2 large eggs, ⅓ cup cooking oil, ¼ cup molasses, and ¾ cup sugar.
In a separate bowl, stir together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp salt, and 1.5 tsp baking powder. Make sure they’re very well combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients.
Stir just until they are combined. Avoid over stirring. It’s okay if it’s slightly lumpy.
Use a teaspoon of butter to coat the inside of a loaf pan. transfer the batter to the loaf pan and spread it out smooth.
Bake the pumpkin molasses bread in the preheated 350ºF oven for about one hour, or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 200ºF, or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay, just no raw batter stuck to the toothpick).
Transfer the pumpkin bread to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, slice, serve, and enjoy!
Oh no! I have to admit, I have no ideas what could have gone wrong either… was the oven fully preheated? Even that should have only added 15 min to the cooking time. If you do try again, I would suggest baking them as muffins or in an 8×8 baking dish because it will be shallower and cook much faster.
I have no idea what or where I went wrong! I have had mine in the oven for 1 hour and 30 min. and it is still gooey inside! I will keep it baking (unless it catches fire!) and then try again! Maybe I used the wrong kind of molasses? Wrong pan? Confused……
Made this last night. It didn’t turn out as I had hoped. Next time I may use a different kind of molasses, more sugar and more salt, longer cooking timer and/or larger loaf pan.
Becky – It would throw the ratios off a bit, but I think it’s worth experimenting with! Maybe try nixing the milk too to cut down on the wetness. It’s a pretty wet batter as is, I might have even been able to leave the milk out too.
Can I cut down the amount of sugar to maybe 1 cup? Would that throw off the ratio of dry to wet ingredient?
I made this and it tasted amazing!
I made it in a loaf pan like you did, but the center was raw even after the top was crispy :( The center had to be cut out and thrown away.
Next time I’ll do muffins.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made it with my brother tonight for our Thanksgiving dessert, and even though we messed up at 2 points, these came out great as muffins!
I made this last night and it made my entire place smell delicious and then had some for desert even though I made it for Thanksgiving. I don’t think it is sweet enough for my tastes as a desert but it is damn good. Making a batch of muffins now
muffins are turning out great :] was afraid of the mix being black from my full-flavored molasses…but they are baking more brown so I’m relieved!
Ahhh, you might want to make a note about not using blackstrap molasses… it was all I could find and I figured it out the hard way.
In the country I live in molasses is very hard to find. I searched all over and could only find blackstrap molasses at a specialty imports store. I found a suggestion online that said that if you have to substitute black-strap molasses for regular, you should use half corn syrup and half molasses. I was nervous about it so I used 3/4 corn-syrup and 1/4 black-strap molasses, and it came out great without the “tar” flavor you would expect from this kind of molasses. It is obviously not ideal, but if you only have blackstrap molasses, you can give it a try.
I just made a batch as muffins and they took 18 minutes to bake. I used half whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose, adding an extra 1/4 tsp. of baking powder to keep them fluffy. I haven’t tried one yet since they’re still cooling, but they smell DELICIOUS! I got 2 dozen full-sized muffins out of this recipe, so I’ll have breakfasts for quite a while!
I made banana muffins yesterday that gave an option for making a loaf instead. The recipe instructed to bake the loaf at 375 for 55-60 minutes (a la this recipe) and muffins at the same temp for 15-20. Mine took about 18. I don’t know if that’s equivalent or not, but I thought I’d share my two cents.
I always substitute all-natural sugar free applesauce instead of vegetable oil. It doesn’t add any overpowering apple flavor at all, and it is much better for you than vegetable oil.
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Beth I have a banana bread recipe that calls for molasses. It actually replaces the sugar in the recipe but calls for a larger quanity of molasses which sort of takes over the whole loaf. It is delicious though. I will def be trying yours this weekend!