The perfect vegan pumpkin cake to evoke that snug-as-a-bug-in-the-rug spirit of the season! This vegan pumpkin bundt cake is infused with warm, cozy chai spices and the tender, moist crumb is complemented by a creamy vegan cream cheese glaze.
Table of Contents
Vegan Pumpkin Cake
This is my favorite vegan pumpkin cake recipe and one I always make this time of year. The crumb is soft, moist and tender, and it has a beautiful color. There is pumpkin flavor infused in each bite, but what makes this cake even more special is a medley of delicious chai spices, including cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. You can make your own chai spice mix for this cake using my recipe below or if you have my chai masala on hand, use that!
Bundt cakes are among my favorite cakes to bake because I am not great at frosting and making things look pretty. But with bundt cakes the pan does all the work: they look so elegant right out of the oven with almost no effort on your part.
Still, if you want to make the cake even prettier and add another subtle layer of sweetness, especially if you have kids, I have for you a dreamy vegan cream cheese glaze that you can drizzle on top of the cake. It takes under five minutes to make and you can use this glaze for so many other breakfasts and desserts, including vegan cinnamon rolls, vegan carrot cake and more.
This is a no-fuss, no-mess recipe. Everything comes together in one bowl and you can rinse out the bowl and use it to make the frosting. The pumpkin cake batter takes 15 minutes or even less to put together. If you want to make a healthier version of this cake you can substitute all of the all-purpose flour, or part of it, with whole wheat pastry flour.
'Tis the season for all things pumpkin! You might also like my recipes for vegan pumpkin pie and vegan pumpkin bread.
Recipe card
Vegan Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan yogurt
- â…“ cup nondairy milk (I used oat milk but any nondairy milk is fine)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- â…” cup avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 1½ cups sugar (use a bit more if you like your cake sweeter. Taste the batter and add more if you want to. You can also use maple syrup instead of sugar.)
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
For vegan cream cheese glaze
- 4 oz vegan cream cheese (at room temperature)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar (I don't make the glaze overly sweet, but you can add more powdered sugar if you like it sweeter)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon nondairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a bundt pan by oiling and flouring it thoroughly.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flours, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Dump in the rest of the ingredients: vegan yogurt, oil, pumpkin puree, sugar, nondairy milk, pure vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar. Mix well using a spatula until there are no dry streaks of flour, but don't overmix.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top, if needed, with a spatula.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick near the center comes out clean.
- Set the bundt pan on a rack to cool for 30 minutes, then unmold and continue cooling the cake on a rack.
Make the vegan cream cheese glaze
- Place the room temperature cream cheese in a bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy.
- Add the cardamom and vanilla and half the powdered sugar. Beat in, then add the rest of the sugar and the milk and beat in until smooth. You can add a little more milk if you want to make the glaze runnier.
- Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake. Slice and serve.
Nutrition Information
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How to make vegan pumpkin cake
Vegan Pumpkin Cake FAQs
Yes. A springform pan or a regular cake pan would be great. You can divide the batter between two 8-inch cake pans, or bake in a single rectangular 9 X 13 inch (approx) pan.
You absolutely can, but the glaze adds a lovely layer of sweetness and texture to this vegan pumpkin cake.
You can substitute the yogurt with an equal amount of nondairy milk and a tablespoon of lemon juice. But I strongly recommend using either a store-bought or a good homemade yogurt like my cashew yogurt in this cake because it adds a nice tenderness to the crumb.
You can refrigerate the cake for up to a week. For longer storage wrap the cake tightly with cling wrap, place in a freezer safe container or bag and freeze. If storing in the freezer, freeze glaze separately and glaze the cake before eating.
Renee Saint Arnaud Watt says
The flavour of the cake was really good but 45 min cooking was nearly not enough. The centre was a total slop even though the other parts of the cake were done. First time one of your recipe disappoints….
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi Renee, sorry to hear the cake was not done in the center. Always do a toothpick test before taking any cake out of the oven - this means that a toothpick inserted close to the center of the cake should come out clean. If the toothpick comes out with wet batter sticking to it, give the cake five minutes more in the oven, then do the test again. Bake until the toothpick comes out dry. Ovens can very widely and two ovens will rarely perform the exact same way at the same temperature.
Anonymous says
What vegan cream cheese do you use?
Ione says
Just wondering if I can use a gluten free flour in this recipe?
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi, I haven't tried this but an all purpose gf flour should work.
Cindi says
Oh my goodness!!! That vegan cream cheese glaze with cardamom is outstanding!!!!! I will make that over and over for all kinds of things!
Vaishali Honawar says
So happy to hear you loved it! That vegan cream cheese glaze is my favorite too. 🙂
Pamela Davison says
Can this be made with gluten free flour?
Russell says
Can gluten-free flour be used with good results?
Vaishali says
I haven't tried it with gf flour but I think it would work.
Brigitta Shields says
Hey is is possible to sub vinegar for lemon juice ?
Vaishali says
Yes, absolutely!