This is how a vegan chocolate cake should be: moist, fluffy, and delightfully chocolaty. Add a sweet pumpkin cream on top, and you’ve got yourself a wonderful, healthier cake for autumn!
Are you total chocolate lovers too? If someone waves a bag of chips under my nose, I can easily say "no." But if someone shows up with a bar of dark chocolate, you can bet I'll be at the front of the line. Or even better: chocolate cake!
For me, a great vegan chocolate cake has to be fluffy, moist, and chocolaty – that’s when it’s perfect. And this recipe checks all those boxes! Since it’s autumn, we can’t forget pumpkin – featured here as a sweet, creamy glaze.
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What makes this chocolate cake recipe even better: it’s pretty straightforward! Mix, bake, puree, decorate – done. Sure, the process takes a little time – and as an impatient person, I found it a bit challenging – but the result is simply chocolaty goodness.
The Ingredients
- Spelt Flour – Feel free to swap about a fourth of the flour for whole grain flour, but the cake will be a bit denser. I don’t recommend using only whole grain flour for this recipe.
- Ground Nuts – Add fluffiness and a subtle nutty flavor. Ground hazelnuts pair best with chocolate, in my opinion, but almonds or walnuts work well too.
- Cocoa Powder – Make sure it's not the sweetened kind.
- Coconut Sugar – I love it for baking because of its wonderful caramel-like flavor. Other types of sugar work too, but I haven’t tested liquid sweeteners in this recipe yet.
- Coconut Oil – The recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons. For an oil-free version, substitute with creamy nut butter of your choice.
- Soy Milk – Or any plant-based milk that isn’t too watery.
- Ground Flaxseeds – These act as a vegan egg replacement and shouldn’t be omitted. You can use ground chia seeds instead if you prefer.
- Cashews – These make the pumpkin cream extra creamy. Alternatively, use cashew butter. However, the cream won’t be as light and will turn out slightly firmer. Add a tablespoon of plant milk at a time to loosen the cream, but not too much, or it might become runny.
- Maple Syrup – For a wonderfully mild sweetness.
- Pumpkin Puree – Use canned or make your own! Alternatively, you can use sweet potato puree.
- Cinnamon & Ginger – Perfect for autumn vibes. You can also add a touch of vanilla to the cream for extra flavor.
- Dark Chocolate – Not only does it look amazing on top, but my motto is: the more chocolate, the better!
Now, open that can of pumpkin purée (or make it yourself) and get baking! If you try this chocolate cake with pumpkin frosting, let me know how you like it in the comments below or on instagram (@veggie.jam #veggiejam).
PrintRecipe
Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Frosting
- Prep Time: 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
That's how a chocolate cake should be: Moist, fluffy and chocolatey. Add a sweet and creamy pumpkin frosting to that and you got yourself a great cake for fall!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
- 1 cup ground nuts (100 g) (e.g. hazelnut)
- 2 cup spelt flour (250 g)
- ½ cup cocoa, unsweetened (50 g)
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon coconut sugar or other dry sweetener (150 g)
- 1 tbsp flax meal
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or a runny nut butter
- 1 ½ cup soy milk, unsweetened
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Pumpkin Frosting
- 1 cup cashews (130 g)
- 1 cup pumpkin purée (250 g)
- ½ cup maple syrup (160 g)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger (optional)
- ¼ cup dark chocolate shavings (optional)
Instructions
- Place the cashews in hot water and soak for at least 30 min.
- Mix the flax meal with ¼ cup warm water and put aside for 5 min. Pre-heat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
- For the cake, combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and all the wet ingredients (including the flax mixture) in a seperate bowl. Combine everything but don't overstir, otherwise the cake will become too dense.
- Pour the dough into a greased Ø 7 inch (18 cm) cake pan. Bake in the oven for 45-60 min. Check with a toothpick if your cake is done.
- Let the cake cool completely. In the meantime, prepare the pumpkin frosting. Drain the cashews and blend with the remaining ingredients (except for the chocolate shavings) until creamy.
- Once the cake is completely cooled, cut it horizontally. Spread half of the frosting on the bottom half of the cake, carefully place the second half on top and garnish with the rest of the pumpkin frosting.
- Sprinkle the cake with chocolate shavings and place in the fridge until ready to serve. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.
Notes
In case you don't like or have pumpkin purée you can also use a baked sweet potato and blend it up.
If you want to use a larger cake pan, keep in mind that the cake will be flatter and it will be harder to cut it in half.
This post is also available in German (Deutsch).
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