This low calorie pumpkin dessert features healthy ingredients like pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and almond butter. It’s soft and delicious, whether you’re on a weight loss diet or not!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this low calorie pumpkin cake
- Packed with Fall pumpkin spice flavor.
- Options for low fat, oil free, and just 100 calories per slice.
- The moist, fluffy texture is out of this world!
- Topped with creamy pumpkin buttercream frosting that melts in your mouth.
- It’s dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free, and vegan.
- The entire recipe comes together in just one bowl. It’s so tasty and easy to prepare, you’ll want to make this cake over and over and over again.
You’ll also love this Crustless Pumpkin Pie
Step by step recipe video
Low calorie pumpkin spice cake ingredients
Pumpkin Puree – You need half a cup of fresh or canned pureed pumpkin. Make sure to buy a can of pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin should be the only ingredient.
Water – To lower the total calories, this pumpkin cake recipe calls for water instead of higher calorie milk or heavy cream.
Almond butter (optional) – Superfood almond butter replaces the oil found in traditional cakes. For a lower calorie option, use high protein Greek yogurt, mashed banana, or additional pumpkin puree.
Flour – I’ve successfully tested this cake with whole grain spelt, white, oat, and all purpose gluten free flour. I also include a low carb option for those who want to use almond flour.
Sweetener – Most similar sized cakes require a cup of sugar or more! In contrast, this low sugar healthier cake almost cuts that amount in half. You may use unrefined cane sugar or a granulated sugar free sweetener. White and brown sugar do work as well.
*I have not tried the recipe with pure maple syrup or honey instead of sugar. Please be sure to report back with results if you experiment.
Spices – Ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice add sweetness naturally, without extra sugar.
Other Ingredients – You also need white or apple cider vinegar, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and pure vanilla extract to make the low calorie dessert.
Pumpkin spice latte cake
It’s so easy to turn this low calorie pumpkin cake into the viral pumpkin spice latte cake that’s been all over social media the past few months.
Replace a fourth cup of the water with strong brewed coffee or espresso. Or stir two teaspoons of instant coffee into the dry cake mix.
If you are making the healthy cream cheese frosting, whip another half teaspoon of instant coffee into the frosting.
And of course, serve with a homemade low calorie Pumpkin Spice Latte.
How to make the low calorie pumpkin recipe
Step 1: Prepare the pan. Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit or 176° Celsius. Line the bottom of an eight inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or grease it well with fat free cooking spray. Set this pan aside.
Step 2: Combine dry ingredients. Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to a large measuring bowl. Stir well.
Step 3: Add wet ingredients. If not already easy to stir, gently warm up the optional almond butter until easily stirrable. Then whisk the pureed pumpkin, water, almond butter, vinegar, and pure vanilla extract into the pumpkin cake mix. Stop stirring when the batter is just evenly combined.
Step 4: Spread into the pan. Use a spatula to transfer the cake batter into your prepared baking pan, and smooth down the top of the cake.
Step 5: Bake. Place the pan on the oven’s center rack. Cook for 18 minutes, or until light and fluffy. A toothpick inserted into the center of the low calorie cake should come out mostly clean.
Step 6: Cool the cake. Carefully move the pan to a wire rack on the counter to cool.
Step 7: Add frosting. Once fully cooled, go around the sides of the pan with a knife to loosen the pumpkin cake. Pop it out onto a large serving plate and add frosting as desired. (Alternatively, you can frost the cake from inside the pan.) If you can wait, the cake tastes even sweeter a day after it’s made.
Step 8: Store leftovers. The recipe is fine to leave out at room temperature for a few hours, such as when transporting to a party or serving to family or guests. For optimal freshness, I recommend storing leftovers covered in the refrigerator and consuming within five days. Or slice and store in a tightly covered container in the freezer for up to three months. Thaw frozen cake before enjoying.
Low calorie pumpkin frosting
Feel free to use any store bought or homemade brown butter, caramel, vanilla buttercream, or even chocolate frosting. You can also dust the cake with powdered sugar.
Or serve it as a coffee cake for breakfast topped with berries or other sliced fruit.
My favorite way to eat the cake is with low calorie Healthy Cream Cheese Frosting.
With a sweet and tangy flavor, this frosting perfectly compliments the pumpkin cake, and it contains no butter or shortening.
I replace half the optional cinnamon in the icing recipe with an equal amount of pumpkin pie spice, for a low calorie and super creamy pumpkin spice frosting.
Pumpkin cake FAQ
To make low calorie pumpkin cupcakes, grease or line a standard size muffin tin instead of a baking pan. Follow the recipe below, and bake the cupcakes 15 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a cupcake. It should come out mostly clean when they are fully baked.
Easy. For a rectangular 9×13 inch cake, double all ingredients. Since the depth of the cake is the same, the baking time remains the same as well.
Yes, you may replace a fourth cup of water with one egg or a fourth cup egg whites. For vegans, you may use one prepared flax egg.
100 Calorie Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour (spelt, white, or all purpose gluten free) (180g) (Or try this low carb Keto Pumpkin Bread)
- 2/3 cup raw cane sugar or granulated sugar free sweetener (130g)
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or additional cinnamon
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (120g)
- 1/2 cup water (120g)
- 3 tbsp almond butter or additional pumpkin puree (45g)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (10g)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar (10g)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (176° Celsius). Line the bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or grease it well. Set aside.
- 2. Stir flour, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
- 3. If using, warm up almond butter until easily stirrable. Stir pumpkin puree, water, almond butter, vinegar, and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients until just evenly mixed.
- 4. Spread batter into the prepared baking pan.
- 5. Bake on the oven's center rack for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean.
- 6. Let cool fully before adding frosting. (Tip: This low calorie pumpkin cake tastes even fluffier and sweeter the next day.)
- 7. Once cooled, you can let the cake sit out for a few hours or store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
More low calorie pumpkin desserts
Crustless Pumpkin Pie (40 calories)
Flourless Pumpkin Muffins (52 calories)
Protein Pumpkin Bread (100 calories)
Pumpkin Dip (60 calories)
Healthy Pumpkin Pie (130 calories)
Pumpkin Mousse (100 calories)
I have a question about the frosting, have you tried the recipe with any of their other flavors? I love the concept but am not the biggest pumpkin fan (crazy I know). I’d love to try it with the mint chocolate creamer if you think that might also be good.
Sure, that would be fantastic!
OOOOO! Thx katie!!
I am SO here for this! I might just skip the cake and eat a bowl of the pumpkin frosting on its own 🤣
lmao
Thank you so much for providing oil-free versions of all your recipes. This cake looks delicious and we will be trying it for sure.
I made the oil free version and it was delicious!
I did mine unfrosted but have the pumpkin creamer on the grocery list for when I make it next time. And there will 100% be a next time ;).
yummy
Has anyone made it with gluten-free flour?
Thank you so much for trying it!
I made it this morning, and both the frosting and cake are so delicious, I ate a slice for breakfast 😍.
This is going in the recipe folder and I might have to make another one for Thanksgiving even though I’ll be alone. All alone with a pumpkin cake… Yum!
This is a depression cake. I make these when I dont want to work to much for a desert lol. I have a different version of this pumpkin cake but love to try new ways. Thank you
Also didn’t know they were 100 calories, good to know
Hi Katie, thank you for making this recipe. Is there a way to buy the Laird pumpkin powder in stores?
I don’t want to buy $45 worth of products of something I haven’t ever tried before to get free shipping, but I would really love to try it.
Same. Is it available not online yet (or ever going to be)?
Hi! It is available in some stores, but also, shipping is already free even online! 🙂
If you’re in the PA area, I am pretty sure I’ve seen it at Wegmans. I never bought it before because I don’t drink coffee so figured it was not something I’d use. But you can put it in frosting? Now you’re speaking my language 😂😂😂
I do have a Wegmans, thank you!!!
Whole Foods has it!
I was in the middle of making a Whole Foods grocery delivery order when I got this email, so I checked and voila! They carry it. So I added it to my cart and am taking it as a sign lolol 😉
@Holly:
You are the hero we all needed. I am always trying to find ways to add to my Whole Foods amazon order so it’ll be high enough to get free delivery.
Glad I saw this! I was about to buy online but noticed it’s actually cheaper at Whole Foods.
Stoked to try this recipe!
It’s at our Costco, great price.
I just got this in my email and gasped out loud. This NEEDS to be made!
Hello! I try most of your recipies! They are good and delicious!!! Any substitute for the “laird Pumpkin spice superfood creamer” that you could think of that is readily available???Thanks
Thank you so much for trying the recipes :). That ingredient is what really makes the frosting amazing, so there’s not a sub that would taste the same. (The frosting can be left off for a plain cake, but if you wanted to try it out, they do offer free shipping and no minimum needed to get the free shipping.)
I made this as an afternoon treat today, but of course didn’t have the specified creamer, so I used some chai concentrate as the liquid in the icing. The frosted cake tastes like a pumpkin cinnamon roll. Highly recommended!
Tasty- took about double the listed time to cook in my oven that normally cooks fast. I also cut the cinnamon by a lot down to 3/4 teaspoon as I didn’t want it to taste like spice cake. Otherwise: delish! And I used oat flour, which worked great for all those gluten free out there.
Can I leave out the creamer and add pumpkin spice and stir in to my vegan pumpkin latte? I’m thinking about starting a new blog. I have something maybe you can make vegan? Levain chocolate chip cookies! So tasty, but they have butter and eggs.! I love you!!!!
Hi Katie,
What are significant differences in taste between this and your Pumpkin Snack Cake? The photos of the two desserts look similarly, but the ingredients are somewhat different. Thanks!
Lauren
They are similar, taste-wise and looks-wise. The biggest difference between the two is that the snack one is sweetened with a liquid sweetener, so the other ingredient amounts are also different to account for that.
Thank you!
Well now you’ve done it! Just ordered 3 of Laird’s products and cannot wait to make this super healthy cake with hardly any saturated fat, yay.
Btw, on top of Laird’s website, they do offer FREE shipping in the US. Verified with my order. Mahalo and Aloha for the recipe and the Laird info Katie.
Hope you like everything as much as we do!
I wanted to buy the pumpkin spice creamer to make that luscious looking frosting from your email, but their website is down. I think you might have crashed it by sending all of us to their website😂. Boo. I will try again later!
Pinned for when I actually have time to bake 😉
This sounds absolutely delightful, and thanks for the Lairds link – I ordered some ASAP so I can make this when the time comes, and I can always use a healthy creamer to spice up my coffee 😉
Is there a good substitute if I don’t want to wait for an order of Laird’s to get here?
What type of vinegar did you use in your 100 calorie pumpkin cake?
Thank you!
White vinegar or apple cider vinegar will both work.
Thank you!!
I am a coffee AND pumpkin addict so everything about this post sounded good to me. Like others on here, I made the recipe sans frosting (and it is delicious) but will make it again with the frosting once I am able to get my hands on the pumpkin pie creamer powder (which also sounds delicious).
Thank you for your great recipes and blog.
The recipe looks great. What does the vinegar do? Wondering about the effect if I leave it out.
It is what helps the cake to rise and be light and fluffy.