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
- 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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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!
Did you simply omit the eggs or did you use an egg replacement? We have some egg allergies over here, but this cake is too good to pass up.
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.
I have found your recipe tonight. I’m currently baking it. I used King Arthur paleo baking (mixed blends) flour. I’m curious to see how it turns out with the roasted pumpkin I had. Can’t wait to taste it tomorrow. Thank you!