Easy Pumpkin Pudding Cake- BEST Fall Recipe

This amazing easy pumpkin pudding cake recipe is perfect for Fall! It’s made with simple ingredients and comes together quickly. The best part is that it’s so soft and delicious!

If you like fall desserts, I also recommend my Baked Pumpkin Spice Donuts, my Cinnamon Apple Crisp, and my Apple Cider Donut Cake.

A no-fuss pumpkin dessert that smells so cozy while it’s baking away. Vegan and totally dairy-free. 

Colder evenings call for a spoonful (or two!) of this luscious and gooey Pumpkin Pudding Cake. Your favorite fall spices and a super moist cake on top bakes into a juicy brown sugar pudding on the bottom. This pumpkin pudding cake is highly addictive.

About this being vegan. It’s now pretty easy to find vegan sugars in many markets or online. So to keep this truly vegan, be sure that your sugars are also vegan.

If you’re not vegan and are just interested since it is dairy-free, use your favorite dairy-free nut milk. I like to use either unsweetened almond or coconut milk.

My kids are pumpkin dessert fans, but this pudding cake took things to a whole different level of pumpkin love here in our baking headquarters. My son was quite disappointed the next morning when he thought there was one portion left and proclaimed, “This is a ripoff!”. My daughter told me that I better make another one soon. Very soon.

What ingredients are in a pumpkin pudding cake?

• all-purpose flour
• granulated sugar
• baking powder
• sea salt
• ground cinnamon
• ground ginger
• ground nutmeg
• pumpkin puree
• unsweetened almond milk
• coconut oil
• pure vanilla extract
• dark brown sugar

How to make pumpkin pudding cake?

• Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.
• In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, almond milk, coconut oil and vanilla.
• Mix the batter until it’s combined.
• Spread the batter into a 3 1/2 quart baking dish.
• Spread batter evenly with spatula.
• The last step is the most fabulous step. Whisk together brown sugar and hot water. Pour sugar syrup on top of the pumpkin cake batter. Be sure to not mix it in. Let it settle on top.

What you will need to make pumpkin pudding?

• Use a mixture of flours (you could use 1/2 all-purpose and 1/2 almond flour).
• Make a gluten-free pumpkin pudding cake by using your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour.
• Adjust the spices to your taste (more cinnamon, less ginger, more nutmeg…however you like).
• Use melted butter (if you don’t want it to be vegan)or you could use vegetable oil.

How to Serve Pumpkin Pudding Cake

This cake should be served as soon as possible, preferably the same day. The cake is moist and fluffy when it’s warm, while the sauce is thick and gooey. I let it cool slightly after cooking before serving it.

Is this a dairy-free pumpkin recipe?

Yes, we used unsweetened almond milk, so it’s totally vegan (no eggs in the cake batter) + dairy-free. But go ahead and use whole milk if you’re not vegan or dairy-free. 

It’s this brown sugar syrup on top that makes the magic. Magic? Maybe not truly magic. But a great baking idea to create a syrupy, mushy, squishy, gooey, squidgy (that’s what they say in England), pudding cake.

I found that while it was baking I had to make more syrup and add it on 1/2 way through. I was looking for more of saucy border but it wasn’t happening. The syrup gets absorbed by the top cake part (which is a good thing).

What are the origins of a pudding cake?

This is a riff on a maple pudding cake that is called pudding chômeur, or “unemployed person’s pudding,” which happens to be a traditional and super popular Québecois deserts. Does it seem like it’s crazy sweet with that brown sugar syrup on top?

Cut back the sugar in the batter. But it’s imperative that you add the brown sugar syrup on top. Or you don’t get the pudding bottom. If you don’t add the sugar syrup, then you’re making a pumpkin cake. Which is fine, but it’s not going to be as exciting as this cake.

As the pumpkin cake bakes, the cake batter puffs and rises and the brown sugar syrup thickens on the bottom of the pan and becomes like a thick pudding sauce (I’m not joking…out of this world!). The best way to eat this is when it is first baked and very warm. But there is nothing wrong with the leftovers (if you have any the next day).

How to store leftovers of this cake?

Spoon out any leftovers into an airtight container or wrap the baking dish with plastic wrap. Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week and reheated in a microwave.

Some other pumpkin desserts to enjoy:

• Amaretti Almond Pumpkin Pie
• Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes
• Vegan Maple Pumpkin Pie

*Discovered on The Kitchn and adapted Simply Scratch’s version.

Originally published October 2018 and updated for content September 2022. 

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Pumpkin Pudding Cake

Colder evenings call for a spoonful (or two!) of this luscious and gooey Pumpkin Pudding Cake. Warm fall spices in the super soft pumpkin cake that has a juicy brown sugar pumpkin pudding on the bottom.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Total Time50 mins

Course: Dessert

Keyword: pudding, pumkin

Servings: 6 servings

Author: Lora

Ingredients

• 1-½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk or whatever unsweetened dairy-free milk you like (use real milk if you're not dairy-free)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup hot water
• powdered sugar for serving (optional)
• whipped cream for serving (optional-use dairy-free for dairy-free)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350°.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• In another medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin, almond milk, coconut oil and vanilla.
• Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir together until completely incorporated.
• Pour the cake batter into your un-greased baking dish and spread out into an even layer.
• In a small bowl, whisk dark brown sugar with hot water and pour over the pumpkin cake batter Let the sugar syrup sit on top without stirring it in.
• Carefully slide the baking dish onto the middle rack of oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.
• Let cake cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle on some confectioner's sugar and dig in.

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