Healthy Pumpkin Cake

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Healthy Pumpkin Cake is flavorful, moist, and so simple—all you need is a blender!

Prep Time15

Cook Time40

Total Time55

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American, Healthy, Vegetarian

Keyword: healthy pumpkin cake

Servings: pieces

Author: Chelsea Lords

Cost: $7.19

Equipment

Blender high-powered, see note 1
8 x 8-inch baking pan lined
Stand mixer

Ingredients

Cooking spray

Pumpkin Cake

1 cup dry-roasted and lightly salted cashews see note 2
1 cup old-fashioned oats see note 3
1/4 cup melted coconut oil room temperature
3/4 cup maple syrup see note 4
2 large eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin see note 5
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons cornstarch see note 6

Optional Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice see note 7
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

US - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C). Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper and lightly grease with cooking spray. Set aside.
Add the cashews, oats, oil, maple syrup, eggs, and pumpkin to a large, powerful blender, and pulse until smooth, 90–120 seconds. Add in the rest of the cake ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy, about 60–90 seconds. Stop and scrape down edges as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, using a spatula to scrape every bit into the pan.
Smooth the top with the spatula and bake for 33–38 minutes or until cake is lightly browned at the edges and set in the middle. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean; 36 minutes is perfect in my oven!
Place softened cream cheese in a large bowl with room temperature butter. Using a hand mixer, beat softened cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add in vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix until smooth. Slowly add in powdered sugar, beating between additions, until smooth, creamy, and your desired consistency.
Frost the completely cooled cake with as much frosting as you’d like. The batch of frosting makes a lot, and you can certainly use it all if you’d like, but if you want a less frosted cake, you will likely have about 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra frosting. You can save it and add to your favorite pancakes or waffles! If desired, top the frosting with a light sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice.
Use the overhang of parchment paper to remove the pumpkin cake to a cutting board. Then use a sharp chef’s knife to make decisive cuts. Run the knife under warm water, dry it on a kitchen towel, and repeat for each cut.

Video

Notes

Note 1: You'll need a good, powerful blender like Blendtec® or Vitamix® to break down the cashews without overheating the machine.

Note 2: I love dry-roasted and lightly salted cashews best—more flavor without any extra effort on your part.

Note 3: Although it would make sense that any oats would work since they’re getting blended anyway, it’s important to use old-fashioned to ensure you get the right measurement. Both quick and steel-cut oats are smaller, denser, and more compact, so measurements would be off and the cake would end up too dry.

Note 4: Pure maple syrup is a natural sweetener—unlike corn syrup or pancake syrup—made from the sap of a maple tree, which is boiled down to a thicker consistency. I don't recommend any substitutes.

Note 5: Make sure to get pure canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which has added sugars and spices. I recommend Libby’s® canned pumpkin. Also note that this recipe only calls for 3/4 cup, not the entire can!

Note 6: This is an important ingredient since we aren't using flour and need some additional support and thickness.

Note 7: This is a combination of warming spices that can be found with the other spices in the grocery store, or you can make your own pumpkin pie spice!

Nutrition Note: The Nutrition information does not include the optional cream cheese frosting. With the frosting, one serving of this cake is 226 calories.

Storage: To store Healthy Pumpkin Cake, cool it completely before slicing into bars. For freezing, wrap each unfrosted bar in plastic wrap and place all the wrapped bars in a large freezer bag. Frosted bars don’t freeze as well due to the high dairy content of the cream cheese frosting, so it’s best to freeze them unfrosted. To thaw, set the bars out at room temperature or use the microwave.

Nutrition