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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You May Also Like:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
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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. 🙂