Delicious dairy-free gluten-free Pumpkin Spice Cake studded with rich walnuts and topped with decadent cream cheese frosting! A lighter, healthier option for homemade dessert during the holidays. This easy-to-make, from-scratch cake is a family favorite and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Made with whole grains and REAL food ingredients!
Cake from SCRATCH
There’s nothing I love more during this time of year than baking of healthy, wholesome treats for my whole family to enjoy. It’s just so wonderful to share a homemade dessert with my loved ones and take pride in something I’ve created from scratch. Sometimes I go for new recipes and other times I stick to tried and true favorites.
My latest experiment in the kitchen was with an oldie-but-goodie recipe that I actually shared years and years ago on this very blog. It’s one of my all-time favorites and if I remember correctly it was a hit with the whole family as well. I recently remade it as a special treat for my parents’ 30th anniversary.
A special milestone calls for a special treat and there’s nothing better than CAKE FROM SCRATCH. No boxed mixes in sight around here!
This Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake is a real winner. It’s pretty simple to make too, which means it’s perfect for those baking a cake from scratch for the first time.
How to Make Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake
Once you get all the details on this seasonal sweet you’ll see why I chose it for my parents’ special day. Not only is it made with incredible, whole-food ingredients, but the taste is so rich and decadent that you’d never know it was GOOD (or well….BETTER!) for you than a traditional dessert.
The real food ingredients in this recipe truly make this cake what it is. The combination of rich walnuts, creamy pumpkin, and flavorful spices come together for the ultimate holiday dessert. Seasonal flavors are showcased in this unique twist on classic spice cake. Your whole family, whether they’re pumpkin lovers or not, will LOVE this cake. I know mine did! In fact, it may just overtake pumpkin pie as our new holiday go-to.
This cake is simply made by combining:
- gluten-free oat flour (you can also swap in all-purpose!)
- coconut sugar (you can swap in brown sugar if you want!)
- pumpkin puree
- egg whites or eggs
- pumpkin pie spice
- neutral oil
- applesauce
- walnuts
- blackstrap molasses
- walnuts
You combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, divide the batter evenly into two cake pans, and bake for 40 minutes. Super easy!
Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake
This decadent “healthy” cake is fully dairy-free, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free. It is incredibly flavorful and subtly spiced. The crunchy walnuts complement the soft dense cake texture perfectly.
Grab the recipe and get to baking!
Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 1 cake
- Category: Dessert
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
2 cups gf oat flour or all-purpose flour
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1.5 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup coconut sugar
½ cup applesauce
½ cup neutral oil
3 egg whites or 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 and butter/flour 2 nine-inch cake pans. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda). Mix well. In another bowl, whisk together the applesauce, oil, egg whites, pumpkin, molasses, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Fold in the walnuts and then pour the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pans.
Let cool for at least an hour. Then invert on a plate and frost as desired!
Made with gluten-free oat flour and no refined sugars, this cake is a new holiday favorite you can feel good about indulging in. Who says tasty treats can’t be made slightly healthier and more wholesome? You certainly don’t have to sacrifice taste for nutrition in the case of this cake!
The addition of blackstrap molasses provides a nutritional boost as well! It’s super high in magnesium and iron, as well as being a great source of calcium, vitamin B6, and selenium. Talk about a superfood! Not to mention its great flavor. There’s nothing that quite compares to the mildly bitter, sweet taste of good ol’ molasses. It’s the perfect contrast to the lightness of coconut sugar!
I frosted my cake with delicious homemade dairy-free cream cheese frosting (this recipe! I used Kite Hill plain cream cheese…it’s the best vegan cream cheese imo), but feel free to use whatever frosting variety you’d like and decorate it in any way you find appealing. It’s super fun to get creative with different frosting and topping combinations!
Above all, have fun with this cake. Making a cake from scratch is no easy feat, so consider yourself accomplished if you’re successful at it! This homemade cake is a great one to start with since it’s very straightforward and easy to assemble! That, plus the taste and texture of it, make it a winner for this time of year and really anytime you want a wholesome, sweet in your home!
What’s your favorite seasonal dessert?
Have you ever made a cake from scratch?
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53 responses to “Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake [gluten-free + refined sugar-free]”
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This cake is stunning!!! perfect for Christmas and Thanksgiving 🙂
THANK YOUUUUUU!
It looks so delicious! This will be the perfect way to use up our abundance of walnuts that’s not banana nut bread. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Let me know if you try this!! One of my fave recipes for sure!!!
Kaila – that is a beautiful cake! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner Link up! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks Helen!
This is such a stunning cake Kaila! Like fall-flavored indulgence meets healthier meets cut me a BIG slice!! I hope you had a wonderful (even if a bit chilly!) birthday and you are enjoying your time with all the family home again 🙂
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! It really is one of my all time favorite Healthy Helper recipes! 😀
Looks delicious! Would be a great addition to a Thanksgiving dessert table!
Thank you Sarah!!!
That looks gorgeous thanks for linking up today
Happy Birthday Kaila! <3 hope you enjoy some cake, or whatever you feel like 😀
THANK YOUUUU! I certainly will!
This cake looks amazing! I love trying pumpkin recipes this time of year, and I may have to try this for our family’s Thanksgiving celebration this year. Thanks so much for including this in your posts. Have a great week!
Thanks Joan!
Oh wow! This looks so very, very good! What did you use to decorate? My coworker said it looked like trail mix. LOL.
I used muesli!! 🙂
Your photography in this post is gorgeous. Pumpkin baking is wonderful, I imagine it would be difficult to stop after one piece with this cake!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! You have no idea how happy compliments on my photography make me!! Ahhhhh made my day, girl!
There’s nothing like a huge slice of AMAZING delicious cake, and this is SO gorgeous Kaila. <3 You have been given such tremendous gifts of creating delicious food and blessing your family and others with it. <# Much love!
Thanks so much, Em! I think you would LOVE this. Let me know if you make it for your family!!
Oooh, I am sure the molasses gives it a nice rich color and taste. Thanks for sharing on Creative K Kids #TastyTuesdays
Haha!! Time to TREAT YO SELF!!! 🙂
Sure does! And lots of great flavor!
Sounds so delicious – pinned and shared.
Thanks so much!
One of my favorite desserts is a pumpkin roulade with the cream cheese icing. This looks like that, but adding the nuts and the seeds and dried fruit to the icing! I’m going to try this with the Bob’s Red Mills Gluten free baking mix, cannot wait. My mouth is watering!
Thanks Nikki! Let me know if it works out with the gf baking mix!!
This sounds so perfect for Christmas! Yum! 🙂
Thanks friend! Let me know if you try it!
That looks super yummy. Thank you for the recipe!
Thanks Shandy!
What a beautiful cake. Spice Cake was my Dad’s favorite cake. This recipe makes me think of him. I know it is delicious!
Thank you so much! Let me know if you make it!!!
I love all the nuts on the sides – this looks so tasty! Thanks for sharing on Homestead Blog Hop!
Thanks so much!
Happy Belated Birthday Kaila! What a way to celebrate with this gorgeous cake! Sounds delicious.
I’m sure your parents really enjoyed it =)
I totally love all Bob’s Red Mill stuff – isn’t it great? I love how’s all over the gluten-free goods for people like me.
Thanks so much for sharing at Healthy Vegan Fridays – I’m pinning & sharing!
Thank you so much Kimmy!!! Isn’t Bob’s the best?! They make such great products!!!
The cake looks good! I hope you enjoyed it with your parents and had a nice birthday!
I don’t make cakes very often because they intimidate the heck out of me, but I’ve pinned this on my to-bake list!
Yay!! Let me know if you make it! I promise it’s not hard to make at all!
This cake is stunning!!!!! LOVE, love, love that “crust” on it!!! Thanks for linking up to Best of Blogs. Tweeted and pinned for you.
THANK YOUUUUU!
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[…] Pumpkin Spice Walnut Cake from Kaila @ Healthy Helper. “Delicious pumpkin cake studded with rich walnuts and topped with decadent cream cheese frosting! A lighter healthier option for homemade dessert during the holidays. This easy to make from scratch cake is a family favorite and guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Made with whole grains and REAL food ingredients!” – VT […]
Hi, Kaila! Your recipe is so wonderful! I am a vegan and love when I find yummy desserts that I can enjoy. I would love to invite you to link up your project at Whimsy Home Wednesdays to inspire others and have a chance to be featured! The link is https://fifthsparrownomore.com/whimsy-home-wednesday-blog-link-party-no-11/
So glad you loved this recipe!!
I cannot wait to make this! Do you think I could skip the applesauce? I cannot eat apples at all. I can’t imagine what else I could use in its place. Any suggestions? Thank you.
I have not tried this with any substitutions so I can’t vouch for the recipe still working without the applesauce.
Do I absolutely need to use the applesauce? I can’t process apples or anything made with them. I would love to make this. Thank you.
Oops! Twice! Sorry.