I am not ashamed to admit that, as soon as the temperature starts to drop and leaves start to fall, I am ready for everything I eat and drink to either have pumpkin or cinnamon in it. Fortunately, my vegan pumpkin spice traybake has both and it goes perfectly with a pumpkin spice latte!
I came up with this recipe after a discussion with a friend about what to do with the bits you scoop out of a pumpkin when you carve it. (The answer to that question is very little. You only scoop out the seeds and pulp but not the actual flesh. Also, carving pumpkins are grown to be large but not very flavoursome.) Whilst you can’t use the innards of your carving pumpkin for this recipe, I do recommend using fresh pumpkin rather than canned puree. The reason for this is that the canned stuff is usually shipped from abroad. Whilst it is convenient, it is not nearly as satisfying to use as a locally-sourced pumpkin or squash. Most farm shops have fresh pumpkins at this time of year, and it takes almost no time to prepare it for this vegan pumpkin spice traybake.
Why do we love pumpkin spice, and what exactly is it?
Pumpkin spice doesn’t actually have pumpkin in it. It is a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves that we often use to spice a pumpkin pie. However, we use those three spices in many Autumn and Winter dishes because of their warm, comforting flavour. Pumpkins are native to North America and were an early export to France and Tudor England. Recipes for pumpkin pie can be found in English cookbooks from the seventeenth century; although, pumpkin ‘pies’ made by early American colonists were more likely a savoury soup than an actual pie.
The smell of fresh pumpkin is one of those scents that instantly reminds me of Autumn. Its vegetal aroma like crisp leaves on a forest floor. It is no wonder, then, that the pumpkin quickly found its way into both sweet and savoury dishes. However, whilst pumpkins may have been imported to England for hundreds of years, their use in sweet dishes has not always been accepted. Even now, there is a large proportion of people who would find the idea of pumpkin in cake less than appetising. That being said, pumpkin spice flavoured desserts have become increasingly popular in the UK, in recent years; not least because of a certain coffee chain’s pumpkin spice latte.
Is vegan cake difficult to make?
Vegan cakes are actually easier to make than you might first think. You can easily swap out butter for vegan butter, margarine or olive oil spread. Just be sure to check it is actually vegan as some butter substitutes use buttermilk to ‘enhance’ the flavour and this is obviously not plant-based. Eggs, on the other hand, can be more tricky to substitute.
Eggs perform two functions in cake: they act as a binding agent, to hold everything together; and they also act as a raising agent, to make the cake light and fluffy. Some cakes use flax or chia seed as a binding agent, but this cake doesn’t need it. Instead, my vegan pumpkin spice traybake has no egg substitute, but relies on a mix of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to give it rise. The only thing to remember is not to over-mix the batter or it will get tough and chewy!
Vegan Pumpkin Spice Traybake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 270 g fresh pumpkin
- 120 g vegan butter
- 90 ml oat milk
- 150 g light brown sugar
- 100 g caster sugar
- 1 tsp cider vinegar
- 280 g plain flour
- 10 g baking powder
- 5 g bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp ground cloves
- A pinch salt
For the frosting
- 90 g vegan butter
- 180 g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the fondant pumpkins
- 80 g orange fondant icing
- 50 g green fondant icing
Method
How to make the pumpkin puree
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This recipe calls for 270g of puree. To make the puree, you will need a pumpkin about the size of both your fists clenched together.
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Peel the pumpkin, then cut it in half and remove the seeds and pulp.
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Cut the pumpkin into 1cm cubes and place in a saucepan. Cover with water.
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Bring the pan to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the pumpkin is soft and tender.
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Drain the pumpkin and then puree, either with a potato masher or in a food processor. Leave to cool.
Next, make the cake
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Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan) and line a 9" square cake pan with baking parchment.
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Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the oat milk, light brown sugar and caster sugar. Let everything melt together then add the pumpkin puree and cider vinegar.
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In a separate bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
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Next, add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. I also add a pinch of salt, to enhance the flavour, but this is optional. Stir the dry ingredients together until fully combined.
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Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients. Fold the mix together until there are no lumps of flour, being careful not to over-mix.
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Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for around 25 minutes, or until a skewer placed in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
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Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and allowing to cool completely.
Now make the cinnamon frosting!
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Beat the vegan butter in a bowl until light and fluffy.
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Carefully fold in the icing sugar, to avoid making a huge cloud of sugar. Once combined, add the vanilla extract and ground cinnamon.
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Beat the frosting vigorously to make it light and spreadable, then transfer to a piping bag (if you have one).
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Pipe (or spread, if you don't have an icing bag) the icing onto the cooled cake and smooth over the entire top of the cake.
Now make the fondant pumpkins
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I generally dye my own fondant, using white fondant and gel food colouring. That is fine to do here, if you wish. Alternatively, you can use pre-coloured fondant.
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Take a piece of fondant, about 1cm in diameter, and roll into a ball.
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Flatten the ball, using your thumb, so that it forms a slightly elongated oval.
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Using the larger end of a piping nozzle, press a crescent shape into one side of the flattened, fondant disc.
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Here is an example of what it should look like. Next, do the same on the opposite side, before pressing a line down the middle with a straight tool (such as a table knife). Be sure not to press all the way through the fondant disc.
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Next, push in the top and bottom of the disc with your fingers or a modelling tool so that it looks more pumpkin shaped.
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Once you've shaped the pumpkin, take a small piece of green fondant and roll thinly. Here it is shown next to the fondant pumpkin, for reference.
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Using a little dab of water as glue, stick the stalk to the top of the fondant pumpkin and curl it around to make it look more authentic.
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Make 16 fondant pumpkins and leave to dry (overnight, ideally) before placing on top of the cake to decorate, in a four-by-four grid pattern
