Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake

This is a great cake to make if:

(a) a guest/ family member is vegan, has an egg allergy, or dairy allergy;
(b) you need a quick, easy pareve dessert for Thanksgiving; or
(c) you need to make dessert, but you have absolutely nothing in the refrigerator (no eggs, butter or milk).

This the pumpkin version of wacky cake (also known as Amazon cake, Moosewood’s vegan chocolate cake, or witch’s brew cake). You mix flour with spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, you mix pumpkin puree, water, oil and a little vinegar. Wet and dry get mixed together to make a thick, vegan cake batter.

The original recipe calls for topping the moist, dense cake with a cream cheese frosting. The cake is served ice cold from the refrigerator. The taste sensation of cold spicy orange cake and cream cheese frosting is reminiscent of carrot cake. I had no trouble making a dairy-free “cream cheese” frosting with Tofutti “cream cheese,” but you could also leave this unfrosted or pour over a simple glaze.

File this recipe away–it is extremely handy. Not only does it come together in seconds, it relies exclusively on common pantry items (oil, canned pumpkin, flour, sugar, etc.). The only refrigerated item is the Tofutti for the frosting, but you could skip that if needed.

Most people have a fall back super easy chocolate cake, but would you believe that there are people who can’t eat chocolate? Well, there are. And they may end up being your last minute guests. As long as they aren’t also gluten-intolerant, this cake is perfect for them. Just make sure that you don’t have any soy-allergic guests if you go with the Tofutti frosting.

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake
Adapted from Mrs. Chui’s Spicy Pumpkin Cake, King Arthur’s Baking Circle

Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl:
3 cups all-purpose flour (12.75 ounces)
1 cup sugar (7.5 ounces)
1 cup brown sugar (6 ounces)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice

In another (small) bowl, combine the liquid ingredients:
1 cup water (8 ounces)
1 cup pumpkin puree (8 ounces)
2/3 cup oil (4.75 ounces)
2 tsp. white vinegar

Add the well mixed wet ingredients to the well mixed dry ingredients. Beat together the wet and dry ingredients on medium speed for 2 minutes until well combined.

Pour the batter into a well greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes, or until done. Cool for ten minutes in the pan and then turn out of the pan onto a cake plate (I cooled the cake on a cooling rack–mistake! The cake gets very sticky as it cools. It needs to be put directly on a cake plate to finish cooling.)

The cake can be glazed with a simple powdered sugar icing, but the original recipe calls for using a cream cheese frosting glaze.

Here is what I used for the glaze:

4 ounces Tofutti pareve “cream cheese”
3 ounces powdered sugar (3/4 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
pinch citric acid (or some lemon juice)

Tags: cake, pumpkin, Thanksgiving