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 love your recipes but find your ingredients too vague. Please give your measurements in metric too. American measurements are less scientific and are dependant on ingredient so it makes it very difficult to be exact. Metric is straight forward and accurate. Thank you.
Hi Gillian, we are going to try adding a heading with gram measurements to the new recipes, beginning with the chocolate zucchini bread recipe Katie will be posting on Monday. It will be in the commentary above the recipe box. If people seem to like it, we will continue to do it 🙂
My parents LOVED this when I made it! I think I’ll make it as my birthday cake this year. 25 will be SWEET!
Looks delicious! Is there a way to replace the sugar or can I just leave it out?
Hi, you can use granulated erythritol or xylitol for sugar free 🙂
This sounds DELICIOUS! can I substitute applesauce for the oil?
I’m going to order the pumpkin spice creamer, can’t wait to try that either!
Is it possible to sub almond flour in this?
Made this tonight and halved the frosting as I typically like too much. It was delicious! A fairly healthy sweet treat that I will definitely make again! Thank you!
Has anyone tried doubling so it makes a 9×13 pan? Also is there something i can substitute for the pumpkin creamer powder in the frosting!
I don’t see the recipe for the pumpkin buttercream icing even though I see a lot of comments about the specific creamer needed? Where can I find it? Thanks!!