Vegan Spice Cake (Paleo too!)

Moist and decadent vegan spice cake layered with a vegan cream cheese frosting! This holiday cake is perfect for all ages and naturally gluten free, Paleo, and dairy free!

You know I love my cake. Vanilla cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake…but have you tried a spice cake before?

If not, you’re in for a treat. This vegan sweet potato spice cake is full of warming spices, light yet moist and decadent, and layered with a deliciously tangy vegan cream cheese frosting.

It’s basically the holidays in a bite.

…except that bite will turn into two…then three…then four haha! You won’t be able to stop!

The Best Vegan Spice Cake

Not only is this spice cake completely moist and fluffy, but it’s also very easy to make.

This vegan spice cake comes together so easily, you’ll be wondering why you don’t bake more cakes!

Not only that, but this cake is also not overwhelmingly sweet. Yes, it’s sweet like a cake, so don’t think I’m suggesting you not eat a sweet cake. But it won’t leave your teeth sore (I mean, let’s be real, the holidays, we eat a lot of sugar and it can leave some teeth damage there!), and it’s actually pretty fairly low in sugar for a cake.

What’s more, this cake is naturally vegan and gluten free…and Paleo! YEP! A vegan Paleo cake! But trust me, you won’t be able to tell, thanks to a very special and secret ingredient!

What does Spice Cake taste like?

In my experience, spice cake basically tastes like a mix between gingerbread and a cinnamon cookie…in cake form…but less ginger and less cinnamon so that all of the flavors come out. It’s warm and tastes like fall in a bite really.

But don’t think of a spice cake in terms of heat though, because in that respect, this cake is far from spicy. Meaning, it won’t burn your tongue haha!

But it will hit the senses with all of the beautiful fall and winter spices, baked in a fluffy and moist sweet potato cake and swirled with a vegan cream cheese frosting 🙂

Vegan Spice Cake ingredients

For this holiday cake, you’ll need:

• Cooked sweet potato
• Cassava flour (or your favorite 1-to-1 gluten free flour or all purpose flour)
• Maple syrup
• Spices
• Coconut milk
• Ground flaxseed

So you might have noticed the first ingredient is sweet potato. Don’t freak out! Sweet potato cake is actually one of my all time favorite cakes. I find that when you bake the sweet potato just right, you’ll end up with this amazing extra sweetness without any added sugar.

Don’t worry if you’ve never used cassava flour either. Lisa from Downshiftology actually has a fantastic article on it, and I truly believe it will become a more popular, well-known flour soon because it’s not only gluten free and grain free, but it’s also nut free!

Then for the vegan cream cheese frosting, all you’ll need is:

• Vegan butter (I like Miyoko’s as it’s also Paleo)
• Vegan cream cheese (again, Miyoko’s because it’s Paleo)
• Powdered sugar (for a completely Paleo cake, you can make powdered coconut sugar!)

How to make vegan sweet potato spice cake

Making a sweet potato cake, nonetheless a Paleo…vegan…sweet potato spice cake…may seem intimidating, but I promise that it’s actually one of the easiest cakes to put together.

All you’ll need to do is:

1. Whisk the dry ingredients together.
2. Then combine all of the wet ingredients: Sweet potato, maple syrup, coconut milk, and flaxseed mixed with water.
3. Fold the wet into the dry ingredients then distribute evenly amongst two cake pans.
4. Bake and then let cool before frosting!

See? Not that hard right? And you’ll just love the flavors of this vegan spice cake too; it’s something that kids and adults would absolutely flip over.

The Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Now, when you’re ready to frost, you’ll just need to prepare your cream cheese frosting. You can also do just a straight up vegan buttercream frosting, but I prefer the slight tang to the cream cheese mixed with the warm spices. It’s REALLY good!

To make the frosting, simply:

1. Beat together the vegan butter and vegan cream cheese until fluffy using a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
2. Add in the powdered sugar (or coconut sugar) in increments while you continue to mix.
3. Frost your cake!

I wanted to make it a little more festive, and I made a mini gingerbread house on top with a frosting snowman, but you totally don’t have to do that!

If you do want to make a mini house though, I’ll be sharing a vegan gingerbread house soon so stay tuned!

Tips & Tricks:

• Chill your frosted cake before slicing! This makes it way easier to slice, and the frosting won’t get everywhere.
• The extra sweetness comes from a perfectly baked sweet potato. You want the natural sugars to completely caramelize while baking. Check out my sweet potato guide for tips and tricks on that.
• I wouldn’t recommend swapping out the maple syrup for coconut sugar. This is because the maple syrup is a wet ingredient, while the coconut sugar is a dry ingredient. It will alter the texture of the cake, which is very moist and fluffy!
• BUT you CAN swap out the flour! If you don’t want to use cassava flour, you can absolutely swap out a Paleo baking flour mix (like King Arthur’s or Bob’s Red Mill), 1-to-1 gluten free flour, or all purpose (but please note: all purpose won’t make this vegan spice cake gluten free anymore!).
• Have fun with the decorations! You can make this cake however you want it: leave it plane Jane or spice it up with some vegan gluten free gingerbread cookies, some tree brands, or whatever else you like!

I hope you love this vegan spice cake as much as I do! If you make it for the holidays, let me know down below in the comments section. As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!

Happy spice cake baking!

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