Baking can be hard. Baking can be complicated. Baking can be exhausting. It’s no secret that baking isn’t my favorite thing to do. It intimidates and scares me a lot. Which is why I’m forcing myself to do a whole lot more of it. I guess you could say that I’m overcoming my fear one cake at a time.

These Skinny Pumpkin Spice Bars are incredibly easy to make despite the slightly lengthy ingredient list, it comes together very very quickly. From start to finish (not including the cooling time) this cakes only takes about 30 minutes to mix and bake, frosting and all!

To healthily these pumpkin spice bars, I used a mix of all-purpose flour and also some whole wheat white flour. That’s not all though. There’s barely any oil in this cake at all. The applesauce and pumpkin puree in there keeps the cake light and moist.

And that maple cream cheese frosting? Unnngh… That stuff is amazing, right there. The frosting almost makes the cake. I was a little skeptical at first, and almost went without the maple syrup to leave it as just a cream cheese frosting but I am so glad that I didn’t do that!

All together, this makes one damn good cake. It’s great for this time of year to bring in all the most seasonal and festive flavors as we get in closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas too. Parties, events, potluck - you name it, and this cake would be a great fit.

And like I said, don’t skip out on the frosting!

Step-by-Step Photos:

Nutritional Claims: Balanced • Kidney Friendly • Vegetarian • Pescatarian • Peanut Free • Tree Nut Free • Soy Free • Fish Free • Shellfish Free • Pork Free • Red Meat Free • Crustacean Free • Celery Free • Mustard Free • Sesame Free • Lupine Free • Mollusk Free • Alcohol Free • Kosher