A tender moist crumb with a touch of chocolate, Vegan Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Maple Drizzle is a crowd pleaser! Brown sugar, applesauce, coconut oil and pumpkin combine for a super moist vegan bundt cake while a touch of chocolate, cinnamon and buttery pecans offers interest and a bit of crunch. | This recipe is vegetarian and vegan.
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Pumpkin Season
Luckily, I was ready for it with this vegan bundt cake. I’ve made this cake several times, after making it for the first time last year. I’ve a thick spiral notebook full of recipes I’ve made, tested, remade and marked as ready, like this one. But there are plenty too that are just okay… still in the works. Not quite ready.
I’m putting the final touches on a buttery apple recipe for next week, so get your rolling-pin out and buy your favorite bag of flour.
Secret Ingredients
When I tell people my secret ingredients in vegan baking, many are curious how it can be done and sometimes think I’ve used some strange, inaccessible ingredients. Then they taste the recipe with a skeptical eye, only for me to spy them reaching for another piece of… whatever.
Or here’s another scenario. Cake goes to a potluck or work. People love it, devour it… then ask for the recipe. They find said … whatever, has no eggs or dairy in it but instead has plant based subs such as coconut oil, applesauce or coconut or other nut milk.
They’re pleasantly surprised. And how….?
Vegan Baking
But I find if there’s a strong component such as chocolate, sweet potato, or spices for example., in a particular recipe, then formulating a recipe with plant based subs is an easy swap that’s virtually undetectable (I’m looking at you coconut haters). The eggs and dairy aren’t missed in these types of recipes.
I’ve seen and tasted it and have written about it before here. The more I bake, the more confident I am in these subs and sharing them in this space since I know for some Vanilla And Bean readers, this is imperative.
Because this vegan pumpkin cake contains chocolate and pumpkin, I decided to give it a go with my secret subs. It just works. The pecans add a buttery factor anyway – I think this is why I love them so much.
So if you’ve not tried plant based swaps in your baking, I hope you’ll give vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake with Chocolate Maple Drizzle a try!
Ingredients for this Vegan Pumpkin Cake
Starting with room temperature ingredients is important so that the ingredients mix evenly and so the coconut oil wont solidify as you begin mixing. Here’s what you’ll need (see recipe card for details):
- Coconut Milk – full fat
- Maple Syrup – the real stuff!
- Cocoa Powder
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- Corn Starch
- Baking Powder and Soda
- Spices such as Cinnamon and Nutmeg
- Brown Sugar
- Apple Sauce
- Pumpkin Puree
- Pecans
- Vanilla
Quick Guide: How to Make this Vegan Bundt Cake Recipe
The drizzle can be made several days in advance and if whipping up homemade pumpkin puree for this cake, bake and puree the pumpkin then freeze it, weeks in advance! In summary, here’s how to make this scrumptious pumpkin cake (see recipe card for details):
- First, make the maple drizzle by whisking the coconut milk, maple syrup and cocoa powder together. Whisk until smooth, then strain. Set in fridge to thicken while you make the cake.
- Second, prepare your bundt pan by oiling the pan with coconut oil including the center.
- Third, sift in the flour, corn starch, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
- Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, add the sugar, coconut oil, apple sauce, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Whisk until an emulsion is formed. Fold in the dry ingredients, then last the pecans.
- Last, pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake.
Allow to cool for about ten minutes before turning the cake out to cook completely. Super easy to make, this vegan pumpkin cake is tender, moist and such a crowd pleaser!
A Few Recipe Notes
- To flour or not to flour the bundt pan. I use a Nordic Ware bundt pan – nonstick. I simply use liquid coconut oil to throughly oil the pan. Brush the pan with a pastry brush getting all the nooks and crannies, as well as the center of the pan. No need for flour and I find it comes out beautifully every time.
- The chocolate maple drizzle is made with cocoa powder, maple and coconut milk. I chose cocoa powder because I can easily control the chocolatey-maple flavor without making it too sweet. Be sure to strain the mixture using a fine mesh strainer so it’s smooth. It’s the first thing to make so it has time to set up in the refrigerator while the cake is baking and cooling. It needs to be thick enough so that it holds on to the cake rather than running off and all over the cake plate.
- I use homemade pumpkin puree in this recipe. If using canned pumpkin puree, whisk in a few tablespoons of water to loosen it a bit.
- When mixing the wet ingredients, it’s best to start with room temperature ingredients and very warm to the touch melted coconut oil. If the ingredients are too cold, the coconut oil will turn solid. It needs to stay in a liquid state so that an emulsion can be created. If it solidifies, after all the wet ingredients are together, gently warm the wet mixture in the microwave, 20-30 seconds at a time until the coconut oil turns to a liquid state again. Whisk again.
More Bundt Cakes to Love!
- Blueberry Cinnamon Yogurt Coffee Cake
- The Ultimate Chocolate Bundt Cake by Foolproof Living
- Gluten Free Chocolate Bundt Cake by Bojon Gourmet
- Pumpkin Spice Cake Bundt by Kitchen Confidant
Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake with Chocolate Maple Drizzle
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Maple Drizzle:
- 1/2 C (125g) Full Fat Coconut Milk from a can (leftovers can be frozen)
- 3 Tbs Maple Syrup
- 3 Tbs Unsweetened Cocoa Powder dutch process, I use Rodelle
For the Cake:
- 1 3/4 C (290g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 Tbs Corn Starch
- 1 Tbs Unsweetened Cocoa Powder dutch process, I use Rodelle
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 1/4 tsp Cinnamon ground
- 1 tsp Nutmeg ground
- 3/4 tsp Fine Sea Salt
- 1 1/4 C (265g) Dark Brown Sugar packed
- 3/4 C (140g) Coconut Oil virgin, unrefined - melted and warm to the touch
- 1 C (245g) Unsweetened Apple Sauce room temperature
- 1 3/4 C (425g) Pumpkin Puree room temperature (see note)* not pumpkin pie
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract or vanilla bean paste
- 1 C (120g) Pecan Pieces chopped into small bits
Instructions
For the Chocolate Maple Drizzle:
- Open the can of coconut milk and whisk the solids and liquids together. Measure out 1/2 cup and pour it into a medium bowl. Add the maple syrup and cocoa powder. Whisk until the ingredients are smooth. There may be a few lumps left, just do the best you can. Strain into a lidded storage container and set in fridge to thicken while you make the cake.
For the Cake:
- Throughly coat a 10" (25cm) bundt pan with coconut oil including the center. Using a pastry brush or paper napkin, be sure to get all the nooks and crannies. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) and set an oven rack in the center.
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift in the flour, corn starch, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar, coconut oil, apple sauce, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Whisk until an emulsion is formed, until all the ingredients become incorporated and there's no separation. If the coconut oil solidifies, which it has for me before, gently warm the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds at a time - the oil will melt again - give it a good whisk and you're off!.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches, folding the ingredients together just until there are no patches of flour. Try not to over mix - think gentle folding. Add the pecan bits and gently fold them in. Pour the mixture into the prepared bundt pan and give it a gentle tap on the counter to tap out any air bubbles. Bake at 350F (180C) for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be springy under gentle pressure.
- Set cake, while still in the pan, on a cooling rack. Cool for 20 minutes, then turn out cake on to cooling rack. Allow cake to cool completely (several hours) before pouring the drizzle over the cake.
- Before serving, give the drizzle a good stir. Do a test pour on the back of a spoon to see if the drizzle is the consistency you're after for the cake. It needs to be thick, but no so thick it doesn't drizzle. If it's too thick, let it come up to room temperature a bit. Pour over and around on cake. Serve any extra with individual slices or save it for ice cream :D .
- The cake will store in a covered container, at room temperature for up to three days.
