Have you ever been invited to a holiday potluck or party at work or school and wondered what to bring? Unless you are a writer for VegNews, a caretaker at a rescue farm, or a chef at a vegan diner in San Francisco, chances are that you will be surrounded by turkey roast, buttery mashed potatoes, egg nog, and, you simply won’t be eating much unless you bring a whole vegan meal for yourself. You’ll also need to make an amazing vegan holiday crowd-pleasing dish to show off your mad skillzzz and the awesomeness that vegan food really is.
Basically, you need cake. Vegan pumpkin spice bundt cake with vegan cream cheese drizzly frosting, to be exact.
Trust me when I say that if this cake is the only thing you end up eating for potluck lunch (more than once slice, obvs!), you won’t be disappointed.
But in all honesty, you may not get more than one slice, because your coworkers will devour this baby right up. It’s just that good.
Vegan Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake
Equipment
- Mixing bowl and spoon (or mixer)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar to cane juice crystals
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree (or 1 can)
- 3/4 cup melted coconut oil or vegetable oil either works equally well
- 1 cup almond milk plus 3-6 tablespoons, if needed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 1/2 tablespoons aluminum-free baking powder Rumford works great!
For frosting:
- 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together sugars, pumpkin puree, melted coconut oil, almond milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl or with mixer on low.
- Add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt to above mixing bowl and stir together.
- Carefully measure flours (scoop and scrape off top of measuring cup with knife without shaking cup to redistribute flour) and add to mixing bowl along with cornstarch and baking powder.
- Whisk everything quickly together (or use mixer). If flours are measured properly, you shouldn't need any extra almond milk to add moisture to your batter. But, if your batter looks more like bread dough than batter, you may need to add a few extra tablespoons of almond milk.
- Pour batter into oiled and floured bundt pan. I use a flour infused oil spray to prepare my bundt pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes on middle or top oven rack.
- Remove from oven, allowing cake to cool for 3-5 minutes before turning over onto cake plate or cooling rack.
- Whisk together vegan cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. When cake has completely cooled to room temperature, drizzle frosting over cake, and serve.
Notes
- If using coconut oil, it is sometimes easiest to melt the coconut oil before measuring it. You can do this by putting your entire coconut oil container in the microwave for 30-60 seconds before measuring it. Then whisk together with other ingredients to avoid a lumpy batter.
- This is a big cake. You will need a large bundt pan (12-15 cup capacity) for this recipe. I use the Nordic Ware Platinum Collection Anniversary Bundt Pan (10-15 cup capacity).
http://veganyumminess.com/
I made this today for Thanksgiving it was delicious! ❤️
Made this with mango puree – worked really well!
I love this recipe! I changed the spices a little. I used ground ginger 1 tsp, 1/8 tsp of all spice and 1/2 nutmeg and it taste Devine :) thank you again
What about the cornstarch? When does that get added into the recipe?
Hi again, Esther! Thanks for another great question. Again, this was an oversight on my part. Thanks so much for bringing to my attention. I have updated the recipe to include adding the cornstarch with the flours. :)
Also, I’m a novice baker and I used A solid virgin coconut oil . My batter was lumpy. I wish the recipe would be more user friendly for beginners in being specific about using solid or fractionated coconut oil. I was able to put my kitchen aid bowl inside a large stainless steel bowl with hot water to melt the chunks. Anyway, the batter tastes really yummy.
Hi Esther! Thanks for your feedback. Yes, I used solid virgin coconut oil once for this recipe, and I melted it prior to mixing it into the batter. I apologize for the confusion. I have updated the recipe to make this more clear. Thanks again for taking the time to let me know! :)
Is there a particular brand of vegan cream cheese that you recommend? Does it needed melted at all before being drizzled over the cake?
Hi Bri! I have used Tofutti vegan cream cheese (my preferred brand) and Galaxy Foods Go Veggie! vegan cream cheese, which also works okay.
Could I substitute more wheat flour for the white? Oat flour? Just wondering if its crucial to do a mix of flours and hoping to make this on thanksgiving next week
Hi Lindsey, So sorry I’m so slow to respond to your comment. Unfortunately, I had been taking a little hiatus from blogging. But I hope this cake worked out for your thanksgiving dinner. In answer to your question, yes! You can absolutely use any mixture of whole wheat or white flour. I have also used all purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour in this recipe, and it was delicious. I don’t think oat flour would work as well, just because it hangs on to moisture much differently than wheat flours. It might still be good, but it would definitely have a different texture.
Can I use all purpose instead of whole wheat flour?
yep! all purpose flour works just fine.
I just found this recipe while searching for a fall-ish vegan bundt cake recipe. It sounded delicious, so I made it, subbing Califia Farms almond milk nog for the regular almond milk and deleting the vanilla extract since I discovered I didn’t have any! The batter filled the pan much higher than most other batters I have made and, once baked, was a good inch above the rim. I also had to bake it an extra 30 minutes, for a total of 90 minutes. Was it the difference between the almond milk and almond nog that caused it not to bake as quickly? And do you have THAT much batter when you make it?
Hi Becki! Thanks for trying this recipe. :) Sorry you had to bake it longer than you were planning to. It could have been the almond milk nog–since it probably has a slightly higher fat and sugar content than most regular non-dairy milks. The bundt pan that I use for this recipe is quite large–up to 15 cup capacity. So it could be that your smaller bundt pan made some of the difference too. How did it taste when it was done? This is link to the bundt pan that I used. I am also adding this link to the recipe. Happy vegan baking! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004RFQ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have just a basic bundt cake pan…the 12 cup capacity kind. I can’t afford the $30+ ones, not when it’s just me! The cake was still delicious, even to non-vegan friends. I tried to take it out of the pan once it had slightly cooled – as I do with other cakes – but it was sticky, so I left it in the pan until it was completely room temperature, then still let it sit for a good hour or so. I may try lessening the actual sugar, oil, and nog next time. It also made me nervous to watch it rise as much as it did. I was afraid it was going to spill over or touch the rack above it and burn! It was definitely good enough to keep fiddling with until I get it to my own taste preferences.
I also covered it with foil for the first 45 minutes or so to keep the top – well, bottom, once flipped – from burning or drying out. About 1/4 cup of the batter stuck to the foil when I removed it. But, even with doing that, some of the areas were hard/chewy once it had completely cooled. Do you cover yours at all?
Good to know, Becki. I don’t cover mine with any foil, and usually, once the cake is cooled and covered with plastic wrap, any crunchy/chewy spots on the cake surface will soften. I’m glad everyone liked the taste!
Old, but great article! thanks for this great recipe