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Fluffy Pumpkin Cake

Total time: 60 min
Difficulty: Low
Serves: 6-8
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This Fluffy Pumpkin Cake is a brilliant orange color with a light pumpkin flavor. It is perfect to serve in the fall when pumpkins are in abundance but you can use canned pumpkin puree as well. This cake makes a perfect dessert after any meal with a dollop of whipped cream or a dusting of icing sugar. To make the cake, you don’t need a cake pan, just a metal bowl. The metal bowl should be greased and dusted with flour first before you make the cake batter. Then, you mix the milk, sugar, vegetable oil, lemon zest, and pumpkin puree in a bowl and the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder in another bowl before combining them into a batter, adding the batter to the prepared bowl, and baking it in the oven. This fluffy pumpkin cake is delicious with a cup of coffee and a dusting of icing sugar for added sweetness!

What is Fluffy Pumpkin Cake?

Fluffy pumpkin cake is a lovely fluffy textured cake with a delicate pumpkin flavor and a hint of lemon zest. Pumpkin cake is a classic cake that people make in the fall, but pumpkin cake recipes can be different.

Some pumpkin cakes include icing like cream cheese frosting or icing sugar glazes. Meanwhile, some pumpkin cakes are baked in square-shaped baking tins or round baking tins, and are even made as layer cakes.

This fluffy pumpkin cake is a unique take on other pumpkin cakes as it is baked in a bowl rather than a cake pan, and doesn’t include any cinnamon or nutmeg, or icing or glazes. The result is a cake that is the pure taste of pumpkin with a hint of citrusy lemon zest.

Pro Tips

  • If you use homemade pumpkin puree, cut the pumpkin into even-sized cubes and boil it on the stove until it is soft enough to puree. Then, puree it in a food processor until it is smooth. It is ideal to place the puree in a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl to allow the excess moisture to drain out of the pumpkin before using it in this recipe.
  • If you prefer not to use vegetable oil in this cake, you may replace it with a neutral-tasting oil such as avocado oil or a light-tasting olive oil.
  • Feel free to add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves to the cake batter if you prefer the taste of a pumpkin spice cake.
  • Feel free to add a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter in place of the lemon zest if desired.
  • To test the cake to see if it is done, insert a toothpick into its centre to see if it comes out clean. If the toothpick comes out with sticky crumbs on it, it will need a few minutes longer to bake.
  • If you would prefer to make the pumpkin cake vegan, replace the milk with plant-based milk and the eggs with flax eggs.

What to Serve with Fluffy Pumpkin Cake?

This pumpkin cake just needs a dusting of icing sugar and it will be ready to serve with some hot coffee or tea. However, it would also be wonderful with some whipped cream or ice cream, or a drizzle of chocolate sauce or caramel sauce.

Can I Bake the Pumpkin Cake in a Different Pan?

Yes, you definitely can. While the bowl gives the cake a lovely dome shape, you could bake the cake in an equivalent sized cake pan instead. However, you may need to adjust the baking time as the material of the cake pan you use may conduct heat differently from the metal bowl.

Can I Use Pumpkin Pie Filling in this Pumpkin Cake?

Yes, you definitely could! If you can’t find regular pumpkin puree at the grocery store and would prefer not to make your own, you could easily use pumpkin pie filling instead. The only difference is that pumpkin pie filling has spices added into it rather than being plain pumpkin puree.

Can I Add Walnuts or Pecans to the Pumpkin Cake?

Yes, walnuts or pecans would be wonderful additions to this fluffy pumpkin cake for some added crunch. Once the batter is mixed, simply fold some chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter before baking it in the oven. For a deeper flavor, you could pre-toast the nuts before adding them to the batter as well.

How to Store Fluffy Pumpkin Cake

This fluffy pumpkin cake can be wrapped with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight cake caddy at room temperature where it should stay fresh for 3 to 4 days. However, it can also be tightly wrapped and placed in the freezer for up to 3 months for longer storage as well.

Ingredients

Eggs
2
Milk
120ml (½ cup)
Sugar
150g (¾ cup)
Vegetable Oil
70ml (⅓ cup)
pumpkin purée
120g (½ cup)
All-purpose flour
180g (1 ½ cups)
Cornstarch
70g (½ cup)
Baking powder
8g
zest from 1 lemon

How to Make Fluffy Pumpkin Cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and flour a 20cm metal bowl. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest until combined.

Whisk in the milk, vegetable oil, and pumpkin puree until smooth.

In another bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, salt, and cornstarch until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, and whisk until combined.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared bowl, and bake in the oven for 45 to 55 minutes.

Once cooled, remove the cake from the bowl and dust it with powdered sugar.

Serve and enjoy!

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