Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by The Allergy Chef
Alright pumpkin fans, it’s time for us to make a delicious gluten free pumpkin recipe! Not only is this GF, but it’s a gluten free vegan pumpkin cake recipe meaning no milk and no eggs, so we can share with more of our friends. However, don’t let the free-from nature of this pumpkin cake scare you off. People without food allergies and dietary restrictions LOVE it, and I’m sure you will as well.
If you love all things pumpkin, grab your gear and let’s get to work. Also, there are more delicious pumpkin recipes linked further down in case you just need more pumpkin in your life.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nuts, Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Top 14 Allergens, Alliums, Apple, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Carrot, Celery, Citrus, Coconut, Corn, Cruciferous, Garlic, Latex Cross Reactive Foods (H/M), Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Stone Fruits, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, Low FODMAP, Vegan
Compatible With: Seed Free
- Seed Free: Use an extra 40g of sorghum flour and 40g of brown rice flour. Your cake flavor will shift some, but, you’ll still have a really delicious gluten free vegan pumpkin cake to enjoy.
Tools Needed to Make This Sheet Pan Pumpkin Cake Recipe
- Handheld Electric Mixer OR Stand Mixer (technically you could use a large mixing bowl and whisk by hand, but something with power will be much easier)
- Kitchen Scale (this is non-negotiable in free-from baking, as it allows me to give you precise numbers so you’ll have success at home)
- Measuring Cups + Measuring Spoons (for scooping)
- Large Baking Tray
- Spatula
- Parchment Paper
- Angled Spatula OR Spoon
If you don’t have some of these tools, you can view what I use in my Amazon Shop.
Ingredients for Your Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake
Part 1 Ingredients (Dry Ingredients)
- 220g Organic Cane Sugar OR Organic Maple Sugar
- 125g Brown Rice Flour, superfine
- 90g Sorghum Flour, superfine
- 80g Millet Flour, superfine
- 75g Organic Purity Protocol Gluten Free Oat Flour OR Organic Tiger Nut Flour (tuber, not a tree nut)
- 2.5 TBSP Arrowroot
- 4 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Organic Ground Cinnamon
Part 2 Ingredients (Wet Ingredients)
- 225mL Milk of Choice (8 ounces)
- 112mL/4 ounces Organic Olive Oil OR Organic Tiger Nut Oil (tuber, not a tree nut)
- 9 TBSP Organic Pumpkin Puree (this is the brand that I use)
- 3 TBSP Organic Apple Cider Vinegar OR Organic Rice Vinegar OR Organic White Vinegar (do not use white vinegar for truly corn free)
- 1 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
You’ll Also Need
- 3 TBSP Organic Cane Sugar OR Organic Maple Sugar (for sprinkle)
More Awesome Gluten Free Pumpkin Recipes
If you love pumpkin desserts, you’re going to love these gluten free, dairy free, egg free, allergy friendly recipes that I have for you.
- Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe
- Gluten Free Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie Recipe (this vegan pumpkin pie is also top 9 free, woo!)
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies Recipe
- Moist & Delicious Pumpkin Bread Recipe
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Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Organic White Sugar: You can use white sugar or maple sugar (an unrefined sweetener). These granulated sweeteners can only be replaced with other granulated sweeteners (caster sugar, date sugar, coconut sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, etc.). Know that swapping the sugar will slightly alter the taste of this gluten free vegan pumpkin cake recipe.
Also, this cannot be swapped for a liquid sweetener (maple syrup, agave, etc.).
Gluten Free Flour Blend: This delicious pumpkin cake recipe uses about 380g of gluten-free flour. You can swap my flour blend for your preferred gluten-free all purpose flour. Do not swap my GF flour blend for a single flour like almond flour, cassava flour, coconut flour, nut or seed flours, and so on. It needs to be proper, well performing, all purpose flour if you want to have success.
Cinnamon: You can leave the cinnamon on its own, or you can swap it for pumpkin pie spice. You can also use any combination of warm spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice) to have a delicious gluten free pumpkin cake experience. If you opt to include cloves, a very little goes a long way (you only need a pinch).
Milk of Choice: ANY plant based milk (almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, oat milk, cashew milk, etc.) will work in this gluten free cake recipe. You can also use a mammal based milk (cow, sheep, goat, buffalo, camel). The only dairy-free milk you can’t use is full fat coconut milk from a can. For coconut milk, it needs to be the boxed/watery style.
Canned Pumpkin Purée: If you’re feeling a little burned out on pumpkin this PSL season, you can swap it for sweet potato purée or butternut squash purée. If you’re tempted to swap this for pumpkin pie filling, I don’t suggest it, only because that’s a sweetened product and there’s already a good sugar hit in this GF pumpkin cake recipe.
Gluten Free Vegan Pumpkin Cake Directions
- Oven Temperature: 325f/163c
- Bake Time: 20+ Minutes (see instructions)
Preheat your oven to 325f/163c.
To make this gluten free pumpkin cake recipe, I’ll be using a stand mixer with the wire whisk. If you need to, use a handheld electric mixer and a large mixing bowl, or a bowl with a whisk (you’ll need a little elbow grease).
Place your empty mixing bowl on your kitchen scale and tare to zero. Add each of the Part 1 Ingredients (Dry Ingredients) to the mixing bowl. Tare to zero between weighted ingredients. This allows you to measure directly into the mixing bowl. Once all of the ingredients are in, connect the bowl to the stand and mix on low speed.
After about 15 seconds of mixing, turn the mixer off and return it to your scale. You can leave the whisk in for ease. Tare to zero.
Now, add all of the Part 2 Ingredients directly to the bowl, and tare between weighted ingredients. Once they’re all in, mix on low speed to *just* combine, then turn the mixer off and wait for one minute. This allows the chemical reaction to happen between the ACV and baking powder.
Turn the mixer back on and mix on medium speed until a smooth batter forms, then mix on high speed for 20 seconds. Turn the mixer off. Use your spatula to give the batter one last mix and to ensure there aren’t any dry ingredient pockets hiding out. That’s it! Your pumpkin cake batter is ready to be baked.
Baking Your Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake Recipe
Line a large baking tray (half sheet) with parchment paper. Transfer all of the batter to the tray and spread evenly. An angled spatula (also called an offset spatula) makes this job easy, but you can also use the back of a spoon. Note: you can also use a quarter sheet pan when baking your cake.
Once that’s set, sprinkle the 3 Tablespoons of granulated sugar (you’ll also need ingredient) all over the top of the cake batter. This adds a sweet little crunch/texture to the top of your cake and a pop of sweet flavour.
Pop the whole tray into your preheated oven. Start with a bake time of 20 minutes and go from there. Generally, this cake takes about 25 minutes to bake, but if you use the quarter sheet, the bake time will change.
Your gluten free pumpkin cake is ready when you pass a toothpick test. Insert a tooth pick into the center of the cake and it should come out clean. A few small cake crumbles is OK, but goopy, wet cake batter means you need to bake for longer.
If you check on your cake and see large cracks, there’s a very good chance that it’s done and on its way to being overbaked. Check on it ASAP.
For ease, you can leave the cake on the tray, then frost (and decorate) when it’s completely cooled. You do not need to transfer this cake to a wire rack for cooling.
Cupcakes & Round Cakes
This recipe was designed to be a sheet cake, which means limited height. You might be able to make mini pumpkin cupcakes with this recipe, however, I’d start there, or do a test bake of one standard cupcake before going all in.
An 8-inch, 9-inch, or 10-inch cake pan can work ***IF*** you keep the height low, as if you’re still baking a sheet cake. So, you’ll have thinner layers in the end (which is great because they’ll be pretty level most likely), but you’ll need more of said layers if you want a TALL cake.
You can frost with this vegan vanilla buttercream recipe, or this awesome dairy free vegan cream cheese frosting recipe. Or both, because that’s an option as well.
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How to Make Pumpkin Brownie Ice Cream Bars (what’s in the photo)
OK, I’m sure you saw that picture and was like, I want THAT!!! I don’t blame you. My kids and my taste testers would all agree with you. So, here’s what you’ll need to put that together:
- Gluten Free Vegan Brownies. It’s better if they’re a little more cakey and sturdy, but you won’t hate fudgy either. Here’s a fudgy recipe if you need one.
- Vegan Vanilla Ice Cream. This can be store bought or homemade. This article has ice cream brands, and here’s a recipe for homemade vanilla ice cream.
- This pumpkin cake recipe.
- Caramel sauce. I made something similar to the Smoky Caramel Sauce Recipe on RAISE (my membership site).
To Assemble:
- Grab a springform pan, line with parchment paper, and transfer soft ice cream into it. Use the back of a spoon to spread it all over, and get into all of the corners as best as you can.
- Pop that in your freezer and let the ice cream get SOLID.
- Remove from the pan and leave the shaped ice cream in your freezer.
- Clean the pan, then make your pumpkin cake batter. Use the pan, but don’t fill it too high. The height of this cake needs to stay around the height of a baking tray.
- Allow the pumpkin cake to cool for at least 20 minutes, then open the pan and remove the cake layer.
- Wipe the pan out and put in a fresh layer of parchment paper. Make your brownies and bake in the springform pan.
- Allow the brownies to cool COMPLETELY in the pan.
- Add the ice cream from the freezer. It should be a perfect fit. You can just flip it right over into the brownie and peel off the parchment paper.
- Add the pumpkin cake layer.
- Slice ASAP whilst the ice cream is solid. You have to slice cold or your ice cream will start to melt, and well, that won’t be fun.
- Place slices on plates, then make everyone wait whilst you get the perfect caramel sauce drizzle picture for the Instagram.
- Serve and enjoy.
Leftovers will have to go into the freezer since there’s a layer of ice cream, but I don’t think anyone will mind those leftovers in the coming days. Also know that you can take this concept and run with it. Use different ice cream flavours, or swap the brownies for something else like blondies, cinnamon cake, or a vanilla cake.
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More Delicious Ways to Serve Your Vegan Pumpkin Cake
OK, you’ve got a delicious gluten free pumpkin cake made, but you’re like, I want a little more from this. It’s OK, I get it. It’s like when a muffin gets a glow up from frosting. It can live its best life as a cupcake now. So, here are some easy ways you can serve your pumpkin cake to make feel a little extra special:
- Frost with dairy free cream cheese frosting, then sprinkle pumpkin pie spice all over, then top with crushed pecans.
- Frost with vanilla buttercream frosting, then top with crushed candied pecans (maybe even boozy pecans if that’s your jam).
- Frost with a vegan chocolate buttercream frosting then sprinkle crushed walnuts all over the top. For a nut free experience, use unsalted roasted crushed sunflower seeds. For a really nutty flavor, use sliced tiger nuts (tuber, not a tree nut).
- Dust with powdered sugar that has a little spice blend of cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon folded in for a lovely fall treat.
- Use an angled spatula to frost with a homemade cinnamon frosting or even a maple frosting.
- Top with a combo of frostings! Personally, I’d do stripes of cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, and pumpkin frostings. As long as you like the taste, there are no wrong answers here.
- Serve with a side of bacon jam and vanilla ice cream.
- Drizzle melted chocolate chips on top before serving (can be regular chocolate chips or white chocolate chips).
Mind you, I’m only scratching the surface here. Pretty much, anything that pairs well with pumpkin is free game and on the menu. Have fun!!
How to Store Your Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake
Storing gluten free vegan cake properly is going to change depending on where you live, and the current season (I’ve done some testing). For the absolute best results, cut individual slices of your allergy friendly cake and store them in small airtight containers in the freezer.
You can store cake in your freezer with or without frosting. To thaw, leave it on the counter top for about 90 minutes, and it’s like day one cake all over again. You can store leftovers in the freezer for several months. Be sure to use an airtight container when storing this tasty dessert, and ideally, have as much air removed as possible to prevent freezer burn from happening.
You can also store cake leftovers in the fridge for 3 – 4 days. Be sure the cake is well covered, especially the sides of the cake, to make sure you don’t end up with dry hard bits of cake. Whilst lots of people like to use plastic wrap when storing cake leftovers, personally, I use foil and wrap things nice and tight. I also sometimes have a layer of parchment paper, then foil on top of that.
Ultimately, make sure the cake is completely covered and in an airtight container, and you’ll be good to go.
More Gluten Free Vegan Cake Recipes
If baking is your jam, I have more awesome gluten free, dairy free, egg free, vegan cake recipes I think you’re going to love. You can also pick up a copy of my Gluten Free Top 9 Free Cake, Frosting, and Pastry Cookbook. It even includes all of the recipes from my award winning gluten free, vegan bakery.
- Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe
- Gluten Free Vegan Vanilla Birthday Cake Recipe
- Apple White Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe
- Gluten Free Orange Cake Recipe
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Answering Your Questions About This Gluten Free Pumpkin Cake Recipe
Can I use vegan butter instead of the olive oil?
Great question, and nope. So, olive oil is a fat that’s liquid at room temperature. Dairy-free butter on the other hand is solid at rom temperature, like coconut oil and shortening. You wouldn’t be able to use these fats in this gluten free pumpkin cake recipe, as it would mess up the final results (even if you were to melt the oil first).
If you can’t use olive oil, the next best option is tiger nut oil (tuber, not a tree nut) as it produces AMAZING baked goods. However, it’s a little pricey. After that, you want a high quality neutral oil, ideally an organic one. Personally, I wouldn’t use canola oil or vegetable oil, but to each his own. Also, absolutely do not use avocado oil.
One of my taste testers complains LOUDLY anytime I use it for a baked good as a test and swears they can taste tacos (without knowing what I used). They literally take a bite and give me a look and they’re like, it’s weird. And we talk ingredients, and they’re like, you used the avocado oil again. I’m telling you, it’s tacos every time. So, you’ve been warned. Pick a good oil though that’s liquid at room temperature, and you’ll be good to go.
Will homemade pumpkin purée work in this cake recipe?
If it’s pumpkin season as you read this, sure, you can use your own pumpkin puree when you make this gluten free vegan pumpkin cake. However, it’s important that your homemade pumpkin puree have the same consistency as canned (or get really close to it). It should be super smooth, and not very watery (or chunky).
Can I freeze leftover cake batter?
Yes!! You can freeze the batter for this gluten free vegan pumpkin cake. One time, I did a test in this type of deli container. 3 years later, I thawed the cake batter, baked it up, and everyone said it tasted amazing. So, have fun with that.
Just be sure to store the cake batter in an airtight container that’s been labeled. Also make a double or triple batch of this delicious cake recipe so you can have quite a few containers of batter in the freezer.
Could I use this recipe to make something like pumpkin coffee cake?
Maybe, but truthfully, I’ve never made a proper coffee cake before. I mean, I’ve made gluten free coffee cake, like with proper brewed coffee, but not coffee cake that was confusing as a child.
I think you’d want to make a streusel layer to pull that off and sprinkle it on top before baking, kind of like what I did in this gluten free vegan apple crumble cake recipe.
Now, I say that to say this: make the pumpkin cake recipe as intended, transfer your cake batter to a sheet pan, then place some kind of pumpkin spice streusel on top. Just make sure the moisture content of your streusel isn’t going to throw off your cake (too much moisture will prevent the top of the cake from setting up properly). It needs to be on the dry side, like a baked granola.
How is the cake able to rise without eggs?
Egg free cake rise is all about kitchen science, but not weird ingredients you can’t pronounce. With simple ingredients, we can produce a lovely cake rise that rivals conventional baking with eggs, gluten, and all the things.
It starts with the leavening agents (the key ingredients to our egg free lift). This cake recipe calls for more baking powder you’d normally see in a cake recipe. That’s giving us a generous boost. However, did you see the apple cider vinegar? When you combine leavening agents with an acid, you get a rocket ship full of boost. Interestingly, we also have a vegan buttermilk situation going since the vinegar is combined with the plant milk.
Generally, this is how I create rise in my free-from baked goods. In addition to that, sometimes we get a little lift by whipping air into the batter, but this is going to vary wildly by recipe.
Will this gluten free cake recipe turn out well even though there’s no xanthan gum?
Yes!! Great news, well, not great, but you get the idea. I personally have a severe, life threatening corn allergy. That means a LOT of ingredients are off the table, including most xanthan gum.
I’ve been able to own and operate an award winning GF + free-from bakery, all without added xanthan gum. Now, I did tinker with guar gum at one point, but when I did side by side comparisons (even with a freeze and thaw test), the guar gum didn’t have a meaningful impact.
Here’s why: I don’t call for all purpose flour. Instead, I make a custom gluten free flour blend for all of my recipes. This means there’s balance from the start, and you don’t need dough conditioners and enhancers and additives to boost the results.
So, as long as you follow this gluten free vegan cake recipe as-is, yes, it will turn out beautifully, even without xanthan gum, guar gum, and all their friends.
Do I need to cool this cake on a cooling rack?
Whilst you could do this, I cool cake like this one directly in the sheet pan that it baked in. Also, if you try to flip this cake out onto a wire rack, given the size and delicate nature, it will break and you’ll have really tasty cake crumbs all over your kitchen counter.
Can I use baking soda instead of baking powder?
I’m so glad you asked because no, when you make this great recipe, you can’t use baking soda in place of baking powder. At least, not as a 1:1 exchange. This article goes deeper into the topic, so read it if you’d like to nerd out.
If you were to use that much baking soda, not only would the flavor of the cake be ruined (we’re talking toss it in the trash levels of bad), but you won’t have proper rise.
So, stick with baking powder for this awesome vegan gluten free cake recipe. You can also make homemade baking powder if needed.
Could I make round cakes with this gluten free cake recipe?
In theory, yes. I’d encourage you to be careful because this isn’t a light and fluffy gluten free cake recipe by design, and that’s because of the pumpkin purée. Without that, totally. Easy peasy in fact. But since we have that literally weighing us down, we have to proceed with caution.
Not only are we working against the pumpkin, but this recipe is gluten free AND egg free. That means we have to provide extra lift to make sure we get something that’s cake-like in the end. To do that, we enlist the help of baking powder and an acid (apple cider vinegar) in the cake batter, and it makes a world of difference in the long run.
Now, back to your scenario. What you’ll want to do is line each cake pan (you’ll be using several) with parchment paper. Add your vegan cake batter, but keep the level low, as if you’re still baking on a sheet tray.
If you were to fill the pan like it’s a regular gluten free vegan cake batter, you run the risk of not having it rise and set up properly, especially in the center. Keeping the height low solves this problem, whilst still delivering on taste and texture.
Also know that when you pop this gluten-free cake recipe into a round cake pan (or even a square pan), you’re looking at a different cooking time, but also the potential for limited cake rise (especially in the center of the cake if you fill too high). The takeaway is to pretend we’re still using a sheet pan, and then you’ll have success. For the bake time, start with 22 minutes, do a toothpick test in the center of the cake, and only add more time as needed.
Ultimately, success is directly tied to how much cake batter is in the pan. If you’re hoping to have a round cake that’s tall, you’ll need to bake up 5 or 6 short layers, then stack them after they’ve cooled.
This particular cake pan set is one that I often use when I want to have short layers, and the pan sizes forces you to not accidentally over-fill. Whilst you’d have a smaller cake in general, you also don’t run the risk of accidentally messing up your layers.
Is non-dairy milk the same thing as dairy free milk?
Non-dairy (also written as nondairy) used to imply that there could be a very small amount of cow’s milk dairy in a product. Dairy free on the other hand means zero dairy. Period.
Whilst the regulation has changed over the years, the US FDA generally has the viewpoint that “non dairy” could contain up to 0.5% of dairy milk derivatives such as caseinate. Dairy-free always meant zero milk or milk derivatives.
At the time of publishing in 2026, what I can tell you is this: many brands are using the terms as if they’re interchangeable. This can be confusing to a lot of people because you’re not sure what they’re referring to.
When in doubt, anyone with a milk allergy should always contact a company to better understand their ingredients and manufacturing process.
