Gluten-free Pumpkin Cake

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This gluten-free pumpkin cake recipe makes the most delicious gluten-free pumpkin bars topped with a fluffy cream cheese frosting you've ever had!

A gluten-free cake that is soft, fluffy, and loaded with pumpkin spice flavor does exist. This gluten-free pumpkin cake is the perfect gluten-free pumpkin dessert to enjoy all season long.

Jump to:

• Ingredients.
• Ingredient notes and substitutions.
• Allergen notes.
• Steps.
• Frosting pumpkin cake.
• Tips and tricks.
• Storing.
• More gluten-free desserts.
• 📖 Recipe
• Comments and Ratings

Ingredients.

There is nothing scary in the ingredients to make this gluten-free pumpkin cake.

• Pumpkin Puree
• 1:1 Gluten-free Flour
• Arrowroot Starch
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Light Cooking Oil
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Spices

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Ingredient notes and substitutions.

• 1:1 Gluten-free Flour. - I find the King Arthur brand 1:1 blend that contains xanthan gum works great in this recipe. You want a blend that has lighter gluten-free flours and xanthan gum. If your flour blend does not contain xanthan gum, add a teaspoon to the flour before mixing it into the batter.
• Arrowroot Starch. - If you can't find arrowroot starch, you can also substitute in corn starch or potato starch.
• Pumpkin puree. - This is the plain pumpkin in a can. You do NOT want a pumpkin pie filling in a can for this pumpkin cake. You also do NOT want to use a more watery canned pumpkin puree. I've found a few of the organic brands tend to contain more water. For this recipe, I use Libby's 100% pure pumpkin cans that are gluten-free. You can also make homemade pumpkin puree if you want really fresh pumpkin taste.
• Light cooking oil. - Using light cooking oil in this gluten-free makes it also a dairy-free cake. I use avocado oil, but you can use any light cooking oil that you prefer.

Allergen notes.

Grain-free cake - If you want to make this gluten-free pumpkin cake completely grain-free, you can do so by switching out the 1:1 gluten-free flour for cassava flour by weight. This will make it a cassava flour cake that is completely grain-free. Just make sure that you whisk the cassava flour before measuring it by weight because it settles a lot.

Grain-free baking tip: Baking powder typically contains corn, so if you avoid grains, you might want to make your own.

• 4 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar
• 2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
• 2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Starch

• Mix them together and then measure them like regular baking powder. Store in an airtight container.

Dairy-free pumpkin cake. - This gluten-free pumpkin cake is already gluten-free. Typically I frost the cake with a maple cream cheese frosting, which would make the cake not dairy-free. To keep the frosting dairy-free, you can substitute the butter and cream cheese for dairy-free alternatives or sub in equal parts palm shortening. It will still be delicious.

Steps.

1. Add the wet ingredients to a bowl.
2. Mix until combined.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet.
4. Stir it in until no dry ingredients remain.
5. Transfer the pumpkin cake batter to a 9x13 baking pan.
6. Bake until a toothpick comes out almost clean.

Frosting pumpkin cake.

• I like to frost this gluten-free pumpkin cake with maple cream cheese frosting. I find it has a perfectly sweet flavor that goes well with the pumpkin spice flavors in the cake. (Recipe for cream cheese frosting is below in the recipe card.)
• If you don't want to make cream cheese frosting, you can make traditional buttercream as well.
• If you want to keep this cake completely dairy-free, including the icing, see the allergen notes above.

Tips and tricks.

• Measure flours by weight.- Measuring gluten-free flour by weight is going to give the most consistent results every time you make this gluten-free pumpkin cake.
• Use a 9x13 pan for the best thickness and texture. - This gluten-free cake batter is made for a larger pan. If you want to bake it off in smaller pans, you can, but the baking time will need to be adjusted.
• Line your baking pan with parchment paper. - Lining the baking pan with parchment paper makes it easy to remove the full cake to make it easier to cut into the perfect little gluten-free pumpkin bars to share.
• Remove the cake from the pan before it's fully cool. - Let the cake rest in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Then remove the cake from the pan and place it on parchment paper to finish cooling. This will help keep the cake from getting soft from the residual heat in the pan as it cools.
• Let the cake fully cool before frosting. - Let the cake cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before frosting. This will keep the frosting from sliding off the top of the cake.

Storing.

• Because I tend to make this pumpkin cake with a cream cheese frosting, I typically store it in a container in the fridge.
• This pumpkin cake will last a week in the fridge.
• What I love about this cake is that it does not get stiff when stored in the fridge, so you can enjoy it right away without having to wait for it to come to room temperature again before eating it.
• If you aren't using a cream cheese frosting, you can keep this gluten-free cake a room temperature for up to five days. Just make sure that it is fully cooled before storing it in a container.

More gluten-free desserts.

As delicious as these gluten-free pumpkin bars are, not everyone loves pumpkin. Here are a few more gluten-free desserts to share this season.

📖 Recipe

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #grainfreetable or @grainfreetable on Instagram. I’d love to see what you come up with!