This is truly the best ever vegan gluten-free pumpkin cake! Not only that, but it is oil-free and the texture is perfection! It is also only 8 ingredients and topped with a delicious vanilla buttercream frosting with fresh pumpkin spices!
VEGAN GLUTEN FREE PUMPKIN CAKE
I am not kidding when I say this is one of my best cake recipes I’ve written over the years. It is impossible to detect it is both gluten-free and oil-free. It is that good! I sent half the cake to my parents and they both said how amazing it was and couldn’t wait for me to post the recipe!
This recipe was a labor of love. I posted this Best Vegan Pumpkin Cake before and it is phenomenal, but I received so many messages continually come through ever since posting it, for a gluten-free version. Since I always aim to make my gluten-free versions as delicious as the regular wheat ones, I tested it over and over and over. I’m happy to say the wait is worth it!
The texture is unbelievable. It is so light, soft, fluffy and not dense or mushy at all like so many gluten-free vegan baked cakes can be. I changed a couple of techniques that I hadn’t done before on my cakes and it was part of this magical vegan gluten-free pumpkin cake success.
I topped it with my vegan vanilla buttercream frosting, freshly grated nutmeg and freshly ground cinnamon and it was just divine! The frosting just makes it the perfect crowd-pleaser and extra fancy, but if you want to skip the frosting, a dusting of powdered sugar, fresh nutmeg and cinnamon will still be just as delicious!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
(Only 8 main ingredients needed. Full details and measurements on the recipe card below.)
- Oat flour: This flour makes this cake gluten-free and what makes this cake so soft. It needs to be finely ground so that the cake is nice and fluffy and not dense. This is why I always buy my oat flour, since it’s never as fine by grinding it at home. I use the Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free oat flour.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch works with the oat flour to make the cake so fluffy. Using all oat flour results in a very dense cake and nobody wants that. The cornstarch replaces the eggs and gluten and works beautifully here.
- Baking powder
- Pure maple syrup: This keeps the cake refined sugar-free.
- Pumpkin
- Pumpkin spices: I use my homemade pumpkin spice blend, but have also provided a short throw together blend on the recipe card below if you don’t already have a batch of my blend made up.
- Lite coconut milk: This is basically the ONLY fat in this cake, so since the cake is oil-free, this milk is very crucial to the moisture and texture being light and fluffy. You do not want to use low-fat milks or thin milks like almond, cashew, rice or soy. This cake is made with oat flour, which can be dense and chewy, so using soy milk, which is high protein, would make this cake excessively chewy. If you are allergic to coconut, I would suggest trying a homemade cashew milk instead, as store-bought cashew milk is mostly fillers and will NOT yield the same results. To make homemade cashew milk, see recipe card below. Please note, I have not trialed this personally, but suspect it will work very well, similar to the coconut milk. FYI, you do NOT taste any coconut milk in the cake. This is why I use the canned lite milk, as it’s very creamy, but doesn’t taste like coconut in the finished product, like full-fat would. I use the Sprouts brand “lite coconut milk”, but another brand that works well is the Thai Kitchen lite. Please do not use the Polar brand, it is fillers and very little actual coconut and will ruin the texture of the cake.
- Molasses: This is another magical ingredient in this cake for both depth of flavor and moisture. I use regular molasses, not blackstrap, as regular is sweeter and milder in flavor. You can find regular molasses at most grocery stores, even Walmart and Target. You do not want to use the blackstrap, as it’s very bitter and much darker.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GLUTEN FREE PUMPKIN CAKE
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well.
Step 2: In a separate medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients until smooth.
Step 3: Pour over the dry ingredients and whisk gently just until smooth and combined. Do not overmix. It should be smooth and pourable.
Step 4: Pour the batter into an 8×8 baking dish (I used stone) that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
Step 5: Bake at 400° for just 23 minutes or until a toothpick is clean from the center. A couple of dry crumbs are ok, but there should be no batter. Cool 1 hour before frosting (if using) or decorating with powdered sugar/spices. Slice and serve. Gluten-free cakes need to be completely cooled so that they finish cooking, or they can have an unbaked texture if sliced too early.
MORE VEGAN CAKE RECIPES
- Vegan Lemon Cake
- Vanilla Sheet Cake
- Vegan Gingerbread Cake
- Gluten-free Vegan Funfetti Cake
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cake
- Almond Butter Cake
- Vegan Gluten-free Vanilla Cake
Vegan Gluten-free Pumpkin Cake (Oil-free!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (144g) superfine oat flour (See notes why this is important)
- 6 tablespoons (48g) cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice (I use my homemade blend, see notes for easy quick mix)
- scant 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (135g) canned lite coconut milk (See notes!) shaken well first
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (180g) pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons (40g) regular molasses, not blackstrap (see post info)
- 1/2 cup (120g) pumpkin puree
- Optional: Vegan vanilla buttercream frosting, freshly ground nutmeg and cinnamon (ONLY DO A HALF RECIPE)
NOTE
- I always recommend to use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed, since we all measure differently. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessons room for error. You never need cups or to compare them to the weights, just use the scale and bowl and make sure to hit zero before adding each ingredient. My recipes are 100% tested specifically using my exact weights and your results will turn out as mine this way.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Yes, this cake is different and is baked at 400°F instead of the traditional 350°F. It makes a difference!
- Lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish (I used stone) with nonstick spray. The cake releases easily and beautifully this way. Otherwise, the cake will stick badly without it.
- To a large bowl, add the oat flour, cornstarch, baking powder, pumpkin spice and salt. Whisk well.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the milk, syrup, molasses and pumpkin until completely smooth. Pour over the dry ingredients and whisk gently just until smooth and combined. Do not overmix. Oat-based batters can cause dense results if they are overmixed.
- Pour the batter into the dish and give it a good shake side to side to even out the top.
- Bake for just 23 minutes or until a toothpick is clean from the center. Each cake I tested was perfect at this time. A couple of dry crumbs are ok, but there should be no wet batter.
- Cool 1 hour before frosting (if using) or decorating with powdered sugar/spices. Slice and serve. Gluten-free cakes need to be completely cooled so that they finish cooking, or they can have an unbaked texture if sliced too early. So be patient!
- To decorate the cake to make it extra fancy, I topped it with my vegan vanilla buttercream frosting, freshly grated nutmeg and freshly ground cinnamon and it was just divine! But if you want to skip the frosting, a good dusting of powdered sugar, fresh nutmeg and cinnamon is still just as delicious! Or you could add my simple cream cheese glaze! Store this cake at room temperature sealed well, so it stays moist. It keeps well for up to 3 days.
Notes
The Vegan 8 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy here.
Made this recipe exactly as written and it was excellent!! My husband is GF and my son is allergic to nuts, this recipe was good for both dietary needs. None of us are vegan and we all loved this recipe!
So very happy to hear this Charlene!
I LOVE this cake, my whole family LOVES this cake, my children LOVE this cake more than ice cream, now thats saying something!
Woohoo, that is so amazing to hear Dorret! I feel just as strongly about this cake, haha!
I made this and the gluten-free version for a bake-off/taste test. Both were moist and turned out perfectly.
The pumpkin spice combo you list in this recipe doesn’t include the black pepper that’s in your spice blend recipe and on the other pumpkin cake recipe so I added that in the appropriate proportion. The other cake’s spicing was too strong for me and I really like a lot of these kinds of spices. This recipe uses different proportions with less of each spice and it was still pretty strong. I’d make this again, but I’d reduce the seasonings.
Thank you Barb, happy to hear the cake turned out perfectly! Yes, I love a lot of spice and flavor because that’s how my mom baked pumpkin cake growing up, but it sounds like you prefer milder flavors, so just reduce next time.
Hi! If I have regular Bob’s oat flour does that work or do I need to put it in the food processor to make it more fine? Thank you!!
Bobs is perfect!
Yowza!
This cake is amazing!
It’s so fluffy and the flavors are wonderful! My husband said “this one is a keeper-it’s so good!” I have a feeling this cake will be making regular appearances in our house.
I admit- I was nervous it wasn’t going to turn out. I had to grind my own oats to make my oat flour but I think I did pretty good. I was also nervous we were going to over mix it because I had a six-year-old helping me make this cake but everything turned out really great! 👍
I typically eat a whole food plant-based diet so I try to admit oil where ever possible, which is why this cake caught my eye. But since I was sharing this with the rest of my family who doesn’t completely follow of my particular diet, I decided to splurge and make the vanilla buttercream icing. I am so glad I did! I used Mykonos butter for the butter cream and it turned out divine!
My husband mentioned that it kind of tasted like carrot cake to him. Maybe because of the frosting? I’m afraid to try and alter this recipe too much given how much work was already put into it to get it just right. But I hope that someday in the future there will be some variations on this cake. It’s super good the way it is, and super easy to make!
Thanks for sharing your talents with all of us!
That is so awesome to hear Jessica, thanks for the amazing feedback!
I have been baking gluten free for almost 6 years and this may be the best gluten free cake I have ever made! It has the best texture, and wonderful flavor, too. I weighed the oat flour and cornstarch, followed the directions, and it came out perfect. I didn’t frost it at first, but added vegan cream cheese frosting the next day and that was a great decision 🙂 Brandy, thank you SO much for thoroughly testing your recipes, giving excellent instructions, and always providing delicious gluten free recipes for those of us who need them!
That’s so amazing to hear Gail, thank you so much!!
I had to throw this all away, unfortunately. I followed the recipe exactly as listed but it turned out very gummy. I was very surprised because the many other recipes I have tried from your blog and cookbook are absolutely perfect.
Marie, I’m sorry to hear you had trouble, but something clearly went wrong, because this cake is not in the least bit gummy. In fact, the result is the opposite and is just as pictured and described in the post, incredibly light and fluffy, which is why there are so many great reviews above. So, if yours turned out gummy, something had to be mismeasured or I would ask, what brand of coconut milk did you use?? The brand will make all the difference in the texture. Did you use a store-bought oat flour and cornstarch and did you weigh the ingredients using my gram weights? Store-bought pumpkin or homemade? Maybe it wasn’t baked long enough? Did you bake it at the 400F? I strongly HATE gummy cakes, which is why I was so excited to share this recipe with it being so wonderfully light and fluffy. All other readers have had the same results as I have. I will try to help with these questions, because something isn’t right if yours turned out very gummy. And even as you state, everything else you have made from my recipes has turned out perfect, so that is telling that something is off, since I’m so particular about only sharing high quality recipes with great flavor/texture. I would never have posted this recipe if it was gummy, I tested it literally for the past year.
Delicious!!
So awesome to hear you loved it Kelly!
This cake was amazing! I doubled the recipe and cooked in two round cake pans and topped it with your buttercream. It was a hit with the two relatives we had over for Christmas. I sent some home with my mother in law and she called raved about it for a second time!. I’ll be making these into muffins over our long break because I’m sad the cake gone!
Yay, that’s amazing to hear!!
Brandi, you are awesome! I made your gluten-free oil-free pumpkin cake. While the cake is baking in the oven, my entire house smells incredible, the aroma of pumpkin spice is everywhere. I have to try a slice right after it has cooled down. The texture is so moist, light and fluffy. It’s so good on its own. To me, the vanilla icing is optional. 👌😍 Thanks Brandi! ❤❤
Woohoo, thank you Nora!!
Did you hear the angels singing? That’s because they just had a piece of this Delicious pumpkin cake! THANK YOU for creating a gluten-free version, Brandi, and especially one with a coconut-free one! I followed your directions perfectly and made my own homemade cashew milk. I did find I needed to bake it a bit longer but I use your “a few dry crumbs” method. This will be a cake I make throughout the year! Merry Christmas, Brandi! Thank you for this special gift of a recipe! 🙏🏻 😊
So glad to hear that Colleen! Yeah, I hadn’t personally tested the cashew milk version and I imagine it wouldn’t yield as fluffy of a result as the coconut milk, but should still taste great, so glad it worked out!
Wow! This was amazing! I’ll admit I didn’t wait for it to cool because I was too excited to try it, but it turned out great anyway. (Also used slightly less potato starch instead of cornstarch since we didn’t have any – worked out great!) Definitely going to add this to my rotation of pumpkin recipes!
So happy to hear you loved it!!
Great recipe & easy! I made with my daughter yesterday.. and we made the Vegan buttercream frosting. It turned out perfectly – even though Brandi always talks about using a scale I have to admit I never have, but we did yesterday and it was so easy!
Already had a couple of pieces and just have to add – warming it up is spicy goodness!
So happy to hear this Heidi!
I made this cake last night for absolutely no reason and because I just happened to have all the ingredients. I whipped it up in under ten minutes. Oh. My. Goodness. It is light, most, and DELICIOUS. I used powdered sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon for the top. This cake is so good that it doesn’t need more than that although I’m sure the buttercream frosting is amazing! I have two pieces of it to my daughter for breakfast because it’s also healthy!
Woohoo so glad to hear this Jenny!
Always so grateful for your GF recipes! This pumpkin cake was delicious. Our family ate it all in one sitting. I ended up using full fat coconut milk (Trader Joe’s brand) and blackstrap molasses just because that’s what I had on hand and couldn’t wait! Thank you Brandi <3
So happy to hear how much you loved the cake, thank you so much Virginia!
This cake is so delicious. It’s fluffy and full of pumpkin spice flavor. I have to admit I added a bit more pumpkin spice, cuz..why not. It was very hard to keep from eating the entire pan of cake. Hubby really loved it too..huge hit. Thank you Brandi.
Your scale link did not work.
FIXED!
Love the blend of oat flour and cornstarch – I can tell this is moist & tender! We have such similar cooking styles, and I also just posted a pumpkin cake recipe, so I’m glad to see pumpkin spice season isn’t officially over (but honestly, we all use canned pumpkin so every season is pumpkin season, right??)
FYI, when I clicked on the cream cheese icing link, it took me to a cinnamon roll recipe.
Correct, that’s because the cream cheese glaze is listed on the cinnamon rolls recipe. Enjoy!
Another wonderful recipe! Made muffins with it and it came out perfect!
Yay! Glad to hear it!!
Same question about starch 🙂
Hi! You can try potato starch if you can’t buy the cornstarch, but they weigh differently per tablespoon, so the measurements in tablespoons are different. So follow the same weight of grams of 48 grams. Please know that I have not tested this though and potato starch does make cakes dry out a bit more and more quickly, as well as crumble more, especially by the 2nd day. Let me know after you try it!
Brandi, thanks once again! Your recipes always get rave reviews from my family 😀 and we are grateful that you share your creative talents with the world (xo)! We just made your Baked Ziti this weekend and my husband and girls swooned! I’m very much looking forward to trying this (I eat pumpkin year round, including in my breakfast oat groats each morning, along with carrot, apple, lots of cinnamon and pumpkin spice, so I’m sure I will love this recipe). So forgive me for asking this right on the heels of you putting this out… but with Christmas coming, I am also thinking of gingerbread cake, and your current recipe for that is not GF (we have Celiac disease). Anyway, since there is no actual pumpkin in it and it already has molasses in it, do you think it could be converted easily to a gingerbread cake? Thanks Brandi!
Thank you Tanya for such a kind comment! I actually already have a gluten-free version on the gingerbread cake post! Just see the Notes section on the recipe card.
The cake looks great – wonderful option to make for my gluten sensitive family~friends.
What’s your opinion of using Nutiva Organic Shortening in the frosting?
https://www.amazon.com/Nutiva-Certified-Organic-Shortening-15-ounce/dp/B00KRFLH5U/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=spectrum+shortening&qid=1607361258&sr=8-2
I’ve never tried that brand but if it has coconut oil in it, it may be softer. So I would not add the milk to the frosting to see if it maybe won’t need it. Let me know after you make the cake!
Hi – This looks so good! I’m definitely going to try this. What do you recommend substituting for corn starch if one can’t use corn products? Arrowroot? Tapioca? Thanks for ALL your recipes!
Hi! No, those both will make a chewy/gooey texture here. You can try potato starch if you can’t buy the cornstarch, but they weigh differently per tablespoon, so the measurements in tablespoons are different. So follow the same weight of grams of 48 grams. Please know that I have not tested this though and potato starch does make cakes dry out a bit more and more quickly, as well as crumble more, especially by the 2nd day. Let me know after you try it!
Absolutely delicious!! It’s my new fall favorite. I had to use my own ground oat flour and it still turned out wonderful. I have a LOT of flops in the kitchen but I followed the tips about weighing the ingredients and I am thrilled with how it turned out. Made a mini bundt size because I used my stone bundt pan as I wanted to follow the instructions as closely as possible. Really simple, too, I am thoroughly impressed.
So thrilled you loved it so much, thank you Sher!
Looks amazing. Could I sub white flour if I’m not gluten free and on a budget? Thanks so much for this recipe!
Hi, no, not for this version. Just make my regular wheat version here. It’s also linked in the post. https://thevegan8.com/vegan-pumpkin-cake-with-low-sugar-frosting/