I've adapted my vegan pumpkin bread recipe to be better than ever! With a simplified method and ingredients, this fluffy bread has a beautifully spiced flavor and moist crumb that will melt in your mouth.
It now features the most beautiful pecan streusel topping, which adds a lovely sweet nutty crunch to the top of the bread. The bread is drizzled with biscoff glaze - I promise you, biscoff and pumpkin are THE fall combo you need to try!
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Crowd Pleaser - This loaf will turn any pumpkin-hating skeptic into a pumpkin spice fiend (it converted my partner who strongly disliked pumpkin desserts before). It's almost *impossible* to stop at just one slice!
- Fluffy & Moist Texture - The combination of brown sugar, pumpkin, non-dairy buttermilk, and olive oil gives the most incredible fluffy crumb. I tested several combinations before this one eg. maple syrup, less sugar, less oil, and egg replacers, but those changes always resulted in a drier loaf.
- Bursting With Flavor - It is generously pumpkin spiced with a toasty nutty topping and sweet biscoff glaze that all work together in harmony. Let's just say, you'll be seeing a lot more biscoff pumpkin desserts here soon!
If you love all things pumpkin spice, try my vegan recipes for pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin crumble, and pumpkin cupcakes.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
While it may look like you need a lot of ingredients to make this homemade pumpkin bread vegan, you may find that you already have a lot of them in your pantry. Here's what to grab:
Ingredient Notes
- Canned Pumpkin Puree - I specify canned here as it's made with a variety of pumpkin that contains much less water content than the large field pumpkins that are generally available in the store. Also, steer clear of pumpkin pie filling, pure pumpkin is the way to go. If you can't find pumpkin puree, I'd suggest my vegan sweet potato bread, which is equally delicious.
- Olive Oil - I love using this to bake. The flavor doesn't shine through very strongly but if you don't like olive oil, swap it for a neutral-flavored oil such as sunflower or rapeseed.
- Pecans - They add a beautiful crunch to the top of this pumpkin loaf. If you're intolerant to nuts, you can replace them with additional flour.
- Brown Sugar - I use light muscovado sugar, it has a slight caramel taste and works well with fall-flavored bakes. I also add some dark muscovado, as this amps up the flavor and moisture. I recommend it, but you can just replace it with more light brown sugar if you want to.
- Biscoff Spread - This takes the glaze to another level. The slightly spiced cookie butter really elevates the pumpkin spice flavor of the bread.
🥣 How To Make Vegan Pumpkin Bread
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
There are 3 main stages of making this eggless pumpkin bread, the crumble, batter, and icing. Here's how it's done:
Step 1: Combine the chopped pecans, brown sugar, flour, spices, and melted butter in a bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers until it resembles a crumble consistency. Chill the streusel until ready to use.
Step 2: Whisk together the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. That's pumpkin puree, vegan buttermilk, olive oil, and vanilla extract.
Step 3: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet in 2-3 parts. Mix well but do not overmix, just until there are no streaks of flour and you have a uniform batter.
Step 4: Transfer the batter to a prepared 1-pound loaf pan. You can use an ice cream scoop or simply pour it in. Gently smooth out the surface with an offset spatula or knife.
Step 5: Crumble the pecan streusel on top of the batter in an even layer. Bring it all the way to the edges so that every part of the cake is covered. Then bake!
Step 6: In a medium bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze (that's powdered sugar, biscoff spread, vanilla, and plant-based milk).
Step 7: Cool the baked loaf in the pan for 10 minutes and then place it on a cooling rack to cool further. Once completely cooled, place it on a tray or sheet of parchment to catch the glaze that runs down the sides.
Step 8: Once completely cooled, drizzle the top of the loaf with the biscoff glaze before serving.
🎃 Variations
I personally feel like this vegan pumpkin pound cake is perfect as is, but you're more than welcome to mix it up to your personal taste. Here are some ideas:
- Pumpkin Walnut Bread: Swap out the pecans for ground walnuts.
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread: Add a cup of dairy-free chocolate chips to the batter.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: Whip up half a batch of this vegan vanilla cream cheese frosting in place of the cookie butter glaze.
📝 Recipe Tips
Remove sugar clumps before mixing. If you're using a less refined sugar such as muscovado, the downside is it tends to stick together due to the molasses content. This is not ideal in a loaf as this can result in pockets of caramelized sugar in your baked loaf. To stop this, run your fingers through the sugar to remove any lumps before mixing.
Sift the dry ingredients together. It adds an extra step but will give you an even mixture, remove any lumps or impurities, and add aeration to the batter.
Preparing the loaf pan. Line the pan with a parchment sling. Lightly grease your pan but also cut a sheet of parchment and leave an overhang on both sides of the loaf pan. This makes it easy to lift the loaf out once baked.
Removing the loaf from the pan. Once the loaf has cooled inside the pan for 10 minutes. Gently run a knife down each side which does not have parchment. Remember, the loaf will easily lift out as you've already greased the pan, but because we don't want to disturb the delicate crumb topping it's best to be careful.
💬 FAQs
To make pumpkin pie spice mix from scratch simply mix together 2 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp allspice, and ¼ tsp ground cloves. You can prepare a larger batch and store it in an airtight jar so that you always have some pumpkin spice to hand for your fall bakes!
I like to bake the pumpkin bread on an aluminum baking sheet which conducts heat and helps bake the cake evenly from underneath.
But it doesn't stop there, how you cool the bread is essential to preventing a soggy bottom! Once baked, allow the bread the cool slightly in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove it from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool further. If you leave it in the pan, it will steam, and that can create a gummy bottom layer in the pumpkin bread.
This cake stays wonderfully moist for up to a week when stored correctly. When your cake has cooled, wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap or foil or place it in an airtight container. It will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days - provided your environment is not too warm. In the fridge, it will be good for 7 days.
Yes! You can freeze it for up to a month. Cut the bread into individual slices and separate them with sheets of parchment. Make sure they are wrapped well or place them in a sealed container. That way, you can defrost a slice whenever you're craving some with your coffee! To defrost, let it thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours.
🍞 More Quick Breads
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This recipe was originally posted in October 2021. It has since been modified and improved, but if you loved the original recipe just drop me an email and I can send it to you!
Description
Equipment
Ingredients
Pecan Streusel
- 50 g (½ cup) pecans, roughly chopped *see note 1
- 25 g (3 ½ tbsp) all-purpose flour, (plain flour)
- 20 g (5 tsp) brown sugar, I use light Muscovado
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice mix, *see note 2
- 4 teaspoons vegan butter , melted
Pumpkin Bread
- 118 ml (½ cup) soy milk, *see note 3
- 1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 250 g (1 cup) canned pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 200 g (1 cup) light brown sugar, I use light Muscovado
- 30 g (2 ½ tbsp) dark brown sugar, I use dark Muscovado *see note 4
- 118 ml (½ cup) olive oil, *see note 5
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 250 g (2 cups + 4 tsp) all-purpose flour, (plain flour)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin spice mix, *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Biscoff Glaze
- 80 g (⅔ cup) powdered sugar, (icing sugar)
- 50 g (⅕ cup) biscoff spread, melted
- 3 tablespoons soy milk, *see note 3
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Tip: I highly recommend using a digital scale and measuring in grams for the most accurate results. Also, check out the post above for tips and tricks!
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Lightly grease a 1-pound loaf pan with some oil or vegan butter and line it with a sling of parchment paper - leaving an overhang on the sides.To prepare the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a jug, stir, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.Prepare the pumpkin spice if using homemade (see recipe note 2).
- Make the pecan streusel: Add the chopped pecans, brown sugar, flour, pumpkin spice, and melted butter to a medium bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles a crumb consistency. Set aside (in the fridge if your kitchen is warm).
- Mix the wet ingredients: Add the prepared vegan buttermilk, pumpkin puree, light and dark brown sugar, olive oil, and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice mix, cinnamon, and salt.
- Make the batter: Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 parts. Fold the ingredients into the batter between each increment until there are no pockets or streaks of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Assemble: Add the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top of it with a spatula or knife. Sprinkle the pecan streusel mixture on top in an even layer, coating every part of the batter.
- Bake: Bake for 50-55 minutes. The loaf will rise and the top will be golden brown. Check the cake is done at the 50-minute mark by piercing it with a toothpick or a knife, the knife should come out clean with a small few crumbs on it. Continue to bake in 5-minute increments as and if needed until baked through. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, biscoff spread, non-dairy milk, and vanilla extract until smooth. Cover and set aside until ready to use.Once the loaf is completely cool, transfer it to a tray or sheet of parchment paper and drizzle the glaze all over the top.
- Storage: When your cake has cooled, wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap or foil, or place it in an airtight container. It can be kept at room temperature for up to 5 days (provided your environment is not too warm) or in the fridge for up to 7 days. To freeze, cut the bread into individual slices and separate them with sheets of parchment. Make sure they are wrapped well or place them in a sealed container and freeze for up to a month. To defrost, let it thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours.
Notes
- 1. Pecans - Use walnuts instead if preferred.
- 2. For homemade pumpkin spice mix simply mix together the following: (2 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp allspice, and ¼ tsp ground cloves).
- 3. Soy milk - Sub with oat milk or almond milk if needed.
- 4. Dark muscovado sugar - Replace this with additional light brown sugar if needed. You can also omit it for a slightly reduced sugar content but note that the loaf won't be quite as moist.
- 5. Olive oil - Replace with a neutral oil such as sunflower or rapeseed if preferred.
Nutrition
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