Description
This pumpkin chai bundt cake is the perfect dessert to whip up for fall. This moist pumpkin chai bundt cake has a delicious pumpkin flavor, is filled with warm spices, and is topped with a drizzle of sweet glaze. Perfect to share with your friends and family – it’s the perfect dessert for fall.
Ingredients
Chai Spice:
- 2 and ½ teaspoons – ground cinnamon
- 1 and ¼ teaspoons – ground ginger
- 1 and ¼ teaspoons – ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon – ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon – ground clove
- Pinch of black pepper
Sub for pumpkin spice!
Main Ingredients:
- 240g (1 cup) – warm dairy-free milk, I used soy
- 1 teaspoon – white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon – vanilla extract
- 350g (2 3/4 cups) – all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned, and leveled, see notes
- 1 1/2 teaspoon – baking powder
- 200g (1 cup) – light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 100g (1/2 cup) – granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons – potato starch, sub for cornstarch
- 150g (2/3 cup) – vegetable oil or melted butter
- 1 can (15oz/425g) – pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
Equipment:
- Food scale https://amzn.to/3FdbqM2
- Electric hand mixer https://amzn.to/3sqxICx
- Measuring spoons
- Mixing Bowls
- Whisk
- Rubber spatula
- Bundt pan, 9-cup capacity
- Wire cooling rack
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat the oven. Depending on the color of your pan, the temperatures will differ.
325° Fahrenheit for a dark-colored bundt pan.
350° Fahrenheit for a light-colored bundt pan. - Liberally grease the bundt pan with spray oil, and make sure you get in every crevice!
Make the cake batter:
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dairy-free milk, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow the milk to curdle.
- Next, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, chai spice, and potato starch. Set aside until ready to use.
- Once your milk has curled, add in the oil, pumpkin puree, and brown and granulated sugar. Whisk until the sugars have dissolved and all the ingredients have fully combined.
- Add in ⅓ of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and using the electric hand mixer, mix on low until it comes together. Continue adding the remaining wet ingredients in batches, and mix until you have a smooth batter. Small lumps of flour are okay, but if you notice bigger lumps, continue to mix until it is noticeably smaller. Use a rubber spatula to fold the batter to ensure that there are no pockets of dry flour left.
- Pour the batter into the greased bundt pan and carefully tap the bottom of the pan on a work surface. This will ensure that the batter settles into the crevices of the pan.
- Run a chopstick, skewer, or butter knife through the cake batter after you’ve poured it into the pan to release any air bubbles and to help further settle the cake into the pan.
Bake!
- For a dark-colored pan, bake for 50-55 minutes
For a light-colored pan, bake for 45-50 minutes. - It should be done when an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes.
- Carefully turn out the cake onto a wire cooling rack, and allow it to cool completely.
Royal icing and assemble
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Add one tablespoon of dairy-free milk at a time and whisk until you get a pourable consistency, not too runny and not too thick. Cover and set aside until ready to use.
- Once the cake is completely cool, place it on a nice decorative plate and pour the icing over the top. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Measure your flour properly. My recipes are 100% tested in grams. A common reason baked goods fail is incorrectly measured flour. I always recommend using a scale for accuracy when baking. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessens room for error.
- If you’re measuring by cups, avoid scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour. This tends to pack the flour into the cup, resulting in too much flour and a very dense or gummy finished product. Instead, aerate your flour (fluff it with a fork or spoon) and then spoon it into your measuring cups, leveling it with your finger or the back of a butter knife. Keep in mind though, that this method is not guaranteed to be accurate.
- Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine. By doing this, you give yourself the best chance of evenly distributing all the dry ingredients in the batter.
- Add the dry ingredients in batches. This will ensure that your batter is evenly mixed and as a result a smoother texture.
- Run a chopstick through the batter, and tap the bundt pan. Once your batter is in the bundt pan, you want to run a chopstick or something similar through the batter to release any air bubbles and to help settle the batter into the pan.
- Different colored pans, different bake times. If you are using a darker-colored pan you will want to bake your cake at a low temperature, for a longer time. If it’s a lighter-colored pan, you’ll bake it at a slightly higher temperature, for a shorter amount of time.
- Chai spice. You can easily make your own chai masala spice mix, or you can buy premade chai spice. However, if you don’t want to use chai, you can absolutely use pumpkin spice as well!
- Potato starch. Combining starches like this will help soften the proteins in the flour, resulting in a light and chewy dessert!
- Can I make this gluten-free? Although I haven’t tried it myself, I believe you can use a 1-to-1 gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- How long does this pumpkin chai bundt cake? This cake will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. I recommend getting an airtight bundt cake keeper for the best results.
- Why did my bundt cake stick to the pan or break when I remove it? The most common reason could be the pan or the non-stick spray you are using. You want to make sure you are using a vegetable oil-based spray, and liberally grease your pan, get into those crevices.
- Do I need to use an electric hand mixer? It’s not necessary, but I find that I can get a smoother cake batter using it than when I whisk it by hand!
- What if I have a smaller bundt pan? That’s easy, simply cut the recipe in half!
Keywords: vegan, dessert, pumpkin, fall recipe