Vegan pumpkin spice latte cake – this easy vegan pumpkin sheet cake topped with fluffy coffee buttercream is dreamily soft, moist and delicious. It is full of warming Fall flavours and is a perfect cake for celebrations. Eggless and dairy-free.
Pumpkin cake is one of my all-time favourite cakes, it is so fluffy, moist, wonderfully spiced and absolutely addictive!
Here I’ve paired it with a light espresso buttercream to make a cake version of a pumpkin spice latte, the popular American Fall-time drink.
The flavours of coffee, sweet pumpkin and warming spices go so well together!
This is a sheet cake, so it’s a great option if you’ve got lots of people to serve, and the cake is a super easy, one-bowl affair to make.
How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
Start by whisking together plain flour, light brown soft sugar, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, pumpkin spice and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Add pumpkin puree (either tinned or homemade – see instructions below), sunflower oil (or another flavourless oil), non-dairy milk, vinegar and vanilla extract and whisk gently until no dry lumps remain but be careful not to over-mix as that can make the cake tough.
Transfer the batter to a greased and lined 23 x 33 cm / 9 x 13 inch rectangular cake tin and spread it level. Bake the cake for about 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then carefully lift it out onto a wire rack and leave it to cool completely before icing it.
To make the coffee buttercream, place the softened vegan block butter and instant espresso powder in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Add sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk on a high speed for a good few minutes until the buttercream is very light and fluffy and the espresso powder has dissolved.
If it is too thick you can whisk in a little non-dairy milk, ½ tsp at a time. And if it is too soft you can either whisk in more sifted icing sugar or pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up a bit.
Spread the buttercream over the cake, decorate as you like and serve.
Top Tips:
For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
If you are using tinned/canned pumpkin puree, make sure that it is 100% pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.
Don’t over-mix the batter as that can make the cake tough, just mix it until no dry lumps remain.
The cake is ready when it is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
The cake would also be great topped with a chocolate buttercream or ganache instead of the coffee buttercream.
The buttercream is quite soft and may get a bit melty if it is warm out. If you want to make a more stable buttercream you can swap 50g of the vegan butter for vegetable shortening (such as Trex).
For the buttercream, if you don’t have any instant espresso powder you can use instant coffee granules instead, but you will need to mix them with 2 tsp non-dairy milk to dissolve them before adding to the butter.
How To Make Pumpkin Puree:
I used tinned pumpkin puree to make this vegan pumpkin bread which I get from Sainsbury’s; it can also be found in some Tesco’s, Waitrose and on Ocado and Amazon. In the supermarkets it is often hidden away in a little ‘American section’ in the world foods aisles.
If you can’t find it however it is also really easy to make your own; you just need to halve, de-seed and roast an eating pumpkin (NOT a carving one) or a butternut squash until it is tender then scoop the flesh out of the skin and puree it until smooth.
Roast it at around 200C/400F/gas mark 6. The time it takes will very much depend on how large the pumpkin/squash is so just cook it until the flesh can easily be pierced with a fork.
I don’t recommend boiling the pumpkin to cook it as that will make the puree, and therefore the cake, too wet.
How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice:
Pumpkin pie spice blend isn’t readily available outside of the US. In the UK the closest thing we have is mixed spice, but it is a different blend of spices to pumpkin spice so it’s not the best thing to use if you want a true pumpkin spice flavour.
The good news is that it is really easy to make your own using a few common spices – cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice.
To make it, just mix together 3 Tbsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp ground cloves and 1 tsp ground allspice.
You can easily halve the recipe if you only want to make a small jar of it, but the homemade pumpkin pie spice will keep in an airtight container for ages and is perfect for using in all your autumnal and festive bakes.
How To Store Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake:
This vegan pumpkin spice latte cake will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days. The buttercream may get a bit melty if it is warm out so you may wish to keep the cake in the fridge.
More Vegan Pumpkin Recipes:
- Vegan pumpkin cake with maple pecans and cinnamon buttercream
- Vegan pumpkin bread
- Vegan pumpkin muffins
- Pumpkin spice granola
- Pumpkin bread rolls
- Vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
- Vegan pumpkin pancakes
- Pumpkin chocolate chip cake bars
- Vegan pumpkin mac and cheese
- Stuffed mini pumpkins with cranberry and pecan rice
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake
Vegan pumpkin spice latte cake – this easy vegan pumpkin sheet cake topped with fluffy coffee buttercream is dreamily soft, moist and delicious. It is full of warming Fall flavours and is a perfect cake for celebrations.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 370 g (3 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 175 g (1 cup) light brown soft sugar
- 130 g (⅔ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 3 ½ tsp pumpkin spice (see post above for instructions to make your own)
- 1 tsp salt
- 425 g (one 15 oz can) pumpkin puree (see post above for instructions to make your own)
- 160 ml (⅔ cup) neutral oil (I use sunflower)
- 135 ml (½ cup + 1 Tbsp) unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 ½ tsp cider or white wine vinegar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream:
- 175 g (¾ cup) vegan block butter (NOT the spreadable kind. I use Naturli Vegan Block) softened
- 2 Tbsp instant espresso powder
- 250 g (2 cups) icing (powdered) sugar sifted (plus extra if needed)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160° fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 23 x 33 cm / 9 x 13 inch rectangular cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
-
Whisk together the plain flour, light brown soft sugar, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, pumpkin spice and salt in a large mixing bowl.
-
Add the pumpkin puree, sunflower oil, non-dairy milk, vinegar and vanilla extract and whisk gently until no dry lumps remain but be careful not to over-mix.
-
Transfer the batter to the prepared tin and spread it level. Bake for about 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
-
Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then carefully lift it out onto a wire rack and leave it to cool completely before icing it.
-
To make the coffee buttercream, place the softened vegan block butter and instant espresso powder in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
-
Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract and whisk on a high speed for a good few minutes until the buttercream is very light and fluffy and the espresso powder has dissolved.
-
If it is too thick you can whisk in a little non-dairy milk, ½ tsp at a time. And if it is too soft you can either whisk in more sifted icing sugar or pop it in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up a bit.
-
Spread the buttercream over the cake, decorate as you like and serve.
Recipe Notes
- For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
- If you are using tinned/canned pumpkin puree, make sure that it is 100% pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.
- The buttercream is quite soft and may get a bit melty if it is warm out. If you want to make a more stable buttercream you can swap 50g of the vegan butter for vegetable shortening (such as Trex).
- For the buttercream, if you don’t have any instant espresso powder you can use instant coffee granules instead, but you will need to mix them with 2 tsp non-dairy milk to dissolve them before adding to the butter.
Desicart
Very nice recipe. We have to try. So easy, flavorful and delicious.
Judy
Loved by everybody – vegans, vegetarians and die hard meat eaters!!
Topped with maple pecans from another of your recipes. They are truly delicious 🙂