I am excited to share this recipe today because for me it screams Autumn. And with only half the calories of a normal cake! So lets get on with taking about this Gluten Free Lightened Up Pumpkin Spice Cake because I know you are going to love it. Light, airy, soft & fluffy and best of all packed with Fall flavours. This cake is going to make your Autumn so much better and a little bit lighter.

 

 

Fall Flavours.

We all love cake but we also know it can be unforgiving when we over indulge in it. Which I can easily do without much thought especially when it comes to Fall treats. I love the flavours so much. Next to Spring I think it is my favourite season. All those warm sweet spicy flavours are just so hard to say no too. Apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, pears and in the UK, homegrown blackberries are at their best right now. So bring on the blackberry and apple crumbles 🙂

 

 

The great thing about this gluten free lightened up pumpkin spice cake is you don’t have to say no to that extra slice. I work it out at around 110 calories a serving, but remember I am no nutritional expert and this is not gospel. Check it out for yourself if you are following a calorie controlled diet. I am NOT a nutritionist.

 

Light or not this cake has all the Fall suspects in it, pumpkin, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

 

Gluten Free

I love experimenting with gluten free baking, it can be a real art form and when you get it right the results can be amazing. It took a few attempts to get this one just right, changing and adding in different flours to get a good texture. I ended up using coconut flour and brown rice flour, I found these two worked perfectly for the texture and flavour I was after. Coconut flour is course and meaty, if that makes sense and rice flour is fine and slightly sweet in flavour.

 

 

Lightened Up

To lighten this cake up I reduced the sugar to the absolute minimum I could – 85 grams (1/2 cup lightly packed). Sugar is needed not only for sweetness in a cake but structure too, it does play more than one role in making your cake. I used dark brown sugar as it has the strongest flavour and it helps to keep a cake moist and tender for longer. Adding in just a tablespoon of molasses (black treacle) to boost this flavour as well.

 

 

I ditched the egg yolks in this recipe which I know are a healthy fat and in moderation can be good for you. But I decided to forego them in this recipe to cut some of the fat out. Luckily for me pumpkin puree is robust and sweet in its own way that you don’t miss the yolks in this gluten free lightened up pumpkin spice cake. Unsweetened almond milk was used to further reduce the sugar and fat that went into this cake, I love almond milk and always have it in the house. But any non fat plant / animal milk can be used.

 

I used light butter, which I generally never use in baking I have it on my toast all the time but normally use full fat butter in my baking. But as I was experimenting anyway with this recipe and I was using so little of it. I was able to shave off a few more calories using this light butter for a change.

 

 

Small Batch Cakes

This recipe for gluten free lightened up pumpkin spice cake is perfect for a small batch cake, its made in a 8×8 inch (20 x 20 cm) square tin it produces 9 decent sized squares or 12 if you want them a little smaller. This is the perfect size for 2 or 3 people. If you need something a little larger and you are not bothered by the reduced fat & gluten free flours then I can highly recommend my Spiced Pumpkin Cake with Maple Frosting it really is cake heaven 🙂

 

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