Vegan Pumpkin Cake
This vegan pumpkin cake is soft, fluffy and moist and the perfect dessert in Fall/Autumn! It's packed with flavor as it uses a whole can of pumpkin puree, has lots of warm spices and is paired with a delicious maple cinnamon frosting.
Ingredients
Wet ingredients for pumpkin cake
- 15 ounces (425g) pumpkin puree canned or homemade (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 ½ cups (375g) dairy-free milk room temperature
- ⅔ cup (145g) neutral flavored oil or use 1/3 cup (85g) oil and 1/3 cup (75g) melted vegan butter
- 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar or use more granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry ingredients for pumpkin cake
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour spooned and leveled (note 1, and for gluten-free option)
- 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (note 2 for homemade blend)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or more pumpkin pie spice
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt optional
Maple cinnamon frosting and decorations (see note 3 for alternatives)
- 1 cup (225g) vegan block butter room temperature
- 3-4 cups (300g-400g) powdered sugar / icing sugar or to taste
- ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2-3 tablespoons (40-60g) maple syrup to taste
- Biscoff pumpkins optional (note 4 for differently colored pumpkins)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 355°F (180°C). Grease or line 2 x 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans with parchment paper.
Make the pumpkin cake:
- Add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined.
- Add the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda to the bowl and mix well. Add the flour and salt then mix until just combined. Make sure you don't overmix the batter otherwise your cake will be dense (some lumps are fine, as long as they aren't lumps of dry flour).
- Evenly divide the pumpkin cake batter between your prepared cake pans.
- Bake the cakes for around 33-38 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 15-20 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Let the cakes completely cool before decorating.
Make the maple cinnamon frosting and decorate the cake:
- Add the butter to a large bowl (if using an electric hand mixer) or bowl of a stand mixer (with the whisk or paddle attachment). Beat until pale and light. Add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and beat on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the maple syrup until the frosting reaches your desired taste and consistency. Chill the frosting until needed.
- If your cakes have domes, use a serrated knife to slice them off. Place one flat cake layer on a serving plate. Spread or pipe around ¾ cup of frosting on the cake and place the remaining cake on top.
- Spread the remaining frosting on the whole cake. Top the cake with biscoff pumpkins or as desired.
- If you live in a cool climate, store the vegan pumpkin cake in an airtight container at room temperature until serving. If you live in a warm climate, store the cake in the refrigerator. Allow the cake to come to room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 5 days or in the freezer for 1 month.
Notes
- Measuring the flour: If you're using measuring cups, please measure the flour accurately, otherwise your cake may be dry. To spoon and level your flour, fluff up the flour in its bag, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. I don't recommend using the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your bag as it'll add too much flour to the recipe. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
Gluten-free pumpkin cake: This recipe works well with King Arthur's measure for measure flour, but please bake the cake for 38-43 minutes. Unfortunately, Bob Red Mills 1:1 flour doesn't work well. - For homemade pumpkin spice, use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a generous pinch of ground cloves. If you don't have any nutmeg, ginger or cloves, use more cinnamon.
- Alternatively, you can skip the maple syrup and cinnamon and use 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. See more options in the post above.
- My Biscoff pumpkins were either coated in sugar, plain, or colored with a drop of orange food coloring.