Easy pumpkin dump cake made with vegan friendly ingredients including a Duncan Hines Cake mix, canned pumpkin, sugar and all the seasonal spices. Just mix a couple of ingredients “dump” it in, set it and forget it. You’ll soon have a warm, spicy, sweet, pumpkin dessert!
I love fall! All the scents and sights, clear starry nights, and cool snappy evenings tell me fall is around the corner.
One of my favorite things I look forward to each year is the taste and smell of all things pumpkin spice….like my :
- Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake,
- Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
- Pumpkin Muffins with Pecans
- or the very best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies you will make!
You will not find an easier vegan pumpkin dessert than this pumpkin dump cake! Check out this post with all the vegan pumpkin recipes – both sweet and savory – from Veggie Fun Kitchen.
This vegan cake mix hack is more like a crisp than a cake with a creamy spicy bottom layer topped with a Duncan Hines cake, chopped pecans, and vegan melted butter.
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My vegan cake mix hack:
Did you know that most cake mixes aren’t vegan – even if you don’t add in eggs or dairy. They contain those ingredients in the dry mix. Weird. We are lucky though that most Duncan Hines mixes are what is known as “accidentally vegan”. That is, they didn’t set out to make a vegan mix, but there are no overt animal products in the mix.
Recipes using an accidentally vegan boxed cake mix:
Look for these easy vegan cake mix hacks on the blog!
- Vegan Brownie Mix Brownies
- Apple Spice Cake in the Slow Cooker
- Vegan Corn Casserole in the Slow Cooker
Please be aware though that there are a couple of potential issues that may make boxed mixes not as vegan as you’d like.
- Unless specifically labeled “vegan” we don’t know where the company has sourced its sugar. Sugar can sometimes be filtered through bone char. By the way, organic sugar has not been processed through bone char. Ever.
- Palm oil is listed as an ingredient which is controversial.
So do your research and decide if this recipe is going to fit within your ethics. If it does, get ready for an easy delicious vegan pumpkin dessert!
Ingredients needed to make this pumpkin dump cake:
You will need:
- Canned pumpkin – this is the “solid pack” – not the pumpkin pie mix. If you are making your own pumpkin puree, it’s almost 2 cups.
- sugar
- cinnamon
- pumpkin pie spice
- Lite canned coconut milk – you will only use about 1/2 the can. You can freeze the rest and make a smoothie later.
- pure vanilla extract
- Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
- chopped pecans
- vegan butter – get one that you love the flavor of. You will definitely taste its good buttery flavor in this recipe.
How to make the pumpkin dump cake:
Simply mix up the canned pumpkin with the coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
Pour it into a prepared 9×13 cake pan.
Evenly sprinkle the cake mix on top. Smooth it out if necessary.
Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top and then drizzle the melted butter as evenly as possible, covering the whole cake.
Put it in the oven and bake for about an hour. It will be nice and golden on top! Be careful to not over-cook and burn the pecans.
You will want to cool it for a while before you cut into it. The squares will only cut as nicely as pictured if it has been refrigerated and is quite cold. I like it warmer and so usually just put it in a bowl and top with vegan ice cream, or coconut whipped topping.
The recipe for Easy Pumpkin Dump Cake:
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Pumpkin Dump Cake with Pecans (Vegan)
Equipment
- oven
- 9×13 cake pan
Ingredients
Pumpkin Mixture
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix or filling)
- 3/4 cup lite coconut milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Topping
- 1 box yellow cake mix See notes for suggestion if vegan
- 1 cup vegan butter melted
- 2 cups pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Prepare a 9×13 cake pan with cooking spray.
Pumpkin Mixture
- Mix together the pumpkin puree, coconut milk, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top evenly.
Topping
- Chop pecans if not already chopped.
- Melt the vegan butter in the micorwave or on the stovetop on low.
- Sprinkle the cake mix evenly on top of the pumpkin mixture.
- Sprinkle the pecans on top of the dry cake.
- Drizzle the melted vegan butter evenly over the cake mix and pecans.
Bake and Serve
- Put in the preheated oven and bake for about an hour. The top will be golden brown when finished.
- Take out of the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Serving suggestion: The cake square will be very soft and not really maintain its shape well unless cooled completely in the refrigerator. I prefer to scoop mine out and serve in a bowl with vanilla vegan ice cream.
This was great! Will definitely make it again. It was a hit with my whole family.
So glad to hear it!
Stellar! I’m the only vegan in the house, and everybody loved it. I will definitely be making this again.
Exquisite!