Vegan Mini Pumpkin Cakes

Made with Let’s Do Organic Cassava Flour and Let’s Do Organic Sweet Potato Flour by @the_bananadiaries

If you’re looking for a fun Halloween or Thanksgiving recipe, these mini pumpkin cakes are for you!

 They’re both vegan and gluten-free thanks to Let’s Do Organic Sweet Potato Flour and Cassava Flour!

These super fun and festive vegan mini pumpkin bundt cakes are shaped like mini pumpkins and filled with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting for the best vegan Halloween or Thanksgiving dessert!

The vegan pumpkin cake is super moist and light while being full of flavor, and in between each little cake is a smear of vegan buttercream frosting and a secret surprise: deliciously spiced vegan cream cheese frosting!

Let’s Do Organic Sweet Potato Flour is made up of just 1-ingredient, you guessed it: sweet potatoes!

It brings subtle sweetness and flavor to this pumpkin bundt cake!

Cassava Flour on the other hand is a perfect 1:1 flour replacement but is gluten-free and paleo-friendly!

Get the recipe below and follow all the instructions!

And don’t be intimidated because these are super easy to make!

Ingredients:

 

Sweet potato cakes:

• 150 mL Native Forest Organic Light Coconut Milk, room temperature 
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (to be mixed with dairy free milk milk) 
• 110 grams Let’s Do Organic Sweet Potato Flour
• 100 grams Let’s Do Organic Cassava Flour
• 1 tbsp Let’s Do Organic Arrowroot Starch
• spices
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 100 grams granulated sugar 
• 78 grams salted vegan butter (I recommend Flora Plant butter), room temperature 
• 87 grams pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Optional (but recommended): 1/4 tsp vanilla powder 
• 1 cups vegan butter, softened 
• 1 3/4 cups organic powdered sugar 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2-4 tbsp unsweetened dairy free milk 

Cream cheese frosting:

• ½ cup vegan cream cheese, room temperature
• ¼ cup vegan butter, room temperature
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ tbsp pumpkin spice

Vegan buttercream:

• 1 batch vegan buttercream
• Vegan orange food coloring

Directions:

• Please read through all instructions before beginning.

• Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F. Measure out all ingredients before beginning. The above recipe will make 1 ½ 4” cakes or 2 cakes using 4 mini bundt cakes. You can double the recipe for more servings. If you’re using the 4” cake pans, be sure to grease and line them with parchment paper (you’ll need 3 for the above recipe). If using a mini bundt cake pan, you’ll need to grease 4. Make the vegan buttermilk by combining the coconut milk and apple cider vinegar together. Set aside.  

• Make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweet potato flour, cassava flour, pumpkin spices, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. Then in a large bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the vegan butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the pumpkin puree, and cream together again. Slowly sift in the dry mixture and the vegan buttermilk in two intervals, using a rubber spatula to fold together between each interval.

• Bake the pumpkin cakes: Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for 27-30 minutes (for the 4” cake pans) or 18-22 minutes (for the mini bundt cake pans), or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

• Frost the cakes: Once the cakes have completely cooled, make the vegan cream cheese frosting first. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the vegan cream cheese and vegan butter until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Then add in the powdered sugar and pumpkin spice, and mix on medium speed until fluffy. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag, and pipe the frosting onto the bottoms of two of the pumpkin cakes, using the remaining pumpkin cakes as toppers. Place the other bundt cake on top of the frosting, and chill the cakes for 20 minutes.

• While the cakes are chilling: Make your pumpkin shaper. Use a leftover and clean dairy free yogurt container, and cut about a 3” wide strip off of the side. Then on the bottom of the strip, cut a curved “v” into the yogurt container strip. This will help shape your buttercream. 

• Right before you’re ready to fully frost the cakes, make the buttercream: Follow the directions for making the vegan buttercream, adding in vegan orange food color until you reach the desired color for your pumpkins. 

• Frost the assembled pumpkin cakes: Pipe the orange frosting around one pumpkin cake evenly. Then use your yogurt container pumpkin shaper, and place it at the base of the pumpkin. Pull up to the top of the container, and scrape off the buttercream. Repeat for the remainder of the pumpkin, forming the pumpkin shape. I like to then chill my pumpkins for 20 minutes before smoothing out the pumpkin. You can use the scraper again.

• Top with a pumpkin stem and serve! I carefully cut the stems off of mini pumpkins (be very careful!) and placed them on top!