Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache. Easy 1 Bowl Pumpkin Sheet Cake with a thick chocolate frosting. Vegan Soyfree Recipe. Can be nut-free. Glutenfree option Jump to Recipe 
Cakes make for a perfect end to a festive meal or beginning a day :). This simple spiced vegan pumpkin cake is paired with a smooth hearty thick chocolate pumpkin ganache. The cake is made in 1 Bowl, without added refined sugar, and only takes 15 mins to put together. The frosting is just chocolate and pumpkin, no Butter, no cups of sugar! Simple ingredients, quick and festive!
Make it with less sweet for a breakfast cake. Double the recipe for a layered pumpkin spice cake! Add a sugar frosting layer in the middle and chocolate pumpkin all over. Top with candied pecans or serve with whipped coconut cream. More the merrier.
Mix all the wet ingredients, then fold in the dry to make a thick cake batter. Spread in parchment lined pan and bake. Brush with maple + water mixture for additional moisture. Then spread the ganache. Don’t like chocolate, use my vegan cream cheese based frosting.
More Festive Bakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Cake
- Eggnog Pound Cake
- Easy Coffee Cake – Cinnamon Streusel Cake
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
- Lemon blueberry pound cake
Gluten-free
- GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake.
- Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll Bread yeast-free.
- GF Carrot Banana Bread – Also grain-free.
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
If you make this cake, do let me know by commenting and using the rating option with the comment.
Recipe Card
Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (6.48 oz) pumpkin puree , not pumpkin pie mix
- 1/3 cup (107.33 g) maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (56.5 ml) coconut milk , or use almond milk
- 2 tbsp oil , optional or use more non dairy milk
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice , add 1/2 tsp cinnamon for additional spice
- 2 to 3 tbsp sugar for sweeter (coconut, cane or brown)
Dry:
- 1.25 cups (156.25 g) flour (I use a mix of all purpose and whole wheat)
- 3 tbsp almond flour , or use more flour for nutfree
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
Ganache:
- 1/2 cup (4.32 oz) pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup (90 g) vegan chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp almond or coconut milk
- 1-2 tbsp (1 tbsp) sugar , optional
Instructions
- Line a brownie pan or 8 or 9 inch cake pan with parchment. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (180 C).
- Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just about combined. The batter will be thick. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30 mins. 5 mins less or more depending on the pan used. Taller cake will need longer time. Check with a toothpick inserted in the middle. It should come out clean. For muffins or cupcakes, bake for 20 to 22 mins.
- Cool for 5 mins, then remove from the pan and cool completely before frosting. At this point you can optionally brush the cake with a mix of 1 tbsp maple syrup+ 2 tsp water(mix well in a small bowl). This keeps the cake more soft and moist.
- Make the ganache: Heat pumpkin puree and milk over medium heat until bubbling hot. Add chocolate, whisk for a few seconds, then take off heat. Continue to whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Cool for 5 mins then chill for 15 mins to thicken. Then then spread over the cake. Add other garnishes such as chopped hazelnuts, coconut or candied pecans. Serve. The frosted cake can be refrigerated for upto 4 days. Frozen for upto a month
Notes
Nutrition
Jenny
Hello. We made this on Sunday and it was DIVINE!!!! It was SO GOOD that we ate ALL of it by the next day.
I made it again today but doubled the recipe- about how much time would you recommend my keeping it in the oven if the recipe is doubled?! 30” wasn’t enough this time around.
Thank you!! ❤️❤️
Richa
10-15 mins longer then check and continue. Time depends on the pan and the thickness of the cake etc
Elodie
Hi Richa,
I used a 90% cocoa chocolate (lindt) but the ganache “broke”, the emulsion did not work, and I have an oily component by the side of my mixture. I followed all the instructions (dried a bit the pumpkin purée (homemade) and mixed with coconut milk, do you think the cocoa pourcentage could be the problem?
Richa
It could be. I do often have trouble with dark chocolate performing as well
Tia
So delicious! Perfect smaller size cake too.
Vegan Richa Support
Thank you!
Michelle
Excellent!! Thank you. This is so easy to make, came together perfectly and the chocolate on top, yum! Made this for a small get together and it went over great!
Vegan Richa Support
That’s wonderful!
Keren
Wonderful. Absolutely delicious cake. I did make the glaze with 50 gr of chocolate instesd of 90, which is enough intensity for me. I really love the delicate flavour of this cake.
Carlotta
Amazing! Tastes great and perfect texture. And my colleagues who are chefs found it wonderful as well!
Thank you again Richa for your great recipes!
Richa
So awesome
Tahira
Hi there! Would I be able to make this with the same amount of oat flour instead? And maple syrup instead of sugar?
Richa
No. Oat flour is gluten-free and it will need a little bit of starch to help Bind
Marivel Linares
I made this recipe and the consistency of the cake was really good. Second day was perfect. My guests thought it was on the bland side but I really didnt have maple syrup and used sugar instead (2/3 cup). This will be my TO-GO recipe I only will have to tweak the sugar to 1 cup next time. Thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
sounds good – thank you for your nice feedback
Shiree Barry
Can you make this in a circle cake pan?
Vegan Richa Support
Absolutely – an 8 or 9 inch pan is perfect.
Mom Michelle
My 11 year old daughter said she was bored, so I suggested she bake this cake. It was easy for her and really is delicious. It’s not too sweet at all, which the two of us appreciate. We will be making it again.
Richa
Awesome
Christy
I absolutely LOVE this cake. Do you think it could be done with all almond or an almond/coconut flour combo?
Richa
Use this recipe with pumpkin purée and the ganache https://www.veganricha.com/2017/10/vegan-gluten-free-coffee-cake-sweet-potato-pecan-crumb-cake.html
Shannon
Delicious. My son loves it too. I will make this again. Thank you!
Merv
I made this cake about a week ago. It took longer to make and bake than it did to finishing eating it. Delicious, too delicious. I didn’t frost with ganache, I went with a vegan buttercream. This cake is awesome and so much pumpkin smell and flavor. I doubled the recipe and used two 9 inch pans. Next time I plan to use 8 inch pans.
Richa
awesome
Elissa
Can soy milk be used in place of almond milk? My nephew has dairy, egg, and nut allergies but I think he would love this for Thanksgiving.
Richa
yes
Donna
If I want to double it for a layer cake, what size cake pans should I use? Thanks!
Donna
Oops, sorry, I just saw it in the recipe. Thanks!
Megan
Another awesome recipe! Thanks so much. I made this tonight and it’s delicious.
Richa
yay
Molly Flannery
Thank you for this recipe! This cake turned out perfect! I doubled it for a 13×9 pan and topped it with vegan cream cheese frosting, mini chocolate chips and orange zest. My husband and I loved it!
Richa
awesome!
Jen
So I made this amazing Pumpkin cake with a few changes as I did not have the flour recommended. I used arrowhead mills gluten free flour for about 3/4 cup as that was all I had left. I then used about a 1/4 cut almond flour and the rest oat flour. I also added the additional 3 tbl. almond flour called for. For the spices I used 1 tsp all spice and 1 tsp cinnamon. I only used coconut milk for the cake instead of any oil. I did use a hand mixer to beat the liquid part and then again when adding the flours. The mixture was thick and kind of spongy quickly. Baked it in a square 8″ pan for about 35 minutes I think. It came out so perfect. The texture was spongy and kinda sticky but loved that. So I did finish making the ganache chopping up some of the huge 72% trader joes pound and a half chocolate bars. I needed to add some maple syrup as not sweet enough BUT to be honest, I liked the cake WITHOUT the ganache. It was too perfect alone so thats how I’ll keep it. Really the best recipe out there. Thanks so much.
This is the first recipe I have made from veganricha but will definitely be trying more.
Richa
Awesome! i have different types of pumpkin cakes on the blog. a crumb cake, a loaf cake without any topping. So i chose a chocolate for this.You can mix and match to preference!
Leslie Lamanna
How many slices per cake? I see 217 calories per slice but isthat 1/6 or 1/8 of the cake?
Richa
9 . its right above the ingredients.
Cheffeelove
K, thanks. We were looking and couldn’t find it….
Richa
no probs. i should prob move it closer to nutrition
Cheffeelove
👍😉
Alison
Can this recipe be doubled for a 9×13 pan?
Richa
yes
Bethany
Wow Richa . . . this is so good! I used home cooked pumpkin puree which probably has a bit more moisture than canned. Definitely watch the cook time, I cooked my cake in an 8″ glass square pan for 25 minutes and it was done. Made the cake as listed but ran out of milk by the time I got to the frosting so I used 2T of maple syrup to get the moisture and the sweetness in one and it worked out well. Yum, I loved it and will make it again.
Richa
awesome!
Chris
Delicious cake, good flavor and every dense and rich. Thx for the recipe, I will make again!
Maneesha
Hi Richa! I made this yesterday, and it was a HIT! so flavorful and soft! The ganache adds such a lovely flavor! Thank you for a great recipe!
Richa
awesome!
Janet Casmaer
Richa, I made this tonight and this cake was easy and wonderful! So moist and flavorful. Next time I will try the vegan “cream cheese” frosting variation. I can tell this will become a fall and winter regular in my house. Thank you! — Janet
Richa
yay!!
D.
weird. Mine did not rise at all!
Richa
that shouldnt happen. Maybe the baking powder is old? what was the consistency of the cake in the middle?
Brian Watson
would a greased pan work for this instead of parchment you think?
Richa
yes.
Catherine
This looks lovely. BTW do you have a ginger bread recipe, too?
Catherine
I found this and will give it a try, too. This time of the year I like ginger bread cake topped with chocolate frosting. So will give this ganash a try on the jar cake recipe…thank you for sharing your creativity here!
https://www.veganricha.com/2013/12/gingerbread-cake-mix-in-jar-for-1.html
Richa
https://www.veganricha.com/2014/11/vegan-gingerbread-cake.html
Divya
Hello. I was wondering how you make the pumpkin puree?
Richa
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22935/pumpkin-puree/ bake and puree
Carolina
Hello Richa! This looks lovely 🙂
By a mixture of whole wheat, do you mean pastry flour or the regular kind?
Richa
either will work. i use a ix of all purpose and wheat flours (whole or pastry) usually half and and half.
Cassie Autumn Tran
CAKE, YES! My favorite dessert. On top of that, there’s a chocolate frosting recipe too? My heart has been won! I would try this recipe with oat flour, but I am open to trying out gluten free all purpose flour and whole wheat flour as well. That’s the fun of making cake–you can mix all kinds of ingredients and see what happens!