In the weeks that led up to Cullen’s birthday, I had cake ideas floating around my brain all day long. I originally planned to do three different flavors, since I knew I was baking three separate cakes. I even baked a few test runs of apple spice cake (delicious!). But as the date got closer, the reality of cooking all the lunch food, plus three separate cakes set in, and I decided to simplify by picking my favorite flavor. There was no question as to which one was best.
Frosting presented it’s own set of challenges, from vegan-izing to coloring – we went through a LOT of powdered sugar this month. In the end, I’m glad I stuck with it. The only thing that really mattered to me was that I had a homemade cake for Cullen. It was carved by hand and the icing was full of crumbs, but it was baked with love and enjoyed with friends and family. What more can you ask for?
Pumpkin Spice Cake with (Vegan) Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
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1 cup all purpose flour
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1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon sea salt
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1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
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1/2 teaspoon allspice
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1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
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1/8 teaspoon cloves
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1/4 cup brown sugar
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1/2 cup maple sugar (or sub regular cane sugar)
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1/4 cup coconut oil
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1/4 cup Earth Balance or butter
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2 eggs (whole)
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1 cup canned pumpkin
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1/4 cup Earth Balance or butter
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1 tub (8oz) vegan cream cheese (I used Follow Your Heart brand)
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1 teaspoon vanilla
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1 pound powdered sugar
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food coloring (optional)
Instructions
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (including sugar). In a stand mixer (or you can also use a mixing bowl and hand mixer), combine coconut oil and butter and beat until fluffy. Add the pumpkin and eggs and continue to mix until smooth. The coconut oil might look a little lumpy since it hardens when cooled, and that’s okay – it will melt evenly during baking.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, and beat until just combined. Grease an 8×8 square pan (an 8 or 9 inch round pan should also work), and pour batter in – use a spatula to spread evenly to the sides and smooth the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes (I found 28 to be the sweet spot in my oven!), or until the top is golden brown and starting to crack. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Clean and dry your stand mixer bowl while your cake is baking. Then add the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Some of the vegan cream cheeses are a bit funky – I prefer this Follow Your Heart brand. The ingredient list doesn’t scare me, and I find it to be the most realistic in taste.
Sloooooowly add the powdered sugar a bit at a time. If you add it too fast, the dust will go everywhere! Add the entire 1 pound bag – it seems like a ton (and it is), but it’s needed for the frosting to stiffen. Add food coloring if needed, and then transfer the entire batch to a refrigerator-safe container. Chill for at least 6 hours before using – you want the icing to be firm.
My original plan was to use natural food colorings, which I sought out and paid a pretty penny for at our local health food store.
I did a test run a few weeks prior, and the natural food colorings were a disaster. No matter what I tried, everything came out looking like the color of a band-aid. Not very appetizing.
I was hoping for really bright, bold colors to match Cullen’s birthday shirt, and ended up scoring these color gels by Duff Goldman at Michael’s. Not quite as “natural” as I had hoped, but the colors were perfect, so I went with it.
Okay back to the directions…
When you frost the cake, frost immediately after taking the icing out of the refrigerator. Once frosted, place the cake back in the fridge or another cool spot (I put mine in a cake stand on the back patio!), and allow the icing to set for 15-30 minutes.
Once the icing has set, you can bring the cake back into room temperature. Mine sat out the whole day afterward and were delicious!
Decorate, slice, and serve!
In all my cake baking, I wish I had thought to photograph a piece that is actually sliced. It was absolutely delicious. To make Cullen’s cakes, I just baked all three in square pans and then carved the letters out by hand once they had cooled. Frosting was messy and tricky, but I don’ think Cullen noticed.
The inside is moist and fluffy with just a light sweetness – a perfect balance to the sweet frosting. I think this would be great for a Halloween party, or even as a Thanksgiving dessert if you’re looking for alternatives (or additions to!) pumpkin pie. Or if you have a fall baby like me, spice up a traditional birthday cake!
All of our cakes disappeared by the next morning, which is always a good sign of a successful treat. As always, enjoy!
38 Comments so far
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Timely post for me. I’m looking up how to frost cakes right now! This looks delicious and what a special memory with the ONE in three cakes. Must have been a lot of work, but well worth it <3
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This is amazing. Liam is going to be one so soon and although I plan to ugly-cry my way through it, I love this idea and plan to steal it!
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Thank you so much for the recipe and idea!! I am def going to make this “ONE” cake for my son’s first birthday next summer!:)
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Hello deliciousness! I have always wondered about the FYH cream cheese. I haven’t eaten dairy in so long that I’m sure it would probably taste close enough to what I can remember. Plus, what is pumpkin without cream cheese frosting?! It would be like carrot cake without cream cheese frosting! Thanks for sharing.
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Okay first, this cake sounds amazing and second, it looks FANTASTIC! You are so creative. :)
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Emily those cakes look awesome! I love those colors, and cullen is adorable!
sheransheworkedsheconquered.wordpress.com
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You carved the cakes? Emily, they look(ed) incredible! I thought you had bought letter shaped pans!
Cold weather has finally come to south Louisiana. I might have to bake this this weekend as I’m finally in the mood for pumpkin!
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Supermom!
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WOW! Can’t wait to try this! Your cakes for Cullen’s birthday were so cute!
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Good to know about those natural food dyes. They have them at our Whole Foods and I’ve been eyeing them up. I love India Trees sprinkles, though! They have an natural line [I forget the exact name] that is all colored with veggies and spices. Such a cute cake!!
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Gosh the cakes look so cute! I love those natural dyes but they are SO pricey!! I wish they made more affordable, natural food colorings so I could actually get them :) Definitely a good investment for your son’s first birthday!
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I can’t believe how much work and love you put into this party! You’re such an amazing mama (and totally have me inspired thinking about G’s party in 9 months time!).
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I made this last night (w a different frosting) and the cake was AMAZING. Seriously…moist w the pumpkin almost like pumpkin pie moist on the very bottom, but firm and wonderful. THanks for always posting such yummy recipes! We plan on making this for Thanksgiving :-)
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I’ve seen that company of natural food coloring as well…and wondered how effective they are. They are SO expensive!!! Haha. These look delish!
I’m totally craving a cake now…
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Amazing job! I love the idea of using seasonal flavors for a fall birthday. Maybe I’ll bake this cake for Thanksgiving this year instead of pumpkin pie! :)
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Wow this looks amazing!
Quick question: instead of maple sugar, could I use maple syrup? I don’t think I’d be able to find maple sugar in England, but want to keep the flavour!
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Your birthday cake is adorable. Homemade is always so much better than store bought for events like this…way to go Mom!
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Such a good mama, Emily! This looks like a lot of work but I believe you that it was delicious! Such great photos too, Cullen will enjoy seeing them years from now.
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looks tasty.
what’d you do with the carvings? just curious.
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Yum! These look amazing and sound so easy to make. I love vegan buttercream so vegan cream cheese frosting must be YUM!
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I am craving it SO BAD today…. must…make…cake… ;) So delicious.
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Might be a silly question, but I want to make this but use dairy cream cheese in the frosting, are there any changes I need to make because of this?
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Emily Malone Reply:
October 30th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Nope, should be exactly the same! Hope you like it. :)
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Caitlin Reply:
October 31st, 2012 at 9:46 am
Me again! So the frosting (that tastes AMAZING) made much more than I needed for my 1 cake, but I intend on remaking the cake on Saturday (made the first one Tuesday night), do you think the frosting will last in my fridge until then or should I just toss it and make another batch?
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I can’t wait until I get time to make this! Thanks Emily!
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Do you think this would work with a straight substitution of applesauce for the pumpkin? I’m planning to make an apple cake for my little one’s first birthday next month, and I love that your recipe is full of good things, not artificial and scary ingredients!!
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Emily Malone Reply:
October 30th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Probably, I don’t see why not! Do a test run before the big day though. :)
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Awesome, thank you!! Cullen really could not be any cuter. I can’t believe how mobile he is! My little boy is 13+ months and he is barely able to stand without help. I guess you have a future runner on your hands!
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Looks sooo yummy! Do you think you could make this recipe into cupcakes instead?
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Emily Malone Reply:
October 30th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
Probably – just need to adjust the baking time a bit!
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Laura Reply:
November 11th, 2012 at 6:28 am
@Nicole – Hi! Did you make the cupcakes? How long did you bake them? Thanks!
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So I made this for my anniversary. At my wedding we had 2 flavors of cake, chocolate and pumpkin spice. Since we were waiting out Hurricane Sandy here in NH I decided to cook up something special. Thanks for the delicious recipe- It was wonderful!!!
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Sounds so yummy! I always liked doing spice cakes for first birthdays, wish I had thought to do pumpkin! Regardless, I can still try this for the next big kid birthday cake! (Or for no reason other than to bake a cake. Or cupcakes)
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I just made this recipe last night & it is AWESOME! This is my new favorite “go to” pumpkin recipe…so moist! Thank you!
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Emily Malone Reply:
November 2nd, 2012 at 11:21 pm
Awesome! So glad you liked it!
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So I have a seemingly odd question but no one has asked it yet so here goes– Why bother to make a vegan frosting for a non-vegan cake? It just seems so odd to me. Looks delicious though!
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Emily Malone Reply:
November 5th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Well we don’t really label ourselves as anything other than vegetarian, although we do avoid dairy right now. So both are non-dairy, while the frosting is entirely vegan and the cake has eggs. Vegan frostings are harder to come by, which is why I labeled it so specifically! We also had a few guests at the party who needed to avoid dairy, and I wanted them to realize it wasn’t a traditional cream cheese frosting.
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Kandace Reply:
February 27th, 2013 at 1:57 pm
If your vegan you don’t eat eggs so how could you eat the cake ? There is plenty of recipes out there without eggs! Eggs are a product of animals….
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