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A stack of three vegan pumpkin whoopie pies on a metal plate, one with a bite taken out of it.
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Vegan Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These vegan pumpkin whoopie pies with cheesecake filling are so easy to make and addictively good! They are cake-like spiced pumpkin flavoured cookies sandwiched with a rich, tangy cream cheese filling.
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Diet Vegan
Keyword cookies
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Chilling Time: 6 hours
Servings 14 whoopie pies
Author Domestic Gothess

Equipment

  • blender
  • disposable piping bag
  • 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop (optional)

Ingredients

Cheesecake Filling:

  • 100 g (1 cup) raw cashews
  • 200 g (7 oz) vegan cream cheese (I use Violife)
  • 30 g (2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) vegan block butter or coconut oil melted
  • 40 g (⅓ cup) icing (powdered) sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)

Cakes:

  • 180 g (1 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 200 g (1 cup) light brown soft sugar
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 240 g (1 cup) pumpkin puree
  • 73 g (⅓ cup) oil (I use olive)
  • 45 g (3 Tablespoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Cheesecake Filling:

  • Ideally you should start the day before you want to serve the whoopie pies. To make the cheesecake, place the cashews in a heat-proof bowl, cover with plenty of boiling water and leave to soak for 30-60 minutes.
    100 g (1 cup) raw cashews
  • Drain the cashews really well then place them in a blender along with the cream cheese, melted butter, icing sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract and cornflour. Blend until completely smooth with no hint of graininess from the cashews. If you do not have a high speed blender this may take a while and you will need to stop regularly to scrape down the sides.
    200 g (7 oz) vegan cream cheese (I use Violife), 30 g (2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) vegan block butter or coconut oil, 40 g (⅓ cup) icing (powdered) sugar, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 ½ teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
  • Pour the blended cheesecake mixture into a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 6 hours, until set.

Cakes:

  • To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 180°C/160℃ fan/350°F/gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
  • Stir together the plain flour, brown sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a mixing bowl.
    180 g (1 ½ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, 200 g (1 cup) light brown soft sugar, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • Add the pumpkin puree, oil, milk and vanilla extract and stir with a balloon whisk to make a smooth, thick batter.
    240 g (1 cup) pumpkin puree, 73 g (⅓ cup) oil (I use olive), 45 g (3 Tablespoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy), 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Either use a 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop/small ice cream scoop to scoop blobs of the batter well spaced apart onto the baking sheets, or transfer the batter to a disposable piping bag, snip off the end and pipe blobs of around 1 ½ - 2 Tablespoons each onto the baking sheets. You may not be able to fit all of the batter onto the two sheets, this is fine and you can bake the cakes in batches if needed.
  • Optionally wet your finger and use it to smooth off any peaks. Bake the cakes for 13 - 15 minutes until springy and dry to the touch.
  • Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully peel the cakes off the paper and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly:

  • Once the cakes have cooled, give the chilled cheesecake mixture a quick stir so that it is smooth, then transfer it to a disposable piping bag.
  • Snip the tip off the piping bag and pipe generous blobs of the cheesecake onto the underside of half of the cakes. You can spread the cheesecake on rather than piping it if you don't have a piping bag.
  • Gently press the remaining cakes on top of the cheesecake to create the sandwiches. Store in a single layer in a lined container in the fridge.

Notes

  • See post above for tips, details, storage instructions and step-by-step photos.
  • All of my recipes are developed using grams, and as with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup coversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
  • Tablespoon and teaspoon measurements are for proper measuring spoons, NOT regular kitchen spoons. A Tablespoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml and they should be level, not heaped.
  • The cheesecake filling ideally needs to be made the day before you want to serve the whoopie pies as it needs at least 6 hours in the fridge to set.
  • When assembling the whoopie pies, take the time to pair cakes of similar shapes & sizes. The assembled whoopie pies will look better if you pick two halves that are the same size rather than pairing a larger one with a smaller one.
  • Recipe adapted and veganised from here: https://preppykitchen.com/pumpkin-whoopie-pies/