Fall Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Cake
I enjoy seasonal recipes as a way to both keep things fresh throughout the year and to stay in touch with the changing of the seasons, with time passing. We Swedes always make time for the mini mental health breaks that are fika breaks, and the US American penchant for pumpkin everything in fall is perfect for making fika bread using the vegetable pure̩ Рflour technique.
I took Ann Esselstyn’s birthday cake recipe from Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease, glanced at a pumpkin pie recipe, and created this soft whole foods plant based pumpkin spice cake healthy enough to say YES to even on a weekday! This cake comes out dense, fairly moist, and wonderfully pumpkin spice-y. Not surprising, given the amount of both real pumpkin and spices!
This cake is also easy enough to make, with no fine timing steps, that younger bakers can also help. Adults should take the cake in and out of the oven, of course, but otherwise children can participate!
Ingredients
Supplies to get out
- 2 cups (5 dl) whole wheat or barley flour
- 1/2 cup ( 1-1,5 dl) sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup (2,5 dl) unsweetened plain soy milk
- 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 Tbsp water (let sit to form gel)
- 1 cup (2,5 dl) pumpkin purée
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- Medium bowl
- Large bowl or food processor with whisk attachment/stand mixer
- If not using mixer, a whisk
- Cup or deciliter measure
- Tablespoon measure
- Teaspoon measure
- 1/2 teaspoon measure
- 1/4 teaspoon measure
- 1/8 teaspoon measure
- 6-cup (1.4 l) (half size) Bundt pan
- Vegan butter and paper towels for the pan
What To Do
- Heat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Grease and flour the Bundt pan.
- Measure and mix dry ingredients together in the medium bowl.
- Measure and mix wet ingredients together in the large bowl or food processor bowl.
- Gently turn dry ingredients into batter and stir or beat on low speed until no lumps remain.
- Spread batter into pan(s) and bake for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake does not feel sticky when touched.
- Cool before removing from pan.
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Notes
White whole wheat flour (from hard wheat) gives a fine consistency more suitable to cake than regular graham flour. Graham flour will, of course, also work if your grocery store doesn’t carry white whole wheat flour.
You can also use Ener-G egg replacer instead of the flax seeds if you are out.
The bake time depends greatly on the pan shape – 40 minutes is good for a Bundt pan, but if you try this in a pan without the center hole it can take almost twice as long, and the outsides will be noticeably drier than the center. It really comes out best in the Bundt pan.
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