You know how I was peach obsessed for most of August and September which turned into an apple obsession (did you try my Mini Apple Tarts )? Well now it's pumpkins!
The seasons are changing and I am enjoying everything the fall harvest has to offer. We have yet to go to a pumpkin patch as a family, but it's on my list! The pumpkin I used to make this cake with was from my local farmers market. It was a decent size so I actually got two recipes (including pumpkin chocolate chip muffins) out of it and I still have some leftover to make soup!
It smelled delicious when it was baking. You may want to skip this extra step to save time but I promise you, if you have the time, it's worth it to roast your own pumpkin. It's SO MUCH better than canned – more flavourful and nutrient-dense.
The colour of the pumpkin is totally different than canned too. Isn't it gorgeous? It's the colour of sunshine and we could sure use some more of that in Toronto. It's been sooooo grey here, waaah!
But of course, don't feel bad if you use canned. I totally get it! I roasted the pumpkin while I was in the office working one afternoon so it took me no time at all. While I worked way, the pumpkin roasted and before I knew it, I had beautiful, fleshy yellow pumpkin just begging to be turned into pumpkin cake. I've included the recipe instructions for roasting pumpkin below in case you're feeling like you'd like to do that.
Pumpkins are incredibly tasty but not overpowering and they add a moistness to this cake that you really can't duplicate any other way.
Just like all winter squashes, pumpkin is a nourishing superfood.
It's loaded with immune boosting vitamin C and beta-carotene.
Once you've got all your ingredients ready, you'll likely notice that it seems like you've got too little coconut flour. If you're a coconut flour virgin, you're gonna be like "Joy made a mistake with the amount". I promise you, it's 100% accurate!
Coconut flour absorbs an insane amount of moisture and you can just see how fluffy this cake is. Coconut flour is an amazing flour if you use it in the right amounts in the right recipe, like this one! It's also very filling because as far as flours go, it has the highest amount of protein and fibre compared to nearly every other flour.
Looking at this cake, you might be thinking it needs icing, but honestly it doesn't! It's got so much flavour all on it's own from those four wonderful spices I added (and yes you can use "pumpkin spice" – I just like doing it myself). However, if I was to make an icing, I would infuse the icing with orange zest. I feel like those flavours would go amazing together.
I really wanted to make a coconut whipped cream, but I didn't have the right brand of coconut milk (this one from Cha's Organics is usually my go-to!). Coconut whipped cream is THE MOST FINICKY recipe ever so that's why it's not on my blog. But who cares when you have coconut milk vanilla ice cream and you can buy from six bucks from the store like I did!
Back to this recipe though ... you know how I was saying that coconut flour absorbs a LOT of moisture? Well, this is why you need to let the batter rest a few minutes before pouring it into your baking pan and tossing it in the oven.
This is what it should look like before letting it rest ...
... and what it should look like after it's rested. See how much the batter changes in just a few minutes? This is key!
And see those clumps? Don't freak out! It's normal. That helps the cake be fluffy. It doesn't need to be perfectly smooth. I mean, look how perfect it turned out!
I pretty much always use parchment paper. It just makes it easier to remove the cake from the pan and place it on the cooling rack. I always recycle or compost the paper and depending on the recipe, sometimes I can reuse it!
Now for whatever reason, I couldn't get Vienna to try this cake. Mind you, she's had the stomach flu for 48 hours this week, so maybe she just wasn't in the mood, but she sure gobbled up these cookies we made together! Did you see our LIVE video making them on facebook? If you haven't, you must check it out. It's over on my private Joyous Detox Community but it's free to join!
Anyhow, I will try again when she's feeling better because I think this cake would definitely be toddler-approved. It's holistic nutritionist/mama approved, that's for sure! I made it for my parents the other weekend and they LOVED it. I made it with canned pumpkin that time and the result was a much darker cake, but it was still super tasty.
Are you ready for this recipe?
This recipe is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and can be enjoyed by many!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup pureed pumpkin**
- 1/2 cup real maple syrup***
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (180 C). Line an 8x8 inch square or round baking pan with parchment paper or grease it with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together coconut flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, then add in pumpkin, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix completely and let batter rest for 3 minutes. Once batter has rested, mix again. This is a necessary step for the coconut flour to absorb all the water. It may seem thick and clumpy, this is normal.
- Spoon batter into cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes on convection setting or 35+ on normal bake setting or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Serve with coconut milk vanilla ice cream. EnJOY!
- Store in fridge for up to 5 days or tightly wrapped in the freezer for a month.
Notes
Serves 8-9.
*I've updated the recipe with 4 eggs (instead of 6).
**You can use canned pumpkin, just make sure it has no added sugar. If you decide to roast your own pumpkin, then see my recipe below.
***Update: I've been making this with 1/4 cup maple syrup and 5-10 drops of stevia.
Check at 25 minutes. If the top is browning too much, cover with tin foil.
UPDATE: I've had a lot of comments that the flax egg sub did not work so I've removed that from the recipe. It's making the cake too wet.
It's a very easy recipe too. No blender or mixer or food processor needed! Just a couple of bowls, a whisk and a spatula.
Also in case you wanted to make your own pumpkin puree, here's my recipe:
Desserts
Roasted Pumpkin Puree
Print
Ingredients
- 1 small pumpkin*
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Cut hole in the top of the pumpkin, around the stem. This will make it easier to handle the pumpkin and cut it into chunks.
- Clean out the pumpkin guts and seeds with a spoon by scraping the sides down.
- Place chunks of pumpkin, flesh side up on a baking sheet. Bake for 50-60 minutes until fork tender.
- Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Scrape out pumpkin flesh and put into a high powder blender. Add water and blend until a very thick puree. I use the word puree loosely. Check out my photo and you'll see it's not overly wet.
- Freeze in an airtight container for future use, or use right away!
Notes
This pumpkin puree is meant for my pumpkin pie or pumpkin cake.
*The pumpkin should be small and they are usually labeled "Pie pumpkin".
If you're a Canadian reader, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Be sure to check back for my Thanksgiving recipe roundup for the most joyous Thanksgiving dinner ever!
Thank you for being a part of my community whether you're new to the blog or you've been here for years -- I truly appreciate you. And, I LOVE when you comment. So do tell me what you think!
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
Joy
Just made your pumpkin muffins and have been devouring for breakfast. This recipe looks like a winner too! Can’t wait to try - Sarah
ReplyYay! This recipe is essentially the pumpkin muffins, enJOY!
Yum! I have a little pumpkin in my kitchen that wants to be this cake for Thanksgiving :). Thank you!
ReplyAwesome! Glad you got the recipe just in the nick of time :)
Think I could sub whole wheat flour or almond flour for the coconut flour?
ReplyYes you could but you'd need to at least double the amount or more. I only used 1/2 cup coconut flour because it expands substantially. I would think 1.5 cups whole wheat, but don't quote me on that because I'm really not sure if it will work given that I haven't tried it.
If I were to use pumpkin spice instead of the spices listed what amount would u recommend? Thank u :)
ReplyI would do about 2.5 tsp of pumpkin pie spice :)
In the oven as I write this! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family xo
ReplyWonderful! Thanks so much Jenny, you too! :)
Amazing alternative to traditional pumpkin pie! I made this with 1.5 cups of brown rice flour instead of coconut flour (which I thought I had but didn’t!). Turned out wonderful! Dense and fluffy all at the same time. Thanks Joy!
ReplyThank you so much for telling me that Marla! Always good to know it's been tested with other flours. Glad you loved it!
Happy Thanksgiving, Joy! I am grateful for your incredibly validating comment regarding coconut whipped cream. I have tried so many times with disappointing results, so I’m happy to hear it’s not just me!!! 😜
ReplyNo it's not you at all. It only works with VERY few brands so there's almost no point in having the recipe on my site. I do have it in the "detox desserts" ebook, but it's such a hit and miss recipe.
Definitely going to bake this cake for Thanksgiving this weekend. Thank you for sharing! Also, what brand of coconut milk ice cream do you use?
ReplyI use a couple of different brands but my favourite is definitely Coconut Bliss ice cream. I buy it from my local health food store, although I've seen it in big box grocery stores too.
Can we use 2 tsp of pumpkin spice powder instead of the individual spices listed?
ReplyYep for sure! Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving! I will try this recipe today, thanks!
ReplyWonderful, enjoy!
Made this yesterday for Thanksgiving and it was amazing. Followed the 6 egg recommendation and it literally came out tasting like the filling of a pumpkin pie. Had to bake it for more like 30 mins, but was using the toothpick test. Will be making these into muffins this week. Thanks
ReplyOh strange! Sorry to hear, that's the first I've heard of that happening but you can get so many different results with varying oven temps and such. Hope you have better luck with muffins!
Thank you for another successful and delicious recipe! The family and I enjoyed it. Thanks for everything you do !
ReplyYou're most welcome Sonya-Alicia! Glad you and your family loved it :)
Delicious! I too used brown rice flour, and also coconut butter instead of oil, and it is so good. The coconut butter maybe made it a little denser, and not as fluffy, but I was trying to entice my hubs to try it as he's not big on coconut flavour. A winner! I have leftover purée so I'm going to make some mini cupcakes, with coconut oil this time. Thanks Joy for another fab recipe! 😋
ReplyInteresting! I would not have thought coconut butter would work so thanks for letting me know. Sounds like a delicious alternative!!
Going to make this for my dad's birthday this year. Thanks for sharing this delicious-looking recipe!
ReplyGreat idea! ENJOY!
It's only Tuesday and now I am soooo ready for the weekend so I can try this recipe. I LOVE PUMPKIN and I know I will love this cake. Thank you, Joy!
ReplyYay! Awesome, enjoy Samantha!
I just made this—so excited!—but it didn’t bake properly, even though I kept it in the oven for a long time. I did use flax eggs as my son is vegan—could this have been the problem? It never set. I love all your recipes and want this to work! Any advice?
ReplyHi Mary, Sorry to hear that! not sure if you saw in the comments but unfortunately coconut flour is not a flour that works well without eggs, especially when the recipe has as many eggs as this one. You could try making it with brown rice flour instead and then try the flax egg. I think you'd have better luck with that! Hope that helps :)
Hi Mary! Thanks, Joy for this recipe! I too got excited when I saw the vegan option although for this recipe it doesn't work. There's too much liquid (oil maple syrup liquid for vegan flax egg). Without the chicken eggs, it just doesn't have the right ingredients to help the cake set properly. Even after one hour of baking, it's still very soft (like mush). Mary, perhaps adding 1 cup of another gluten-free or grain-free flour would be helpful. You can also reduce the oil to 1/4 cup and using coconut palm sugar instead of maple syrup might help this recipe set with a cake texture.
Oh bummer, I'm really sorry to hear that. I will update the recipe to let people know not to try it with flax eggs. Thanks for commenting.
Can you roast the seeds from a pie pumpkin? Do they provide any nutrition or just a fun snack?
ReplyI didn't this time but I absolutely recommend it! Yes, they are a source of fibre, vitamin E and good fats. I would roast at a low temp with some olive oil and sea salt :)
How could i make a sugar free version? For a Candida diet.
ReplyThat's a tough recipe to make sugar-free. I would suggest stevia, but the challenge is you need the liquid from the maple syrup to add moisture to the recipe. Sorry Lisa, but I don't think this recipe can be made completely sugar-free.
I made your Pumpkin Spice Cake yesterday and wanted to thank you for such a yummy recipe! I love that it's gluten-free
ReplyGlad you love it Sharon!
Another amaaaaazing recipe Joy! This cake is so yummy!! Thank you so much :)
ReplyYay! Glad to hear it. My pleasure, enjoy!
Made this with chickpea flour (because that's what I had), same measurement as coconut flour and it turned out great! Thank you!
ReplyOh wow, so good to know, thanks for sharing!
In case any vegans are wondering, I made this with five flax eggs and it turned great! Almond ice cream on top. One of my favorite desserts now.
ReplyThanks so much for letting me know Stevie! I will post an update above!
We love this cake... I made it early this morning but forgot to add the maple syrup! Oops! It still turned out beautifully. Without the sweetness, it wasn't too bad. But of course we drizzled maple syrup on it
ReplyGood to know!! Glad to hear you loved it!
I just made this cake over the weekend and it turned out amazingly delicious! I used homemade pumpkin puree and the only substitution I made is I only used 1/4 cup coconut oil and for the other 1/4 cup I used Greek yoghurt. Also baked it for 40 minutes total and then turned off the oven and left the cake there for additional 10 minutes. It came out perfect. So moist and sweet (but not overly so), I already know this will become a staple recipe in my kitchen. Also since I had all this freshly made pumpkin puree I made the pumpkin spice latte - so yummy! Joy, thanks for your recipes they surely are an inspiration!
ReplyGlad you loved it Ania! Thanks for sharing your substitutions and how long it took for you to cook it.
Thank you for your wonderful tasty recipes. I love them all! Great job!
ReplyMy pleasure Lise, glad you love them!
This is so delicious!! It’s light and super yummy. I modified the recipe. I used quinoa flour and only 1/4 cup of maple syrup. I doubled the baking powder. I was worried about doing a straight exchange on the flour but it worked out perfectly. And tastes great! I will absolutely do this recipe again.
ReplyThanks for letting me know Lynn! Sounds you like had delicious success with your swaps!
I have pumpkin puree I made in the instant pot. Do you think that should be fine or should I roast pumpkin for better flavour?
ReplyI think that will work perfectly!
Thank you for a recipe that made for a beautiful fall morning! My kiddo and I loved it!
ReplyYou're most welcome! So glad your kiddo and you loved it!!
I tried this recipe with all flax eggs and it did not turn out. It did not cook through at all even left for a long long time in oven. Is it because too many flax eggs were used?
ReplyHmmm, it's hard to say. I've had people tell me through social media they made it with success by using a flax egg but that seems strange it didn't cook through. Unfortunately coconut flour can be really finicky. Did the batter seem watery?
The batter seemed perfect but it just would not fully cook. No matter how long it was in the oven for it just remained uncooked in the centre.
ReplyIt sounds like there ended up being too much liquid then. Could you pour it off the top?
Hi Joy. I bought pie pumpkin to make puree for this recipe. Can I use that or has to be regular orange pumpkin. Thank you
ReplyPie pumpkins are perfect! They are a little more sweet too. Enjoy!
Thanks for the adjustments in the recipe. Just made this for holiday brunch. Just realized that step #7 is probably step #4?
ReplyOh! I will double check. Thanks for catching that!
So step 4 is "Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix completely and let batter rest for 3 minutes...." and step 7 is about storing it. Do you not see that? If you don't it might have been a glitch when the recipe was originally published and you'll just need to clear your cache on your browser. Sorry for the confusion!
I see that too Joy. But just when I look up Pumpkin Spice Cake on the “Recipe Card” I don’t see it on the blog post recipe. 🙂
Sorry I'm not sure I understand. You don't see the recipe card on the blog post? I can see it, so I'm trying to figure out what you don't see?
Oh! I see what you mean. It's probably because it's caching the old blog post for you so it's not showing that it has been updated. You just need to clear your cache. Hope that helps!
I don’t think I did the flax substitute correctly. My cake looked every wet even after I let it sit for over 10 minutes before stirring it again. How long does the flax and water take to create the consistency of egg? The came ended up being dark, very oily and not cake like structure. Would appreciate some tips as I’d like to try making it again! Thank you.
ReplySorry to hear it didn't work out quite right. The flax should absorb most of the water and turn into an egg-like consistency. Maybe it was too wet still. Did you use canned pumpkin or pumpkin you roasted? I have noticed (based on other comments) that canned pumpkin yields a much wetter cake so you may need to add a touch more flour. So if you make it again, I would add a touch more flour if it seems to wet but only tablespoon by tablespoon. Hope that helps!
This cake is delicious! I love how moist it is. Reminds me of eating the best part of pumpkin pie...which is the filling! It will be on repeat in our house. Thanks so much for a great recipe.
ReplyExcellent, glad you loved it!