I wanted to make a cake this holiday weekend for my family, but wanted to partake as well. As you may or may not know from a previous post, I have to eliminate sugar from my diet. That presented quite a challenge for me, especially when I’m in the mood for cake & especially for the Holidays! So I went to work in my kitchen “lab” & tried out some recipes. After a flop or 2 (I won’t admit how many flops), I came up with one that works well. I did use Maple sugar and coconut sugar, as I can process those. Thank goodness! If you try it, let me know what you think. 🙂

Ingredients:

2 cups maple sugar

3/4 cups coconut sugar

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) earth balance butter sticks, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 eggs

3 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin

Caramel Pecan Sauce:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup real maple syrup

4 TBSPN almond butter

pinch of sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup pecans, halved

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease bundt pan with vegan shortening and lightly flour.
2. In a large bowl, beat sugar and vegan butter until light and fluffy.
3. Add 1 tsp vanilla & eggs, one at a time, mixing in well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix them together well.
5. Alternately add flour mixture from small bowl & the 1 cup of pumpkin to large bowl, beating well after each addition.
6. Pour batter into greased & floured bundt pan.
7. Bake at 350°F for 65 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Take out of pan on drying rack until completely cooled.
9. While cooling on rack, make your caramel pecan sauce.
10.  In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil & maple syrup, stirring til melded together for approximately a minute.
11. Whisk in the almond butter until incorporated into the mix well.
12. Stir in the sea salt, vanilla extract & pecans. Take off the stove.
13. Place cake on serving platter & drizzle sauce over cake.
14. With each slice you cut & serve, drizzle more sauce over the slice.

Oh my this sauce is so yummy!! It would even be so amazing on vegan vanilla ice cream!! Hope you liked the cake!! If you make it, let me hear your thoughts on it! Enjoy!!