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Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache. Easy 1 Bowl Pumpkin Sheet Cake with a thick chocolate frosting. Vegan Soyfree Recipe. Can be nut-free. Glutenfree option Jump to Recipe 
Cakes make for a perfect end to a festive meal or beginning a day :). This simple spiced vegan pumpkin cake is paired with a smooth hearty thick chocolate pumpkin ganache. The cake is made in 1 Bowl, without added refined sugar, and only takes 15 mins to put together. The frosting is just chocolate and pumpkin, no Butter, no cups of sugar! Simple ingredients, quick and festive!
Make it with less sweet for a breakfast cake. Double the recipe for a layered pumpkin spice cake! Add a sugar frosting layer in the middle and chocolate pumpkin all over. Top with candied pecans or serve with whipped coconut cream. More the merrier.
Mix all the wet ingredients, then fold in the dry to make a thick cake batter. Spread in parchment lined pan and bake. Brush with maple + water mixture for additional moisture. Then spread the ganache. Don’t like chocolate, use my vegan cream cheese based frosting.
More Festive Bakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Cake
- Eggnog Pound Cake
- Easy Coffee Cake – Cinnamon Streusel Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
- Lemon blueberry pound cake
Gluten-free
- GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake.
- Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll Bread yeast-free.
- GF Carrot Banana Bread – Also grain-free.
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
If you make this cake, do let me know by commenting and using the rating option with the comment.
Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree, , not pumpkin pie mix
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut milk, , or use almond milk
- 2 tbsp oil, , optional or use more non dairy milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, , add 1/2 tsp cinnamon for additional spice
- 2 to 3 tbsp sugar for sweeter, (coconut, cane or brown)
Dry:
- 1.25 cups flour, (I use a mix of all purpose and whole wheat)
- 3 tbsp almond flour, , or use more flour for nutfree
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Ganache:
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp almond or coconut milk
- 1-2 tbsp sugar, , optional
Instructions
- Line a brownie pan or 8 or 9 inch cake pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (180 C).
- Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just about combined. The batter will be thick. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 mins. 5 mins less or more depending on the pan used. Taller cake will need longer time. Check with a toothpick inserted in the middle. It should come out clean. For muffins or cupcakes, bake for 20 to 22 mins.
- Cool for 5 mins, then remove from the pan and cool completely before frosting. At this point you can optionally brush the cake with a mix of 1 tbsp maple syrup+ 2 tsp water(mix well in a small bowl). This keeps the cake more soft and moist.
- Make the ganache: Heat pumpkin puree and milk over medium heat until bubbling hot. Add chocolate, whisk for a few seconds, then take off heat. Continue to whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Cool for 5 mins then chill for 15 mins to thicken. Then then spread over the cake. Add other garnishes such as chopped hazelnuts, coconut or candied pecans. Serve. The frosted cake can be refrigerated for upto 4 days. Frozen for upto a month
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow Richa . . . this is so good! I used home cooked pumpkin puree which probably has a bit more moisture than canned. Definitely watch the cook time, I cooked my cake in an 8″ glass square pan for 25 minutes and it was done. Made the cake as listed but ran out of milk by the time I got to the frosting so I used 2T of maple syrup to get the moisture and the sweetness in one and it worked out well. Yum, I loved it and will make it again.
awesome!
Delicious cake, good flavor and every dense and rich. Thx for the recipe, I will make again!
Hi Richa! I made this yesterday, and it was a HIT! so flavorful and soft! The ganache adds such a lovely flavor! Thank you for a great recipe!
awesome!
Richa, I made this tonight and this cake was easy and wonderful! So moist and flavorful. Next time I will try the vegan “cream cheese” frosting variation. I can tell this will become a fall and winter regular in my house. Thank you! — Janet
yay!!
weird. Mine did not rise at all!
that shouldnt happen. Maybe the baking powder is old? what was the consistency of the cake in the middle?
would a greased pan work for this instead of parchment you think?
yes.
This looks lovely. BTW do you have a ginger bread recipe, too?
I found this and will give it a try, too. This time of the year I like ginger bread cake topped with chocolate frosting. So will give this ganash a try on the jar cake recipe…thank you for sharing your creativity here!
https://fettabbau-trim.today/2013/12/gingerbread-cake-mix-in-jar-for-1.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
https://fettabbau-trim.today/2014/11/vegan-gingerbread-cake.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hello. I was wondering how you make the pumpkin puree?
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22935/pumpkin-puree/ bake and puree
Hello Richa! This looks lovely 🙂
By a mixture of whole wheat, do you mean pastry flour or the regular kind?
either will work. i use a ix of all purpose and wheat flours (whole or pastry) usually half and and half.
CAKE, YES! My favorite dessert. On top of that, there’s a chocolate frosting recipe too? My heart has been won! I would try this recipe with oat flour, but I am open to trying out gluten free all purpose flour and whole wheat flour as well. That’s the fun of making cake–you can mix all kinds of ingredients and see what happens!