Pumpkin Snacking Cake
Cookbook author and blogger Deb Perelman, founder of Smitten Kitchen, says she is not one of those “on a whim” bakers and would get destroyed in a TV baking competition. She doesn’t see flour, butter and a cup of buttermilk and run with it. She like formulas and percentages. She researches and plans. But Deb realized about two hours before leaving for her big Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago—she is always in charge of desserts—that she had forgotten to make one for her sister, who is vegan. But Deb had an idea: Wacky Cake—a.k.a. Cockeyed Cake. It’s an egg-free, butter-free, milk-free Depression-era chocolate cake that still manages to be as dark and moist as a cake with all of these things. Deb tinkered with the formula a bit, and this came out of the oven 45 minutes later, a plush, fragrant, perfect fall cake.
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 cups (8 1/4 oz./260 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- A few fresh gratings of nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 pinches of ground cloves
- 1/2 cup (3 3/4 oz./115 g) coconut oil, warmed just enough to liquefy, or 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) neutral oil
- 1/2 cup (3 1/4 oz./100 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (3 3/4 oz./110 g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (6 oz./185 g) pumpkin puree (half a 15-oz./470-g can)
- 3/4 cup (5 3/4 oz./175 g) coconut milk (half a 15-oz./470-g can)
- 1 Tbs. white vinegar
For the topping:
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz./105 g) cream cheese (nondairy, for a vegan cake)
- 1/2 cup (2 oz./60 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- Cinnamon sugar for dusting
Directions
Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C). Line the bottom of a 9-inch (23-cm) round or 8-inch (20-cm) square cake pan with a piece of parchment paper, and coat the bottoms and sides with nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil, both sugars, pumpkin puree, coconut milk and vinegar. Whisk until the batter is smooth—switch to a spoon or spatula midway if it’s getting too thick to whisk.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let cool completely on the rack.
When the cake is totally cool, in a bowl, whisk together the cream cheese (if it’s cold, you might want to first mash it with a fork), confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Spoon over the cake, swirling it out to the sides. Dust with a little cinnamon sugar.
Cut the cake into 12 wedges or 16 squares. Serves 12 to 16.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen Keepers by Deb Perelman (Knopf 2022)