Celebrate your everyday occasions with this homemade Pumpkin Bundt Cake recipe with Cool Whip Cream Cheese Frosting!

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. We receive a commission if purchases are made through our links to retailers. Click here to read our full disclosure policy.

It’s been a hard year. I don’t think I could have ever imagined how hard this year would be. Losing someone you love is, without a doubt, one of the worst things. Losing three…well, it’s inconceivable.

About 4-5 months ago, I read a blog post called “one simple step that’s changing my life” by another food blogger, Kristy of The Wicked Noodle. Her post stated: everything in our lives should begin with being grateful for what we have. Something about that post helped me to shift my thinking. It’s not that I don’t ever have sadness, anger, or tears. Some days are extremely difficult. I read Kristy’s post when my Dad and one sister had passed away. Since then, another sister died too. But still, I work hard to remember that my life continues. I work hard to focus on the good things in my life — which there are many. Everyday I work to be grateful of the things and people around me. Some days I do better with it than other days, but I think the trying is what’s important and what keeps me focused.

When I was recently invited to create a cake to celebrate an “everyday family occasion” using new Cool Whip Frosting, I knew instantly what I wanted to do. I want to make a cake to celebrate our amazing kids. Our kids are my world and I am so grateful for having them in my life. We have so many things we are so proud of them for and I couldn’t think of a better everyday family occasion than to just simply celebrate them.

The kids knew I was baking a Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. The two youngest kids went with me when I bought the ingredients. They are used to me making all sorts of things, so shopping for ingredients to make a cake isn’t unusual to them. What they didn’t know, was that the cake was being made to specifically celebrate them.

I decided to make a homemade Pumpkin Bundt Cake, because…well…it’s autumn even if it doesn’t feel like it in Vegas yet. The kids love pumpkin desserts too, so it’s a win-win. I picked out the cream cheese flavor of the Cool Whip Frosting. You can see all of my shopping trip photos HERE.

Ingredients Needed for Pumpkin Bundt Cake:

Cooking Equipment Needed for Pumpkin Bundt Cake:

Once the cake was completely cooled, I frosted it with the Cool Whip Frosting. It was light and fluffy and spread easily on the cake. I was concerned that one tub might not be enough for my cake, so I bought two tubs to be safe, but one tub was definitely more than enough for this pumpkin bundt cake.

After frosting, I sprinkled the top with some pecans. I was really happy with how it turned out.

I wrote a short note on little cards, one for each of the kids, with something that we’ve been extremely proud of them for. I guess I should also explain that our kids range in age from 12 to 22 — so the adult kids got one too.

Before we served the cake, I told the kids that I made the cake to celebrate them. I handed them their cards, which received a wide range of emotions. My oldest started crying and hugged me, our oldest son thought I might have been playing a joke on him, but gave me a heartfelt thank you. I think the cards made the younger two feel a bit embarrassed, but they held tight to the cards and seem to have been tucked away somewhere special.

I’m happy with how the whole celebration played out. I have a feeling it will be something that they remember for a long time. This last year has been rough on them too, but it feels wonderful to know that we all have each other. All too often, celebrating a person only happens on their birthday or other big events, like graduations. But there is little stuff around us everyday that is worth a celebration.