Pumpkin Cake
Let me get real here for a second. And I’m sorry, but things might get a little sexual. So if you’re one of those people who reads my blog to your children or listen to my instagram stories in front of them, I am recommend you do neither…ever. Unless you’re one of those cool parents who cusses in front of their children while also teaching them to not say those words at school. I commend you for your bravery, especially since mom shame is real. Now let’s get sexual. This cake makes me feel things, deep in my soul. It gives me butterflies and makes me wonder what might happen when I hang out with a slice for the first time. Then after we have our first date, I find myself daydreaming about every bite. I think this cake is my soulmate. My lover, my King, my soulmate.
I’ve been watching too much 90 Day Fiance. What’s up with everyone calling each other king and queen. It creeps me out. Do you do that? Stop it.
But for real, I love this cake with all my heart. It’s currently sitting in our fridge right now and I’m keeping myself away from it. You know how sometimes you know a relationship isn’t healthy for you, but you stay in it? That’s kind of my relationship with this cake. I want to be with it, but I know I should just be eating my vegetables instead because my skin will break out as soon as I have a slice. I hope in my next life that I can eat sugar without having acne. I also hope to be born with brunette hair instead of blonde so I don’t have to spend so much time at the salon. Big dreams for my next life, big dreams.
This cake is like biting into the best part of fall. The cake is fluffy yet moist (stop being upset with that word, we have bigger fish to fry in 2020), it’s packed with pumpkin pie spice flavor, and the frosting is absolutely perfection. And let me get one thing straight here – if you are a person who “doesn’t like frosting” you need to get TF out of here. I don’t know what you’re doing here and I want nothing to do with your obscene viewpoints. If you don’t like frosting, something is wrong with you. My husband is one of those people and it’s the one trait in him that makes me question our 9 years together. But at the same time, I get to eat the extra frosting he leaves behind, so it really works in my favor. But still…question yourself if you’re a frosting scraper. Question how you were raised and what went wrong along the way. Because this cake deserves to be loved. It deserves to be cared for. Don’t disrespect it. Don’t disrespect fall.
Pumpkin Cake
- Author: juli
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 16 squares 1x
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup coconut sugar (or maple sugar, organic cane sugar, etc.)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup grapeseed oil (or other preferred liquid fat)
- 1 14-ounce can pumpkin puree
- 1 3/4 cups gluten free flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- pinch of salt
For the frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (dairy or almond milk)
- 1/2 stick softened unsalted butter (or 4 tablespoons ghee)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup organic powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons caramel sauce + extra for garnish
- pinch of cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, cream together eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract using a handheld mixer or standing mixer. Once the mixture becomes more pale in color, add the oil and pumpkin puree and mix together until combined.
- Next add the gluten free flour, 1/4 cup a time, and use a spatula to folder in until no flour remains. Lastly, add the baking powder, soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt; until completely combined. Pour mixture into the greased baking dish and place in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle. Let cool on the counter.
- Once the cake is completely cooled, place cream cheese in the large bowl of a standing mixer and whip until smooth. Then add the butter and vanilla extract, and whip for another 4-5 minutes until soft and combined. Add the powdered sugar slowly, 1/4 cup at a time until none remains, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Lastly, add caramel sauce and cinnamon and whip until completely combined.
- Once the cake is cooling and frosting is whipped, add the frosting on top of the cake and use an offset spatula to smooth out the frosting on top. I like to pour on a tablespoon or two of extra caramel sauce then mix that into the frosting to make a swirl throughout. Cut into 16 squares and serve up! Store in the fridge then let a slice come to room temperature before eating!
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You May Also Like:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.
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57 thoughts on “Pumpkin Cake”
I can’t wait to make this cake!! I just went buck wild on some GF baked goods at my baby shower last weekend so I need to cool my jets/guts for a few weeks. But this is going to be the next GF dessert I make fore sure!
yay hope you like it once you try it!
This is life changgginnnggggg 🤤 Mine took a little over 60 mins to get done in the center. Worth every second!! Juli, do you happen to have the nutrition info on this per chance? Would love to track it. Thanks!!
so glad you loved it!! i don’t personally know the nutrition info, but you could plug the recipe into myfitnesspal to get those details!! that’s what I do when I’m tracking my own food!
Can I ask what cream cheese you used? Kite Hill? I want to make this ASAP for my dairy-free husband! 🙂
yes, i always use kite hill!
Thank you! Adding to my Instacart right now. Fingers crossed I can find pumpkin!
Making this recipe this weekend! I have pic pumpkins just waiting to be used and I’ve been saving them in anticipation of this cake lol can’t wait to try it!
P.S. I’ve never censored my sailors mouth in front of my kids and they aren’t even phased when they hear bad language 😂 I told my son that he has to have a license to say bad words and so far he’s listened. My daughter may be a different story 😬🤷🏽♀️😂
How much almond flour would I use if I sub it for the GF flour? Excited to try this!
i wouldn’t do that, honestly. the texture will be incredibly different and the recipe won’t come out the same
Oh. My. God. This is amazing. (So is the frosted zucchini cake)
★★★★★
yaaassssssss! so glad you liked it!!
I just made it and ITS AMAZINGGGG omg. I mixed almond flour and oat flour since I don’t have gluten free flour on hand and it turned out great. Thanks July for always giving us amazing recipes!
★★★★★
Juli**
amazing!! happy to hear it turned out and you loved it!
This looks to die for. Damn sugar and acne! I pray for both of us in our next life to never have to deal with even one pimple! Lol. Do you think this would come out the same if I used whole wheat pastry or oat flour? Thx!!!
i’m not sure! i’ve never baked with either flour so i can’t even guess if it would
I am not a baker. In fact, I hate baking. However, I had to bake this cake because it was just so beautiful. Not only was it simple (with very few dishes to wash from the process), it was absolute heaven to eat. 12/10 would recommend. I have no idea what Brian was eating when he said 8/10 but it wasn’t this cake WITH frosting.
You are awesome, Juli! I love reading your blog and instagram posts. You and Jackson always give me a smile when I need it!! Keep on being real!
★★★★★
yaassssssssss!! right? wtf, brian!? i still don’t get it! thanks so much for trying the recipe out and for all the love!!
Made this recipe twice this weekend. The only substitute i made was I couldn’t find dairy free Carmel so I used Maple cream. I think it came out great, I mean if i could find it i totally would make it exactly because Julie you are a genius!
Love this and happy to share it with my co-workers.
★★★★★
yummmmm! that sounds delicious!
Wait a minute……did you say you are actually a blonde??
hahaha yes! natural blonde!
Holy. Buckets. Make this. Now. I accidentally used a 15oz can of pumpkin, but no harm done. I did need to bake for more like 50 mins (maybe cuz of the added pumpkin or elevation or maybe my oven just sucks). But it’s a perfectly moist and flavorful cake! I’ll be making this every week until I can’t find pumpkin anymore…
★★★★★
yayyyyyyyy!! so glad you liked the recipe, Brittney!!
I’d like to go on record saying that this is my favorite gluten free cake I’ve ever put in my mouth!! Thank you, Juli! I wish I could hug you!! (:
★★★★★
YAAAAASSSSSSS!! samesies!
I made this using Coconut Sugar, Coconut Flour and Kite Hill cream cheese. It was so good — even my hubby liked it and he can usually tell when I use Paleo ingredients — especially cream cheese or coconut flour!! My photo even looked almost like yours!! The only caramel sauce I had was Chipotle flavored … and OH HELLA — it was so good!! I baked mine in a steam oven on Steam/Convection and it only took about 23 minutes. Glad I checked it when it started smelling like pumpkin!! Thanks for sharing, Juli!
★★★★★
amazing!! so happy to hear you loved it!!
Just made it. Fantastic; rich and earthy from to the goat milk caramel. I’d never heard of Fat Toad Farm until i read this recipe ; ordered directly from then so I could get a few different flavors. I really like this cake; it’s another home run from your amazing blog. Thanks !
★★★★★
yessssss!! so glad you liked it!
Ahhhh I must make this ASAP! I deleted all my social media and have some catching up to do on here! This looks amazing <3.
hope you like it, Danielle! i’ll miss you cute lil girls face and you kicking ass in your home gym!!
This was SO YUMMY! Made it for my in-laws and even Will who makes fun of all things pumpkin LOVED it. PS I’m not sure how to get a hold of you now but please let me know if you want to do a boulder date or something! I think my email is linked here? Stay warm on this snowy oct day!
★★★★★
Danielle!! send me an email at julibauer88@gmail.com and then i can get your phone number there to chat!!
Juli be honest (if you know), how much of a pain in the ass is it gonna be to make the frosting without a stand mixer? Need to mentally prepare myself for the task 😂 can’t wait to make this, manual labor and all!
if you have a hand mixer, it’s not as bad. mixing by hand would be very annoying lol
Hi Juli,
I have been following your website for years and I wanted to tell you that all of your recipes work. I have made this pumpkin cake 4 times since you posted it. Last night, we made this into pumpkin cupcakes and decorated them for Halloween. We just had a family Halloween party and everyone couldn’t believe that they were GF! Anytime I want to make something, I just go to your website! I know that I won’t spend a great deal of money and energy on something that won’t work.
Thank you for creating these recipes.
Jodi
★★★★★
that makes me so incredibly happy, Jodi!! that’s exactly what i want people to experience and i hope to keep you coming back for more! love that you turned the recipe into cupcakes, so smart! thank you so much for trying my recipes and trusting me! you’re the best!
One of my favorite recipes you posted a few years back was the chocolate chip raspberry short bread cookie bars. Besides the amazing taste, my cookie bars looked like yours! I really appreciate your attention to detail to make sure your recipes can be reproduced by anyone. You are extremely talented. I hope your readers understand this. Not all paleo sites can say this.
thank you!
Jodi
★★★★★
Made this cake for a small Halloween get together and it was definitely a hit! I didn’t have any caramel sauce or time to make it from scratch but the frosting was divine either way. I also realized I don’t own an 8”x8” pan (crazy, I know) so I ended up making a Bundt cake instead. A sprinkle of cinnamon on top for flavor and a final finishing touch. So delicious!
★★★★★
ooooo a bundt cake must have been beautiful!!
Can’t wait to make this!! Can I use coconut sugar in the frosting instead of powder sugar?
★★★★★
normal sugar is pretty challenging because since it’s not very fine, the frosting never gets to the right consistency, so i wouldn’t recommend it
You can make powdered sugar with your coconut sugar. 🙂
This may be my favorite recipe ever! I took it to a Halloween party and no one could tell it was gluten free! Multiple people asked for the recipe! I didn’t have the Carmel sauce (sad panda) but it was still great without. Keep me coming Julie!
-Dani
★★★★★
Do you think I could use a can of pumpkin pie puree instead of plain pumpkin? Probably, but I’m curious if I should omit the spices so the cake doesn’t turn out… spicy? lol
you probably could! pumpkin pie puree has sugar in it so you may need to also change up the sugar content
Can the icing be made without the caramel sauce or could I sub maple syrup for it? I am dairy free and also live in a small town. We don’t have specialty stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods so not sure I can find dairy free caramel sauce to buy
yep, you can always just leave the caramel out!
Just made this for Thanksgiving! Used the simple mills vanilla frosting because I had some leftover from my daughter’s birthday. This was awesome, 10/10 would make again.
★★★★★
awesome!! so happy to hear that!
Holy Hella! I just made this again. The first time I screwed it up somehow. This time … WOW! This is as good or better than Juli said! The first time I made it, my husband had one piece … I had to finish it! This time, he LOVED it! I didn’t bother telling him it is Paleo!! LOL Thanks, Juli! Hit it otta the park AGAIN!
★★★★★
so glad you loved it, Kate!!
Finally got around to making this. I followed the recipe to a T and it was perfect. Great flavor and moist. I don’t think I’ve ever made a cake without eggs, so this was a nice surprise. Love it, thank you!
★★★★★
I’m kind of obsessed with the picture of the piece slathered with random streaks of frosting on the side. It looks just like the piece I devoured after savagely scraping the bowl of leftover frosting and taking a chunk in hand to finish the entire cake off. No ladylike use of a fork here- just pure, primal, pumpkin ecstasy. So, so insanely good…
★★★★★
This was absolutely amazing!!! Its going to be one of my regulars.
★★★★★