I admit it, I have a slight addiction to all things pumpkin spice. Call me a millennial (I am one), call me a sucker for marketing (I am totally a sucker for marketing), call me a lover of this fall tradition (I totally love this tradition). Seriously, what’s not to like about Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake!? You better believe that’s a fluffy spiced frosting on there too. Initiate drooling sequence.
Reasons why I love this Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake:
- PUMPKIN SPICE!!!!!! (Duh).
- The pumpkin in the recipe makes this cake super moist, not too sweet, and it’s balanced with the perfect amount of party in your mouth pumpkin pie spice goodness.
- If you’re not the frosting type of person (who are you!?), it’s great without as well and pairs marvellously with coffee if I do say so myself.
- I cut the sweetness of the frosting ever so slightly by adding a touch of apple cider vinegar. WAIT! Don’t run away. I promise this is a brilliant addition that sounds all sorts of weird but tastes amazing. It gives it a slight cream cheese frosting feel. Sam cooking hack 101. Don’t do it if you don’t want to (but you’ll want to).
- This is the perfect cake for Thanksgiving, tea time, to celebrate autumn, or just as an excuse to eat more pumpkin spice. …As if you even need an excuse!
Every visitor I’ve had this week has happily walked away with a cake to take home. While my first test run of this cake was pretty great, I ended baking up 6 whole cakes. YES, 6! My house smells like pumpkin spice permanently I’m pretty sure (and I’m not mad about it).
Call me nitpicky but I test my recipes multiple times before posting them on It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken so that I know they will work perfectly for you. With this cake, it was a little tricky figuring out the perfect ratios of pumpkin but I finally nailed it. Woohoo!
To make Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake: in a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Then in a medium bowl, mix the wet ingredients together.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until the batter just comes together, don’t over mix.
Divide the batter among the cake pans and give the pans a little wiggle to help flatten the batter. Bake for about 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, mix all the ingredients together with a hand or stand mixer until fluffy.
Frost your cake as desired. This time I kept it a little rustic by exposing the cake layers, but there is enough frosting to cover the whole cake if you prefer. I then added a little extra pizazz by grating a bit of fresh nutmeg on top.
This easy to make, super moist cake is the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving or to welcome the autumn season. Spread with fluffy pumpkin spice frosting or serve without.
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (such as soy or almond)
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/2 cup light oil (such as canola or vegetable)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 - 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk (such as soy or almond)
Preheat your oven to 350 F (180C). Lightly grease two 8" round cake pans.
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together.
In a medium bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until the batter just comes together, don’t over mix. Divide the batter among the cake pans and give the pans a little wiggle to help flatten the batter. Bake for about 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, mix all the ingredients together with a hand or stand mixer until fluffy, adding 1 - 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk to reach desired consistency. Frost your cake as desired. This time I kept it a little rustic by exposing the cake layers, but there is enough frosting to cover the whole cake if you prefer. I then added a little extra pizazz by grating a bit of fresh nutmeg on top.
Bon appegetan!
Sam.
Just made this; delicious! The Apple cider vinegar gave the frosting the real cream cheese taste. Thank for sharing your amazing recipes!
Woohoo! So happy you enjoyed it, Amanda! You’re most welcome 🙂
I made this to celebrate my dad’s birthday last night, Sam, and it was delicious! Bonus that it was easy to make with readily available ingredients. It’s the Pumpkin Spice Cakes of everyone’s dreams. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow! Thanks so much for the lovely review, thrilled you enjoyed it so much, Erin! 🙂
Saaaaaam! What Vegetable Shortening do you use? I found out Earth Balance has been discontinued! 🙁 I work in a Health Food Store and we haven’t been able to get it in! I contacted Earth Balance and they said it has been discontinued in Canada and the US! I don’t like the ones in the grocery store, they all use hydrogenated oils. Have you ever tried the Spectrum or Nutiva brand of shortening?
I need to make this cake 🙂
Oh no, I didn’t know that the Earth Balance one had been discontinued. That was normally my go-to, but when I’m lazy and don’t want to go to a health food store I use regular Crisco. I haven’t tried Spectrum or Nutiva but I am sure both would work great!
Thanks! I’m going to search our catalogues and see if we can find a suitable replacement! We have had customers asking, especially now that baking season is full on!
This looks amazing!
My dad’s birthday is right on Halloween and normally we would have massive amount of pumpkin from people… I could use those for this recipe!
Thanks!
Yes, you could!!! I hope you and your dad love the cake, Jen. 🙂
Oh boy. I think this is going to go over very well this weekend when I have my non-vegan parents over. Thanks for making yummy SO easy.
My absolute pleasure! Enjoy 🙂
Just to let you know, my dad, who is as traditional as they come, liked this cake so much that he suggested that we replace pumpkin pie with it. So, I may be making this cake again next weekend for our Thanksgiving meal.
You were right. You could eat this cake without the frosting and still get that pumpkin satisfaction. But, the frosting with the apple cider vinegar is awesome.
We don’t have vegetable shortening in Denmark, so I was wondering if you think I can leave it out, and maybe use double the butter? 🙂
Also, I just wanna say thank you for this amazing blog! All recipes I’ve tried were amazing. I lived in Canada for a while and coming back to Denmark and discovering vegan recipes for nanaimo bars and poutine has been perfect for when I’m feeling Canada homesick!
Hi Freja, yes you can use all vegan butter. The frosting will be a little softer, so might want to reduce or omit the non-dairy milk, and keep the cake in a cool place so it doesn’t melt. Enjoy!
All I can say is Wow! This is one great cake-I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for the wonderful recipe ‘-)
Yay! You’re most welcome, Janet! So very happy you enjoyed it so much 🙂
Made this and your chocolate cake recipe for a party I had last night and both were devoured and loved by everyone! I got so many compliments and I will definitely be making this repeatedly in the future!
Woohoo!! Thrilled to hear that Darcee! 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe!! I was wondering if you know how this batter would work if I wanted to make a loaf instead of 2 cake rounds?
Thanks again!
Hi Jamie, it should work ok, but use this helpful chart to help you. Make sure the measurements match up. It looks like you will be able to half the recipe for a medium loaf pan. Also, the cooking time will likely be a little longer, so make sure it is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle. Enjoy!
Oh.My.Gosh. Amazing! So I saw this on facebook this morning, and I’m like nah, I can wait on it…I’ll make it for Thanksgiving or something….Well, couldn’t wait, went to the store, grabbed me some pumpkin, and just made this cake exactly as written. It’s SO unbelievably delicious, and made my kids very happy! 🙂 I love how simple your recipes are and easy to make. I wasn’t sure about the apple cider vinegar in the frosting, but yeah, it works! It gives it a little “tang” like cream cheese frosting. Thanks Sam!
Haha! That was super fast. Yaaaaayyy!!! So happy you and your kids loved it so much, Nora! Thank you for your comment and stars 😀
I cannot even express my excitement at seeing this recipe this morning. A million thanks! I wanted to make something pumpkin today but couldn’t decide what to make. Decision made!!!
Wow! Maybe I’m a mind reader? Haha. How’s that for timing! I hope you love the cake, Kristi 🙂
So I finally got around to making this last night. It’s amazing! Perfectly pumpkin spice! You’ve done it again, Sam! I sent the recipe to my friend, but she can’t have apple cider vinegar. She can’t have lemon juice either, so can’t sub that out. Is it possible to omit it? Would she want to increase the baking powder or baking soda?
Yay!! Thrilled you enjoyed it so very much 🙂 You need an acid to activate the baking soda which helps it rise. Without an acid, it will be too dense. Can she use another type of vinegar?