This Pumpkin Delight Dessert is sure to curb any pumpkin lovers’ craving! 4 layers starting with a pecan and graham cracker crust topped with pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree, and a fluffy and light cream cheese mixture and sprinkled with pecans.
Skip the pumpkin pie – It is sure to become a favorite fall dessert.
Layered Pumpkin Dessert Recipe
Pumpkin spice is here and so is our new favorite fall dessert! Pumpkin Delight is not only easy to make, but it is also beyond delightful to eat too!
Pumpkin is such a versatile flavor! It’s just sweet enough and just savory enough that it can be added to so many recipes! There are so many ways of preparing it. I love using it in desserts because it doesn’t overpower everything.
Fall recipes are filled with warm cinnamon flavors and a little bit of pumpkin spice. They warm you from the inside out. You may have tried some of our others like our Pumpkin Roll Cake or our Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake.
Why We Love This Pumpkin Delight
- No-bake dessert.
- This layered dessert recipe is super easy to make by just combing a few simple ingredients.
- Looks like it took hours to make, but can be prepared in under 30 minutes.
- Great make-ahead recipe – you can make it the night before and pull it out when ready to serve.
More Easy Pumpkin Desserts
What is Pumpkin Delight
If you’re not sure if you’re a pumpkin lover, I would definitely recommend giving this Pumpkin Delight Dessert a try. With all of the other flavors at play, it’s the perfect pumpkin recipe to dip your toe in the pumpkin-flavored waters!
Pumpkin delight checks all of the important boxes. It’s delicious and beautiful. It’s easy to put together. It’s a crowd favorite and can feed a large group of people!
Pumpkin Lasagna Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients for your Pumpkin Delight.
Many of these ingredients are your typical baking essentials. I tend to have quite a few of them on hand at all times, which makes for a quick trip to the grocery store when I’m preparing to make this dessert!
- Graham cracker crumbs
- Chopped pecans
- Sugar
- Melted butter
- Whipping cream
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla
- Pumpkin puree
- Brown sugar
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Cool Whip
Make-Ahead Recipe:
Putting together your Pumpkin Delight may be simple, but it will take some time to do. This is why I love being able to prepare it in advance and keep it frozen or chilled until I’m ready to serve.
However, I have to say that I wouldn’t recommend making it any more than 24 hours in advance, to make sure it’s super fresh!
Layered desserts, such as this one, are great for family gatherings and get-togethers. They are crowd-pleasers and feed a large group of people.
The best part, is that the delicious layers give this dessert a fabulous look, so no one will know how easy it was to put together and store!
Four Delicious Pumpkin Lasagna Layers:
The Pumpkin Delight Dessert is made up of four delicious layers.
I am going to breakdown each of those four layers for you here! It will make putting it all together that much easier.
Layer 1: The bottom layer is going to be your delicious crispy graham cracker and pecan crust.
Layer 2: This will be your first layer of cream cheese and heavy whipping cream mixture.
Layer 3: The third and most important layer (in my opinion) is your pumpkin layer made up of pumpkin puree, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice.
Layer 4: The final layer is a cool whip and chopped pecans to finish it off!
How to Make Pumpkin Delight Dessert:
- In a medium bowl mix together the graham cracker crumbs, crushed pecans, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and melted butter.
- Press the mixture into an 8×8 dish. Flatten the mixture using the bottom of a flat glass. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl using either a hand mixer or a stand-up mixer, mix the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
- In a chilled medium mixing bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.
- Gently add the heavy whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture and fold it together with a rubber spatula.
- Once combined spoon half of the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture on top of the graham cracker crust.
- Set the other half of the mixture aside. Place the 8×8 dish in the refrigerator while preparing the next step.
- Add the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice to the cream cheese mixture and gently fold together until combined and solid in color.
- Spoon the mixture on top of the cream cheese layer.
- Spread the Cool Whip on top of the pumpkin mixture and garnish with chopped pecans and a dusting of cinnamon if desired.
- Chill at least one hour before serving.
How To Store Pumpkin Mousse Recipe
Storing this dessert is so simple! I always try to make it in a glass baking dish that has a lid to go on top.
Pumpkin delight will melt pretty quickly if left out. Be sure to take it out right before you are ready to serve it and place it in the refrigerator between servings.
When I’m finished serving, I just throw the lid on the top and toss it in the fridge or freezer. If we won’t be going back in for seconds for a while, it’s better to be stored in the freezer! But, if I know people may want more fairly soon, the fridge is fine!
- Fridge Storage: To store, tightly cover with plastic wrap or a lid.
- Freezer Storage: Cover in an airtight container and place in the freezer. You can cut a slice at a time and enjoy or let the entire dish thaw in the fridge until ready to serve. You can freeze this dessert for up to 1 month.
More Layered Desserts
- Chocolate Lasagna
- Lemon Icebox Cake
- Easy Eclair Cake
- No-Bake Ice Cream Layer Cake
- Pumpkin Butter Cake
- Mississippi Mud Pie
Pumpkin Delight Dessert
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs and some extra crumbs for garnish if desired
- ¼ cup pecans chopped super fine or crushed in food processor
- 3 tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 6 tbsp butter melted
For the filling:
- 1 cup whipping cream chilled
- 16 ounces (2 blocks) of cream cheese softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 15 ounces (1 can) pumpkin puree
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 8 ounces Cool Whip
- ¼ cup pecans chopped
- Cinnamon garnish, optional
Instructions
Layer One
- In a medium bowl mix together the graham cracker crumbs, crushed pecans, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and melted butter.
- Press the mixture into an 8×8 dish. Flatten the mixture using the bottom of a flat glass. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Layer Two
- In a large mixing bowl place, the softened cream cheese, powered sugar, vanilla extract and using a hand mixer combine until light and fluffy and no lumps. Set aside.
- In a chilled medium mixing bowl place, the heavy whipping cream. Using a hand mixer on high beat the cream until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes.
- Gently add the heavy whipping cream to the cream cheese mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula. Once combined spoon half of the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture on top of graham cracker crust.
- Set the other half of the mixture aside.
- Place the 8×8 dish in the refrigerator while preparing the next step.
Layer Three
- In the bowl with the remaining cream cheese/whipping cream mixture add the pumpkin puree, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Gently fold together until combined and solid in color.
- Spoon the mixture on top of layer three in the 8×8 dish.
Layer Four
- Spread the Cool Whip on top of the 8×8 dish as the last layer.
- Garnish with remaining ¼ cup chopped pecans and dusting of cinnamon if desired
- Chill at least one hour before serving.
Jenn’s Notes
- Fridge Storage: To store, tightly cover with plastic wrap or a lid.
- Freezer Storage: Cover in an airtight container and place in the freezer. You can cut a slice at a time and enjoy or let the entire dish thaw in the fridge until ready to serve. You can freeze this dessert for up to 1 month.
Video
Nutrition Info
I can’t stress to you enough how simple and delicious this Pumpkin Delight Dessert is! The layered dessert not only tastes amazing, but it has a beautiful presentation as well. It is the perfect fall dessert for your next family gathering!
Super delicious! Brought it to a family dinner, it was a big hit!
So full of fall flavors, but nice and light!! Great for after a heavy meal. SUPER quick and easy to put together also. I toasted my pecans for a few minutes before chopping and adding in, made a big difference! Big hit in my house!
I’ve rated the recipe with 5 stars prior to even making it cause I love pumpkin & the recipe seems so simple to make. I do have some questions about freezing it. I’m wanting to make this & freeze it before heading out on a trip. Is it best to make the whole thing except for the toppings part, freeze it & then later put the toppings on? And how long should it be allowed to “thaw” in the fridge, before its ready to be served?
Just make sure to cover the top with an airtight lid and pop it in the freezer. When ready to serve, let it thaw in the fridge.
How long will it take to thaw in the fridge? Will it be watery? Also, do I wait until it thaws & then put the Cool Whip on top or go ahead & put it on before freezing?
Would you double the recipe to make this in a 9×13?
Why did they change the original recipe??? I really liked the old one. This one is a no bake, and the crust would be soggy.
Same recipe – always no-bake
Hi, I really want to try this for a rehearsal dinner and I am not sure how many time I should double the recipe to make a 10 X 15 dish ? can you
help me ?? This just sounds so perfect, “And delicious”!
Hi Berna! It depends how many people you are trying to serve. There is a tool in the recipe card to double or triple the recipe!
Where & how much vanilla pudding powder is added? I don’t see it in your directions or in the ingredient list.
Where are you referring to vanilla pudding powder? (if it is from the comments above, please note the comment that we redid the recipe – so just follow the recipe in the recipe card)
The video says bake the crust, the instructions say put in freezer. Which is it?
Sorry about that!! We redid the recipe a couple of years ago and forgot to reshoot the video – thank you for letting me know! We are getting it fixed!
Making this with our Christmas dinner. Can’t wait to try it. Jennifer….Can you mix the cream cheese and cool whip layer with the pumpkin layer or would it not work ?
Honestly, I haven’t tried that before so I cannot say if it would set right or not! Sorry!!
Such an amazing recipe. Everybody loved it! I took out the walnuts for someone with a nut allergy and it still worked out perfectly
Was looking for something that wasn’t pumpkin pie and easy to make. I have to say this was definitely a winner for easy and a home run on taste. I will be making this every thanksgiving!