Spiced Pumpkin Bread with Maple Vanilla Icing

9/28/2014

Spiced Pumpkin Bread with Maple Vanilla Icing

Prepare yourselves: the weathers getting cooler and it's about to get all kinds of pumpkin up in here. After walking the aisles of Trader Joe's last week and seeing pumpkin-themed snacks EVERYWHERE, I was inspired. Last year at this time I was so sick of pumpkin. I'm not even sure we posted one pumpkin recipe on this site last fall. Lame, right?
This year, lucky (or maybe unlucky?) for you, I've jumped back on the pumpkin bandwagon. HARD. The next couple of weeks will be filled with pumpkin treats both sweet and savory...but mostly sweet. I promise not to overdo it. And I promise you will find at least one pumpkin goodie to love. In fact, we're calling it 'GREAT PUMPKIN WEEK' here this week. Use the handy pumpkin on the homepage sidebar to explore ALL of our pumpkin-filled recipes! Now, let's BAKE!

INGREDIENTS:
Spiced Pumpkin Bread
1- 15 oz. can pumpkin purée (about 1.5 cups)
1/3 cup softened coconut oil
1/2 cup organic sugar
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups whole wheat OR gluten-free flour blend
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Maple Vanilla Icing
1.5 cups raw cashews, soaked
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/3 cup water

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil, sugar, milk, vanilla, & vinegar. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. While you wait, grab a second mixing bowl & combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
Once the wet ingredients are ready (slightly bubbly), slowly add in the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Once the two are completely combined and a batter has formed, add the pumpkin purée. Stir to combine.
Pour batter into a greased, lined or non-stick loaf pan. [We used a non-stick pan with a little parchment paper, for easy removal.] Bake for 45-60 minutes, depending on your oven. Bread is finished when a toothpick comes clean. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 30 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
While bread cools, whip us icing by combining soaked cashews, maple syrup, vanilla, and water in a food processor or high speed blender. Fill a piping bag or ziploc bag with a corner cut off with icing mixture and pipe icing over cooled loaf. Loaf lasts well on the counter or in the fridge for about a week, or can be frozen indefinitely. Enjoy!

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25 Comments

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Marty

9/28/2014 03:06:48 am

We truly hate pumpkin. Is there anything that can replace it. Bananas, carrots, anything?

Nance

9/28/2014 10:37:41 am

What about cooked sweet potato? I've made "pumpkin-recipe" sweet potato pies and they turned out well. You could add some smooth applesauce to get the right texture/moisture.

Verity

12/22/2016 06:21:13 pm

If you hate pumpkin, why are you looking at a pumpkin bread recipe? There are plenty of banana bread or carrot bread recipes out there...

9/28/2014 03:07:47 am

Maybe zucchini? Anything?

Amber St. Peter

9/28/2014 03:53:56 am

Well we based our original recipe on our Pecan Studded Banana Bread recipe, so banana might sub in well. I haven't tried any of those other vegetables here so I can't suggest/ guarantee anything but use your best judgement and go for it! Good luck!

Ashley

9/28/2014 11:14:37 am

I just made this and used full fat Coconut Cream from Trader Joes....amazing!!!

Stacey

9/30/2014 12:39:33 am

Thanks for the coconut cream tip!

Marfigs link

9/29/2014 03:11:15 pm

This looks SO delicious! Saving it to my to-do list, because wow :D

Brooke

10/2/2014 02:12:52 pm

My wife and I made this last night, and it didn't turn out well:( I think the problem may have been the coconut oil. We melted it and it was liquid when we put it in with the other wet ingredients, but as soon as we added almond milk, which was cold from the fridge, the coconut oil hardened into a bunch of tiny chunks that looked like ice. It then wouldn't mix in well with anything else, since it was solid. The result was that the bottom half of the bread loaf was a semi-hard gelatin like consistency-- almost rubbery. Quite strange. I assume this was due to the coconut oil issue. Also, because of the coconut oil hardening, our wet mix didn't get "bubbly" as it was supposed to. Amber-- how did you not have this issue with the coconut oil hardening? Add room temperature non-dairy milk? I assume most people's milk would be cold, and the same thing would happen.

Amber link

10/3/2014 05:30:04 am

Hi Brooke! Well THAT'S not good!! We're sorry you had some issues. We've actually used this bread base with bananas many times and never had any issues, and when we exchanged it for pumpkin all was well. While our milk is from the fridge, we do take out all of our ingredients when we start a recipe, so everything is within arms reach on the counter. While our milk may have warmed slightly, I doubt it would affect the recipe in any negligible way. I have never had this issue and I'm a little lost too. How did you melt your coconut oil? Was it in a microwave? That affects the molecular structure of the bread and the way the oil acts in the baked good. That is my only idea. I'm happy to continue troubleshooting with you, email at amber@fettlevegan.com if you want!

10/3/2014 08:08:31 am

Hey Amber. Thanks for the response. We set a measuring cup full of coconut oil in a bowl of hot water up to the edge of the cup and melted it that way (we are anti-microwave-- we don't even own one!). So not sure what the issue was. No worries, though. Just thought you might have an idea. We may try again with room-temperature almond milk and see how it goes. The top half of our loaf turned out quite normal, and it super tasty-- so we're still enjoying it anyway:)

Frances

10/10/2017 07:19:54 pm

I have been baking for 48 years. When you are baking, all ingredients should be at room temperature, unless your recipe states otherwise. Have read this many times on other baking websites.

katie

11/16/2014 10:05:32 am

Hi, I had the same problem with the coconut oil. I realized this might happened when it was way too late and I put the cold milk in the batter. The coconut milk that was not fully mixed hardened immediately. Next time, I will warm the milk slightly above room temperature before I but in the coconut oil. Coconut oil at room temperature is a solid, so i think it would be best to warm it above room tempt. This might change the outcome next time.

Maria

10/7/2014 03:41:58 am

I think the problem is the fact that you melted the coconut oil when the recipient calls for softened. I would let it sit out for a few hours or overnight and try again.

Lauren

10/7/2014 11:41:47 am

Whether the coconut oil was softened or melted does not matter- once it is introduced to a cold ingredient, it will absolutely solidify into a million little chunks, ultimately ruining the recipe. The trick I've found is to warm up the mill (and other normally "cold" ingredients) just a tad bit and the oil problem won't happen. I think it's erroneous on the publisher's part not to mention this, as bakers who are new to using coconut oil can make the very same mistake. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of throwing away money and time on failed recipes.

10/7/2014 01:40:16 pm

Like I said in the previous comment, as someone who FREQUENTLY bakes, I take all of my ingredients out at the start at the recipe to save time and effort and allow me to make sure I have said ingredients. My apologies if that's unclear, but again, we've never had an issue with this recipe or we wouldn't have posted it.

Katie

11/16/2014 10:08:48 am

I actually do the same thing. I left all the ingredients out before I started to make the pumpkin bread and I still had the coconut oil issue. I think the milk needs to be slightly above room tempt, since coconut oil will solidify at tempts 60 to 65 degrees.

Donna

6/27/2015 04:20:31 am

How long should the cashews be soaked

12/16/2015 08:01:35 am

Hi Donna! So sorry I'm just seeing this. The cashews should be soaked in warm water for at least 30 mins!

Summer

12/15/2015 10:49:04 pm

I was curious if this icing tastes like the real deal and how do you think it would be on cinnamon rolls?

12/16/2015 08:02:10 am

Hi Summer! Yeah, I love this icing. It's thick and rich and would be GREAT on cinnamon rolls!

Aretha

10/11/2016 03:40:14 pm

Is white flour okay??

10/12/2016 09:10:05 pm

Hi Aretha! White flour or All-Purpose Flour should work great here. Enjoy!

Abby

10/20/2016 11:20:33 pm

I hate to say that this recipe is overall unpleasant and not worth making :( I was really excited about it because the ingredients are so clean. The pumpkin bread is edible but the inside just stayed wet even when I left it in the oven an hour longer than directed. I know it's not the coconut oil because it is almost liquid at room temp where I live so it never clumped up. The icing has the texture and taste of potato purée even after adding additional sweetener. This is not to bash, just felt like a waste of cashews and other ingredients and wasn't appetizing at all

Gen

1/14/2017 04:36:29 pm

Ugh! I wish I would've read these comments before I made this! I had the same issue with the coconut oil hardening. But I still used it. It's in the oven now. I guess we'll see.