Go Back
Print
A moist vegan pumpkin spice cake with frosting and decorations.

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake

Layers of moist vegan pumpkin spice cake sandwich a generous helping of date caramel sauce, topped off with a fluffy and tangy cashew “cream cheese” frosting.

Category Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword vegan pumpkin spice cake
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Author Amanda | Naturally Sweet Kitchen

Ingredients

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake

  • 280 g unbleached cake flour
  • 2 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
  • 320 g pumpkin purée
  • 300 g coconut sugar
  • 120 ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil
  • 6 tbsp dairy-free milk room temperature
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cashew “Cream Cheese” Frosting

  • 250 g raw cashews
  • 6 tbsp dairy-free milk
  • 60 ml coconut oil melted
  • 60 ml pure maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt

Vegan Date Caramel

  • 6 Medjool dates
  • 2 tbsp dairy-free butter melted and cooled
  • 3 tbsp water from soaking the dates
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt

Method

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and grease, line, and flour two 20cm (8 inch) round tins.

  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the pumpkin purée and coconut sugar until well combined. Add the oil, milk, vinegar, and vanilla and mix everything together on a medium-low speed.
  4. Sift in half of the dry ingredients and stir on a low speed just until the flour disappears. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and mix until all the lumps are gone. The batter will be quite thick.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared tins, then tap them on the counter to remove any excess air and to distribute the batter.
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Cashew “Cream Cheese” Frosting

  1. Tip the cashews into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to soak for 1 hour to soften. Drain.

  2. Add the cashews to a high-speed blender along with the milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, vinegar, vanilla, and salt.

  3. Blend until very smooth. You may have to stop the blender a few times and scrape the sides and stir a bit. This mixture will be very thick.
  4. Once the mixture is completely smooth, decant it into a freezer-safe bowl and freeze for 1 hour.
  5. Remove the bowl from the freezer and whip the frosting for 5-6 minutes with a hand mixer on high speed to fluff it up. The texture should resemble a fluffy buttercream.
  6. Keep the frosting refrigerated until use. If it becomes too stiff to frost with, leave it out at room temperature for 10 minutes and whip it once again until it reaches spreadable consistency.

Vegan Date Caramel

  1. Tip the dates into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to soak for 1 hour to soften.
  2. Drain and pit the dates, reserving the soaking water.
  3. Add the pitted dates, non-dairy butter, 3 tablespoons of the date water, salt, and vanilla to a food processor. Blend until completely smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the mixer a few times.
  4. Decant the caramel into a bowl and set aside for assembly.

Assembly

  1. To make the naked cake, place one layer of cake onto a cake stand and add half of the frosting on top. Smooth the frosting out to the edges of the cake.
  2. Spread the date caramel on top of the frosting, keeping a ½ inch border of naked frosting around the edge.
  3. Place the second layer of cake on top and add the remaining frosting to the top of the cake. Smooth the frosting out to the edges.
  4. Decorate with pumpkin seeds, pecans, and extra vegan caramel sauce if desired.

Notes

  • Get my recipe for pumpkin pie spice here.
  • This cake is best served the day it is assembled. If made in advance, keep it refrigerated to ensure the frosting doesn’t become too soft.
  • The pumpkin cake layers can be made up to 2 days in advance and kept wrapped in the refrigerator until use.
  • The frosting and date caramel can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept sealed in a container in the refrigerator until use.
  • Keep any leftover cake sealed in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh up to 2 days.