This gluten-free vegan glazed pumpkin muffin cake is my last pumpkin hurrah for this fall. I think... Or maybe not? Seems like once you start baking with pumpkin, it's hard to quit. In fact, it's quite addictive, one might say. But winter treats are beckoning, and I must answer their call... ;) Anyhow, this frosted pumpkin muffin cake is a bit of a hybrid between a pumpkin cake and a pumpkin muffin -- sweet, bready, cakey, pumpkiny, and best of all, super simple to throw together!
And the slightly tangy glaze is the perfect moist compliment to the sweet cake. This recipe can also easily be made into glazed pumpkin muffins too. Muffins or cake -- I think this makes a wonderful fall/winter breakfast treat, especially with a pat of good dairy-free butter {and cake for breakfast is totally acceptable when it has pumpkin in it, right? ;) }.
Gluten-Free Vegan Glazed Pumpkin Muffin Cake
This glazed pumpkin muffin cake is a hybrid between a pumpkin cake and a pumpkin muffin -- sweet, bready, cakey, pumpkiny, + simple to throw together!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 9 servings
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients:
- 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (or 2 cups drained pureed cooked pumpkin)
- ⅓ cup olive oil (or any other cooking oil)
- ⅔ cup maple syrup (or a liquid sweetener of your choice)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp allspice
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- dash of salt
- 2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob’s Red Mill. Alternatively, you can use 1 ½ cups rice flour + ½ cup potato or tapioca starch)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1 ½ tsp GF baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp guar gum
- 1 cup of walnuts or raisins (or a mix of both)
Glaze Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce (I used my homemade applesauce recipe), at room temperature
- ½ cup raw cashews, presoaked for a few hours (or for 15 minutes in boiled water)
- ¼ cup maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of your choice), at room temperature
- 2 tbsp coconut oil — liquified or soft, but not hot
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9 x 9 (or slightly larger) cake pan with some parchment paper and set aside.
- Place pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, spices, and salt into a large mixing bowl and blend together using an immersion blender. Note: if you don’t have an immersion blender, blend these ingredients together in a blender and then transfer into a mixing bowl).
- Add in all remaining ingredients, except for the walnuts and raisins, and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon to combine. Fold in the walnuts/raisins.
- Transfer the mixture into your pan and smooth out. Gently tap the pan on the counter a few times to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake in a preheated oven for approx 40-50 mins depending on your pan size (the larger the pan/flatter the cake, the less time it’ll take to bake). Test with a wooden skewer down the center to make sure it comes out dry. Once baked, transfer onto a cooling rack and let the pumpkin bread cook for at least 10 minutes.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze by blending all the ingredients together in a blender until the mixture is smooth and uniform (I used my Vitamix for this part for smoothest consistency). Pour over the cooled cake, use a spatula to spread the mixture evenly as needed, and place in the fridge for 5- 10 minutes for the frosting to set. Enjoy!
Sharon says
Mine came out delicious. Thank you so much.
Audrey says
You're welcome. Thanks for sharing, Sharon :) Glad you enjoyed them.
Sophie says
I made this lovely cake & used whole Brown Rice flour & tapioca startch,...Amazing!.
Audrey says
Glad it worked out well for you with the rice flour and tapioca :) thanks for sharing!
Karina says
I made these as mini muffins, and used sweet potato as I couldn't get pumpkin. However the batter seemed quite dry when I combined wet ingredients with the dry, and ended up adding almost a cup of almond milk. So I'm not sure if the liquid was accidentally left out of this recipe? That said, it tastes good!
Audrey says
Hi Karina. Thanks for sharing your experience and the sweet potato substitution. I'd guess the dryness might have been due to either the substitution (mashed sweet potato is usually a bit drier and also much starchier than pumpkin) -- that said I'm really glad you made it work and it's good to know it's an adequate substitution :). The only other thing I could think of as well is if more coconut flour was added somehow, as even the smallest addition can significantly dry out the recipe and require more liquid (it's super absorbent).
shelly says
Hi Audrey,
I made this cake and it didn't taste good at all :(
Audrey says
Hi Shelly. That's too bad it didn't turn out for you, but thank you for sharing. Did you alter anything at all in the recipe by any chance? And I'm curious what was it about the cake that you didn't like?
Saundra says
Have you tried this with almond flour or any other flour which is grain free?
Audrey says
Hi Saundra, I haven't tried that specific recipe grain-free yet. I can see it likely working with a basic grain-free mix though instead of the gf flour mix. 1 cup almond flour, 3/4 cup tapioca, 1/4 cup coconut flour -- that's my usual grain-free go-to. Though as I mentioned, I haven't tried it with this particular cake, so it would need some experimenting... If I do, I'll post an update, or if you try it I'd love to hear how it goes.
If it's the combination of pumpkin & the glaze that interest you, you could use this grain-free pumpkin cake instead as a base. It's one of my favorites :)
karen says
what a tasty cake, I must try this! Thanks for sharing. Stopping by from Juggling Real Food blog hop
Audrey says
Thanks so much, Karen! :)
ATasteOfMadness says
This cake looks amazing! And so fall :)
Audrey says
Thanks very much @ ATasteOfMadness! I'm all for seasonal desserts :)
Anna Compton says
Can I substitue tapioca flour for a 1 Tbs of arrowroot and a 1 Tbs of AP flour? Will that affect the texture?
Audrey says
Hi Anna -- yes, arrowroot will work just fine in place of tapioca.
Jessica says
Hi! I'm excited to make this recipe for Thanksgiving! If my GF flour blend (Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend) already includes xanthan gum, do I need to add additional guar gum?
Thank you!
Audrey says
Hi Jessica. If the xantham gum is already in your mixture, then yeah, I wouldn't add any more xantham or guar gum. Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Emily says
Hi there, I'm curious how this recipe turned out using the Namaste blend as I'm thinking about doing the same thing. Thanks!
Audrey says
Hi Emily,
I haven't tried Namaste blend yet, but just looked it up to see the ingredients and I'm positive it will work fine in this recipe. Let me know if you try it -- I'm always interested in discovering new brands :)
Emily says
It worked great with the namaste flour!!
Audrey says
Oh, that's great to hear -- thanks for following up, Emily! So glad your cake turned out well :)
Katie McC says
MMM Yum! This would be perfect for Thanksgiving!
Audrey says
Thanks, Katie! :)