Perfectly moist and utterly delicious vegan pumpkin cake with a cinnamon buttercream frosting. Packed with holiday spices and ideal for any special occasion!
Ooooh this vegan pumpkin cake you guys! Soooo good.
It sort of reminded us of carrot cake. Or a spice cake.
It’s deliciously spiced in the same way that a carrot cake usually is, with the cinnamon and the nutmeg and it’s also sweetened with brown sugar.
This pumpkin cake adds in some ground ginger and cloves too, so it’s really a treat.
So if you like carrot cake, or spice cake, then you’ll love this too!
But try our vegan carrot cake too of course! And our vegan pumpkin cupcakes are based on this recipe and just as good!
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add light brown sugar, white granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and ground cloves.
- Prepare a flax egg by adding 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed to a bowl with 3 tablespoons of hot water. Let it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Then add the flax egg, pumpkin purée, canola oil, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract.
- Mix into a thick batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between two prepared cake pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with circles of parchment paper on the bottom).
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans for a few minutes before removing them from the cake pans and transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
The Frosting
When it came to the frosting, I had a look around the web to see what a good pairing usually is and I saw a lot of recipes using a brown butter frosting.
So, naively I set out to try and make one using vegan butter. And oh my what an utter disaster. You don’t even want to know how badly that turned out.
So it seems browning butter really needs actual butter! Hahaha! Who knew (probably everyone). Apparently it’s the milk proteins in the butter that brown, and there ain’t any of those in the vegan varieties!
So then I decided on a cinnamon buttercream frosting and that was just perfect.
There’s cinnamon and other spices in the pumpkin cake and so the pairing with a cinnamon flavored frosting did the job fabulously well.
And then I sprinkled it with some extra cinnamon and tossed some crushed walnuts on top and the result was utterly divine.
Canned Pumpkin or Fresh?
I searched high and low in our small town for some canned pumpkin because when you’re making pumpkin desserts, canned pumpkin purée is the business!
Sadly though it seems canned pumpkin isn’t a ‘thing’ around here. I guess pumpkin desserts aren’t really a thing around here either. Maybe folks here don’t realize how good they are!
So I had to do things the old fashioned way and make pumpkin purée from scratch! Was pretty easy really, just bought some ready peeled and chopped pumpkin cubes and baked them on a parchment lined baking tray at 350°F (180°C) for 30 minutes. No spices or oils, just plain.
And when baked, you just let it cool and then puree it in a food processor! The baking part gets rid of any excess moisture so you don’t end up with pumpkin puree that is too ‘wet’. But if you do, you can just stand the pumpkin purée in a strainer so any excess water runs off.
So it was really too easy. Probably still better to use canned though if you can get it, saves time!
Storing and Freezing
Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 2-3 days, or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay fresh for up to a week.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Carrot Cake
- Vegan Gingerbread Cake
- Amazing Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Red Velvet Cake
- Vegan Vanilla Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Cake:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Nutmeg
- ½ tsp Ground Ginger
- ½ tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 ½ cups Pumpkin Purée (337g)
- ¼ cup Canola Oil (60ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 3 ¾ cups Powdered Sugar (450g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
For Decoration:
- Cinnamon
- Crushed Walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray two 7 inch cake pans (*see notes) with non-stick spray and cut out circles of parchment paper line the bottoms.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the light brown sugar, white granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
- Prepare your flax egg by adding 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal to a bowl and then adding in 3 Tbsp of Hot Water and allowing to sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, pumpkin purée, oil, vinegar and vanilla to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Divide the batter equally between the prepared cake pans.
- Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and soy milk to the bowl of an electric mixer. Starting at slow speed, gradually increase the speed until the frosting is thick and smooth. If your frosting is too thick, add in soy milk a drop at a time until it reaches the right consistency.
- Add the cinnamon last and mix on low until just mixed in.
- When your cakes are completely cooled, frost them and then sprinkle cinnamon and crushed walnuts on top.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly. Either weigh it out on a food scale for the most accurate results or use the spoon and level method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
- Pumpkin purée. I used homemade pumpkin purée. I baked peeled and chopped pumpkin in the oven (plain, no oils or spices) for 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until soft and cooked and then pureed it in the food processor. If you do it this way and your purée is a bit ‘wet’ then stand it in a strainer so any excess water can run off.
- Cake Sizes: This cake can be adapted for different cake sizes as follows:
- Three 6-inch round cake pans – bake for 25 minutes.
- Two 8-inch round cake pans – bake for 25-30 minutes.
- One 9-inch round cake pan – bake for 30-35 minutes.
- 9×9 square cake pan – bake for 35 minutes.
- 9×13 sheet cake – bake for 25 minutes.
- Storing and freezing: Keep it covered at room temperature where it will stay fresh for 2-3 days, or keep it covered in the fridge where it will stay fresh for up to a week. It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
- Nutritional information is for 1 slice of 10 with a generous amount of cinnamon buttercream frosting. It excludes crushed walnuts.
Em says
Sounds lovely! Do you think this would work with grated carrot (like a carrot cake) or does it need to be puree?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Em, we have a carrot cake recipe, that is similar but not the same, so maybe have a look at that one rather. 🙂
Carla Popa says
Hello Alison,
I made this cake for my birthday and it was delicious! I was wondering if this recipe works to make cupcakes? They would probably need stiffer frosting.. anyway this is now my favourite cake, I love it! I’ve been looking for a good pumpkin recipe for ages and this one hit the spot.
Thank you,
Carla
Alison Andrews says
Hi Carla! We have adapted this recipe for pumpkin cupcakes! 🙂 Thanks so much for the great review, really thrilled it’s your favorite cake!
Helen says
Delicious!
Anita Zadora says
This looks delicious! Can I substitute a real egg for the flax egg?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Anita, you probably can and I think others have done this with some of my other cakes, but I have of course not tested it this way. All the best! 🙂
JL says
Awesome flavor, my kids love! I keep getting a grainy taste in the cake though, any tips? I’m not sure if I’m not mixing well enough, but also trying not to over mix?
Alison Andrews says
Hi! I’m not sure what would cause a grainy texture, but in terms of not overmixing, it’s not something you have to worry about too much. It’s just that some people would get out the electric mixer and REALLY mix it, or just seriously over-exercise their arm mixing it and this can sometimes cause a cake to not rise. But regular mixing, enough to have it all properly mixed in, is fine. 🙂 Thanks for the great rating!
Haydee says
Can I skip the flax egg? I need to make a pumpkin cake but I’m out of any egg replacers.
Alison Andrews says
You probably can! You could replace it with an extra 3 Tbsp of pumpkin puree. 🙂
Excedera says
I skipped the flax egg, used banana and also added half a grated apple. Came out great! The pumpkin portion was really just raw guts too, jack o lantern leftovers. I’m starting to bake like I make soup… whatever needs to get used up! Thx!
Laura says
Everybody loved this cake! Absolutely delicious and the texture was perfect 🙂 I only had cake flour on hand and used silicone bakeware to make 2 bundt cakes so that it looked like a pumpkin when put together. It only took 20 minutes to bake this cake for me! Thank you for the recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Tanya says
Hi! This recipe looks amazing. Would this work as a sheet cake?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Tanya, maybe a quarter sheet pan would work out, I think it would be too thin for a half sheet. If you look at my vanilla sheet cake recipe you’ll see the proportions are higher for the half sheet. All the best!
Jana says
Thank you for the prompt response!
Jana Bedard says
Hi! Do you have a modification to make these into muffins?
Alison Andrews says
I do! Here’s a recipe for pumpkin muffins. 🙂
rebecca says
I loved this cake! I scaled it for 9″ pans and used energ egg replacer instead of flax and it turned out really well. I had to bake it a little longer than the recipe said to and it still didn’t seem quite done, but the texture was perfect once it cooled. Pumpkin can be deceptively moist 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Rebecca! 🙂
Lauren Lisante says
Absolutely amazing recipe! My mom isn’t a big fan of pumpkin but she loved it. I cannot wait to make this again before the holidays!
Alison Andrews says
That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Kathy says
I made this cake yesterday, it was delicious. It is a dessert that I know I will make a lot. Thank you for posting it!
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Jennifer Bliss says
Oh WOW!!!!! Looks perfect!
Anna says
Moist, fluffy, delightful vegan pumpkin cake.