A rich pumpkin chocolate cake that can be dressed up with frosting or is perfect for snacking!
Super Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
One Bowl
Vegan
Low Fat
Oil Free Option
8 Ingredients
This simple chocolate cake is so good it will make you forget all about pumpkin pie! After all, who needs pie when you have chocolate cake? On second thought, why not have both?
Better Than Boxed Cake Mix
If you’ve ever seen those recipes where you take a boxed chocolate cake mix and add canned pumpkin, this reminds me a lot of that idea. However the results of making your own instead of going with the box are markedly better – the cake will be much richer and have both better texture and depth of flavor.
Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting, whipped cream, coconut butter, sliced banana or strawberries, keto ice cream or coconut ice cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar. This time, I decided to add extra mini chocolate chips to the top right before the cake went in the oven.
Prep work for the recipe takes about 5 minutes.
And it can be made in one bowl, meaning very little cleanup. It’s almost too easy…
Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
Adapted from this Chocolate Banana Cake and my Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
Print This Recipe
[mrp_rating_result show_count="false" show_rich_snippets="false"]
Ingredients
- 1 cup spelt, white, or gf ap flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp Dutch (or additional unsweetened) cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 2/3 cup water
- 3/4 cup sugar, unrefined if desired
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree or sweet potato
- 1/4 cup nut butter of choice, or oil
- 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
Line an 8-inch pan with parchment. Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients, and stir very well. Evenly stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle chips on top if desired. (See video earlier in the post.) Bake on the center rack for 25 minutes. Let cool completely. Cover loosely with a towel overnight, either refrigerated or on the counter – it’s best not to eat the cake until the next day, because taste and texture are much better! (I haven’t tried any substitutions not listed, such as using almond flour or omitting the oil or nut butter, so I can’t vouch for those, but feel free to experiment at your own risk, and be sure to report back if you do.)
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Whitney says
Looks absolutely wonderful!
Deb-do says
Mm yes! This cake looks scrumptious. Also Katie, you should do more posts about yourself! I miss all the story/life posts about you?
Little Plastic Footprint says
This looks delicious! thanks for the share!
Sharon says
This is a very good snack cake. For the sugar I used coconut sugar. I used 1/2 the amount of cinnamon. I mixed chips into the batter. Yum 😋
Tasa says
Can you use honey, or maple syrup. If so how much ?
Jason Sanford says
It would be changing the liquid-solid balance, so you’d probably have to make some other changes. But be sure to report back if you experiment!
Jason
Macarena says
Hi Katie! Would you mind to put how many grams a portion is? You used to put that information in the nutricion facts and it was very useful. But I noticed there are a lot of new recipes that haven’t got it.
Jason Sanford says
We liked that feature as well! Unfortunately it was a change in the online counter from Calorie Count that doesn’t offer it anymore. Hopefully they will bring it back in the future!
Jason (media relations)
Cassie Thuvan Tran says
Snack cakes are some of the best ones because they’re so easy to bake AND you can have them any time of the day! Then again, cake ALWAYS sounds good. 😉
Katie says
Hi,
These look delicious, might have to cook up the pumpkin decor. 🙂
Just thinking about other delicious things and haven’t made monster cookies for my husband since going DF. He’d live off of them if I let him! I haven’t dug into your site extensively but enough to not find something.. do you happen to have ideas for M&Ms? Any brands that you’ve tried that are good? Or…. is it possible to make such delicate little candy covered chocolates at home??
Kaela says
I made this yesterday! so easy and so stinking good!
M says
Oh my!! I made this cake for a group of mostly non-vegans (only a couple are vegan) and everyone LOVED it! No one could tell it was vegan – simply a delicious chocolate cake! Will definitely be keeping the recipe for future use. Thank you!
Mardi Himal Trek says
Seems yummy cake and want to try it.
Kate Sizemore says
This recipe is SO good! Thank you!!! I used Nutella for the nut butter—so yummy!
Lisa says
Yum! I used a premium grade unbleached non gmo organic flour, avocado oil, pumpkin purée and golden cane sugar. I also tossed in two eggs and as per recommendation waited until the following day to indulge. It was delicious and a keeper for the recipe book. Rodelleorganic baking cocoa dark pressed gives a true chocolate after taste that makes you want to eat this cake in one sitting. Thank you.
Deena says
Wanted to report back: I used 2 tbsp earth balance (made with olive oil) + 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce instead of the 1/4 cup oil/nut butter and it worked GREAT. Also used erythritol instead of sugar. Great recipe thank you!!
Jason Sanford says
Thank you so much for reporting back, I want to try it now your way!
Jason
Lucy C Karwoski Korpi says
I used 1 cup butternut squash, 1 T olive oil (no nut butter), added one large egg, and since the day was super hot– I microwaved this for 3 minutes on high. I put some chocolate chips and pecans on the top for the last 20 seconds. Turned out perfectly!
Jennifer H says
Very moist, chocolatey and delicious! I used almond butter, whole spelt flour, and replaced 1/4 cup sugar with Swerve sugar substitute. Baked it after dinner, covered it and ate the next morning. Super easy recipe, thank you 🙂
Kelly Tan says
Hi would like to check how many this would make if I bake it in standard muffin pan? Also for gf ap flour do I need to add xanthan gum if my flour doesn’t contain it? Thanks!
Jason Sanford says
Hmm I guess it depends on the brand of flour! Katie usually uses Bob’s cup for cup and doesn’t add any xanthan gum. We haven’t tried it as muffins so don’t know how long it would take for that. Good luck experimenting!
Jason
Lisa says
Delicious And super easy recipe!! Used coconut oil and added some chocolate chips to the batter. Turned out super moist and chocolatey but not overly sweet. Will definitely be making this again ?
Mimi says
FIVE STARS! I love recipes that you can toss together in one bowl and easily clean. I left out the cinnamon and used a mix of dark chocolate and semi sweet chocolate, and used peanut butter. This tasted like brownie batter, AMAZING! I will be using this recipe on repeat!
Audrey says
Made these last week. They tasted was great but doesn’t leave you satisfied afterward (at least for me) and were pretty flat. If I make again, I’ll try using 100% whole wheat flour next time and maybe add zucchini for extra fiber.
Any suggestions appreciated
CCK Media Team says
Hi, did you mean to leave this comment on a different recipe? This is a cake recipe, but your comment makes it sound like you made bars?
Lynn Armstrong says
Finally! A vegan chocolate cake with the right texture! All the other cake recipes I’ve tried come out too dense, too gummy, or too crumbly! This one has the right moisture and holds together but still has a light texture. I think it’s thanks to the pumpkin purée. 5 stars! Thanks Katie❣️
CCK Media Team says
Thank you so much for trying it!