If you are looking for an awesome, soft vegan pumpkin cake this is your recipe! This cake recipe with tempting chocolate drops turned out better than any sponge cake I have made so far. I baked it several times and continued to refine and improve the recipe until consistency and taste were simply perfect. This pumpkin cake is both at once: wonderfully moist and firm without crumbling! I also stirred vegan chocolate drops into the dough and added them as topping to the cake. So a fine, chocolaty taste pervades this pumpkin dream and makes it my absolute autumn cake highlight!
The recipe is very simple. As you will see, I cook the Hokkaido pumpkin in the oven and mix the soft pumpkin pieces with plantbased milk I use for the dough. A pinch of turmeric makes it bright yellow and aromatic. Otherwise it is a normal, easy to prepare sponge cake mixture. Even without baking knowledge, it is guaranteed to succeed and I’m sure it will convince the whole family, your guests and friends – whether vegan or not. Promised! I’m really looking forward to your feedback. Have a good time, yours Lea.
Vegan Pumpkin-Chocolate-Cake
Ingredients
- 250 g/ 8.8 oz (unpeeled) pumpkin (Hokkaido squash)
- 1-2 tsp. vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
- 200 ml/ 0.4 cups plantbased milk (e.g. oat milk or almond milk)
- 1 tsp. turmeric (optional für eine schöne gelbe Färbung des Kuchens)
- 250 g/ 2 cups (spelt) flour
- 150 g/ 1 cup ground almonds
- 150 g/ 2/3 cup cane sugar
- A pinch of sea salt
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda (or a tsp. more baking powder)
- 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 100 ml/ 0.42 cups coconut oil (or rapeseed oil) + oil or margarine for greasing the baking tin
- Vegan chocolate drops to your liking (if you prefer, you can skip the chocolate drops and make a cake without any chocolate)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C/ 392 °F fan and layer the baking tray with parchment paper.
- Wash the pumpkin, cut into half and remove the seeds. Dice 250 g of the unpeeled pumpkin into cubes, mix with 1-2 tsp. coconut oil, spread on the parchment paper and bake at 200° C/392 °F fan for about 12 minutes until soft.
- Puree the softly cooked pumpkin cubes with 200 ml plantbased milk and 1 tsp turmeric in your blender.
- Sieve spelt flour into a bowl. Add ground almonds, cane sugar, a pinch of sea salt and 1 tbsp. of cinnamon.
- Add 2 tsp.baking powder and 1 tsp. baking soda and drizzle 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar directly onto the baking soda until it froths. The acid of the vinegar activates the baking soda and makes the cake particularly fluffy and soft.
- Add the mixed "pumpkin milk" and liquid coconut oil (or rapeseed oil) and mix with a hand mixer until the dough is even.
- Lightly grease the loaf pan with coconut oil (or margarine) and pour in the dough. Stir vegan chocolate drops into the dough and press into the top of the dough. Use as much chocolate drops as you like, but don't overdo it 🙂
- Bake pumpkin cake at 180 °C/356 °F fan in the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes (stick test).
- Remove cake from the oven, let it sit and cool down for about 30 minutes, carefully remove the cake with a thin, sharp knife, remove from the mould and enjoy.
Just look at this beautiful color and awesome, fluffy texture of this cake!
The cake simply becomes perfectly fluffy, not crumbly and tastes good all around. Enjoy!
