Recipe for Brownie Cake with Pumpkin Swirl – This Recipe mixes the rich chocolatey flavor and chewiness of brownies, with the moist, fluffiness of cake for the perfect Brownie Cake combo! With added pumpkin and vegan cream cheese, this Recipe for Brownie Cake with Pumpkin Swirl has a unique flavor that is the perfect fall or Halloween treat!
Free of gluten, dairy, and sugar, this Recipe for Brownie Cake is a great way to satisfy that sweet tooth, while still packing in some beneficial nutrients. Ready to learn more? Keep reading!
How to Make this Recipe for Brownie Cake with Pumpkin Swirl
This Recipe for Brownie Cake is perfect for the brownie lover that’s looking for a cake recipe. All of the chocolatey, chewy goodness of a brownie, but in cake form! A true dream combination for the chocolate obsessed!
Brownie cake recipes are quite simple, requiring only a few staple ingredients like butter, flour, sugar, and cocoa. Because of this, it wasn’t actually all that difficult to find healthy replacements for these ingredients.
Ingredient Swaps for a Healthy Recipe for Brownie Cake
Like stated above, recipes like this one aren’t all that difficult to transform into a clean, nutrient-filled treat. And while I can’t lie and tell you that this Recipe for Brownie Cake with Pumpkin Swirl is equivalent to the nutrients you’d get from eating a big raw salad, it most definitely falls into the “healthy for dessert” category!
Speaking of which, if clean eating is important to you and your family, chances are Halloween is probably a tricky (get it?) time to navigate. If you’re stuck between your child (or yourself) missing out on all of the sweet treats in the name of health, or indulging in inflammatory artificial candy that leaves you feeling sick and beat down in the coming days, treats like these are perfect solutions!
Ready for our healthy swaps? Here they are!
Swap Refined Wheat Flour for Gluten Free Flour
One of the biggest problems with gluten, is that it’s not what it use to be. We often get questioned as to why we choose a gluten free diet, as many people misunderstand this to be a “fad”. They’re right in the sense that a huge surge in gluten intolerances didn’t just randomly happen for no good reason. Gluten has been incredibly modified, treated with pesticides, and tampered with over the years (especially in America). Because of this, it has become very difficult to digest and pro-inflammatory for a huge percentage of the population.
Because of this, we choose to follow a gluten-free diet, and have seen ginormous improvements in our health because of this. With so many options out there these days, there is no reason for your gluten-free treats to taste inferior. And don’t worry about going out and sacrificing your time, energy, and money on finding the best options (tasty and with great texture)…we’ve already done that for you! We absolutely love using King Arthur’s Measure-for-Measure Gluten Free Flour, and seriously cannot tell a difference in this, and real wheat flour!
Swap Butter for a Vegan Alternative
Another food group we avoid is dairy, although this is for slightly different reasons. Lactose, found in milk is a sugar consisting of glucose attached to galactose. As a baby, you have an enzyme called lactase that can break lactose apart. After the age of weaning, a huge majority of people in the world lose that enzyme. Because of this, they are lactose intolerant. Because of this, dairy can be very inflammatory and problematic for many people, including ourselves.
In this recipe, we chose to use palm oil as a butter replacement. Unrefined palm oil, is a superfood oil you may not be familiar with. I realize conventional palm oil does not have a very good reputation in clean eating circles. I know not many people know yet about unrefined red palm oil, but trust me, this is a superfood oil you will definitely want to start using. If you don’t have unrefined red palm oil in your kitchen, you can always use organic extra virgin coconut oil, or any type of vegan butter instead! A great vegan butter option if you like that buttery flavor is Miyokos!
Swap Refined Sugar for Natural Sweeteners
Refined sugar is an empty calorie sweetener, age accelerator, and is incredibly inflammatory. It’s also a major problem (especially in America), because sugar is literally EVERYWHERE! If you start paying attention to ingredient lists, you’ll find sugar hidden in everything. From spaghetti sauce, to breakfast cereals, to frozen food entrees, it’s hidden in every nook and cranny.
The USDA states that the average American adult consumes more than 64 pounds of sugar every year. This adds up to 108,800 empty calories eaten per year from sugar alone!
Thankfully (and lucky for me, a major sweets lover), it’s not sugar that’s issue, it’s REFINED sugar that is wreaking havoc on our health. Opt for a natural sweetener like maple syrup or coconut sugar (like we used in this recipe), and you’re actually reaping some health benefits with your sweet treats!
Swap Cocoa for Cacao
With names so similar, most people don’t even realize that cocoa and cacao are two different things! While cocoa is highly processed and void of many nutrients, cacao is a superfood, FILLED with nutrients and health benefits! With cacao, you really can have your chocolate, and eat it too, because it’s actually healthy!
So while plain old cocoa isn’t the worst thing in the world, it’s most definitely not nearly as beneficial as cacao is. So next time you’re shopping, make sure to note this distinction, and go for the healthier option!
Recipes with Cacao
Love cacao as much as we do? We’re all about our chocolate, especially when we can tell ourselves (truthfully) that we’re enjoying a nutrient-dense, superfood! Here are our favorite recipes with cacao.
- Easy Chocolate Mousse Recipe: If you’re a chocolate lover like I am, this refined sugar, gluten, and dairy-free Chocolate Mousse Recipe is one you simply can’t pass up!
- Recipe for Chocolate Cookies: Packed full of plant-based protein, and rich in superfoods and antioxidants, this Recipe for Chocolate Cookies is healthy and delicious!
- Chocolate Banana Smoothie: This Chocolate Banana Smoothie is is ready in just a few short minutes, and is the perfect way to start your morning.
After spending so much time talking about this Recipe for Brownie Cake, I simply can’t resist giving you the details in longer. Ready for all the info? Let’s get into it!
Kitchen Favorites
Recipe for Brownie Cake
With added pumpkin and vegan cream cheese, this Recipe for Brownie Cake has a unique flavor that is the perfect fall or Halloween treat!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons measure-for-measure gluten-free flour
- 1 cup raw cacao powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- Pinch of Himalayan pink salt
- 1/2 cup unrefined organic red palm oil
- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 cup unsweetened hemp milk
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 organic, pastured egg
- 1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 11-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together 2 cups of gluten free flour, cacao powder, baking powder and salt. Set dry ingredients aside.
- In a high-speed blender, add the red palm oil, maple syrup, hemp milk and 1 tablespoon of the vanilla extract. Process until smooth and creamy.
- Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients (Note: Be careful not to over mix or you will end up with tough brownies). Pour the batter into the baking dish and set aside.
- In a high speed blender, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour, remaining teaspoon of vanilla, pumpkin, cashews, water, egg and coconut palm sugar. Process on high until smooth and creamy.
- Carefully swirl the pumpkin mixture in with the brownies.
- Bake for 35 to 38 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle has just a wee bitty bit of chocolate on it when you pull it out. Let it cool, cut into squares, and serve.
Keywords: Recipe for Brownie Cake
Check Out Our Collection of Healthy Dinner Recipes!
Kimberly Hoover-Frey says
Hi, Ivy.
I would love to try this minus the gluten. Have you tried it with any gluten-free flours?
Thanks,
Kim
Ivy Larson says
Hi Kimberly, I am so sorry for just now getting back to you, it’s been a super hectic last few days over here for us (had over 100 people to the house for our annual Halloween party + had to make major last minute edits for the cookbook to go to print!) Anyway, I have not yet tried this particular recipe with gluten free flours BUT I do think it would work if you used a 1:1 ratio of cassava flour to oat flour. I seem to have A LOT of luck lately when combining those 2. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out! And Happy Halloween =)
Mandy says
This recipe looks so great. I have been reading your blog for awhile and love it. One thing that is a set-back for me with trying more of the recipes is that my daughter is severely allergic to nuts. Are there any swaps for the cashews in this recipe? Thx!!!
Ivy Larson says
Thank you so much Mandy! I so appreciate the positive feedback on the blog too =) As for the nut allergy, that is happening A LOT lately with so many kids and even in my husband’s practice. We have found most people who are allergic to nuts can still tolerate coconut milk and hemp seed milk though. Have you tried those? For the cashews in this recipe I would try the hemp seeds. That should work perfectly with the recipe and very few people have a hemp seed allergy. Please do keep me posted and let me know how it works…