Vegan & Glutenfree Pumpkin Apple Loaf

My Autumn Loaf of Choice.

Just like that it’s autumn. This is the season for warm, cozy and spicy flavors. It is also the season of apples and pumpkins. Are you excited for all these cozy bakes and flavors? Are you baking apple pie or pumpkin loaf or both? Well I decided to do Vegan and Gluten-free Pumpkin Apple Loaf to welcome the new season. This loaf is perfect for vegan and gluten-free people. It is not just for vegans, you should definitely try this as well, even if you are not. You are going to love it and may be you can impress your vegan and gluten allergic friends and family. 

Magical Season

Who is excited for loose sweaters, scarves, and long boot weather? I feel like autumn is the most magical time of the year. With the leaves turning colors, trees slowly shedding the leaves to get ready for winter. It’s amazing to watch the life cycle of the plants from birth (spring) to death (winters). But it also scares me to know what’s coming in a few weeks. I can’t ever be prepared for the cold that waits. I wish this magical season would last forever, but wait; it wouldn’t be as magical if it was there all the time. Okay scratch that, I wish this magical season would last a few more weeks.

There are pumpkin patches all over. The apple orchards are full of different varieties of apples, the maple trees are turning orange, the aspens have started turning yellow, and the weather has definitely started taking a dive. This magical and lightly chilly season calls for something cozy and delicious. This vegan and gluten-free pumpkin apple loaf with a cup of tea is a perfect treat for that. 

Veganventure!

You might be wondering why I did vegan and gluten free. Growing up most of the baking used to be done without eggs but not vegan. Most families back home in India, especially the north and west parts are vegetarian but not necessarily vegan. Also my husband is egg protein allergic, so most times I try to bake without eggs. For these reasons I decided to do the 1st autumn bake with no eggs.

It’s a good thing that the dairy is easy to substitute. Also, using olive oil instead of butter in cakes makes them moister and increases their shelf life. Just like that, this vegan pumpkin apple loaf happened.

Changing Things Up!

I don’t bake gluten-free cakes much, so it was kind of a last minute decision. I know a lot of people who are allergic to gluten so I feel bad whenever I bake something and they can’t even taste it. So, I am learning to bake with different gluten free flours. For this loaf I used the King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour which is one cup to one cup ratio (regular flour to gluten-free flour). It’s the best gluten free blend I have come across so far. It is so easy to replace in any cake or loaf and you can’t even tell apart by the taste. Especially in this pumpkin apple loaf, amazingly, it tastes just as delicious as it would with regular flour. I was so amazed that I realized I need to experiment with more gluten free flours in my bakes. Now that the baking season is on, I should experiment more. However, the flour blend I mentioned earlier is amazing, so I’ll use it for a while longer before trying out others.

Tea and Loaves affair

I can’t believe I just said that the baking season is on. It feels like I have been baking ever since summer started. It’s been all about teas and espressos along with tea cakes in my family all through the summer. So far I have baked 4 pumpkin apple loaves. Out of which I used regular flour for one loaf and gluten-free for the rest. However, they were all vegan. So you can imagine how much we love our tea and coffee times. I simply wait for the afternoon coffee and evening tea time to spend with my husband. May be I wait more, so I get to eat the delicious tea loaves. Lol. I hope he doesn’t read this part.

Egg Replacement

Many of you messaged me on Instagram regarding the vegan substitute, when I used the flax meal to replace the eggs on my stories. First of all, thank you for following the stories. Coming back to the flax meal, some of you had concerns about it tasting weird and strong, and also about the consistency of the loaf. I would say, flax meal doesn’t have a very strong taste of its own. I do agree that it tastes a bit nutty and that can turn many people off, but with all the spices and the fruit, the flax meal taste is completely overwhelmed. You can’t even tell what egg replacement was used. The citrus really helps with the flavor. For this loaf specifically, I used orange zest. It not only adds a sweet citrusy flavor but makes it more festive as well. This is definitely a delicious loaf with all the autumn flavors in it.

To Top it All Off!

To fancy up the cake, I topped off with whipped coconut yogurt. I used the sweetened one, so I didn’t have to add any sweetness in it. I added fresh vanilla bean, and OMG, it tasted divine. Remember the vegan plum sauce I made a few weeks ago, it goes perfectly with this loaf. You could even skip the coconut yogurt and simply pour some warm plum sauce on the loaf. It’s an absolute heaven. The yogurt however, added a lot of flavor and made it look a bit formal too. You could use any coconut yogurt, but I like the SO Delicious yogurt. I have been using this brand for all my granola and other vegan substitutes. 

If you make this Vegan and Gluten free Pumpkin Apple Loaf, then do share it on my Facebook Page , or Instagram. I would love to see your version of it. 

If you want to try another cake that has no eggs but not vegan, then check out the Carrot Cake with Carrot Halwa. Have a wonder autumn season y’all.

5 from 2 votes

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Vegan & Gluten Free Pumpkin Apple Loaf

A delicious vegan bake with all the cozy autumn flavors

Servings: 9 inch loaf

Author: Esha

Ingredients

For Vegan & Gluten Free Pumpkin Apple Loaf

• 78 ml Olive oil
• 150 grams sugar
• 2 tbsp Flax meal
• 6 tbsp Water room temperature
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 142 grams pumpkin puree
• 74 grams apple grated
• 75 ml Coconut milk
• 225 grams gluten free flour blend King Arthur Measure for Measure
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp clove powder
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• Zest of one orange
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts I used walnuts
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tsp gluten free flour

For Coconut Yogurt Icing (optional)

• Coconut yogurt
• Plum Sauce
• Fruits to decorate I used fresh figs

Instructions

For Flax Eggs

1. add the flax meal in water and whisk. Put in a food processor with blade attachment. Process it until it is gel like with a thick consistency. Set this aside.

For Vegan & Gluten-free Pumpkin Apple Loaf

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Lightly spray 9 inch loaf pan with some oil.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients.
4. Separately, whisk oil, sugar and vanilla extract on medium speed for about 1 minute.
5. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk until well incorporated.
6. Now add the flax eggs and whisk for 10-15 seconds, until fully incorporated.
7. Then add flour and coconut milk in batches while whisking on medium speed, till you get smooth batter.
8. Meanwhile dust the flour on the nuts and cranberries to prevent them from sinking.
9. Fold the apples and nuts into the batter and pour this into a loaf pan.
10. Bake for 40-50mins until the loaf is done. Insert a toothpick to check, If it comes out clean, that means the loaf is done.
11. Let it rest in the tin for 15-20 minutes before taking it out of the tin. Cool on wire rack.

For Coconut Yogurt Icing

1. To use the yogurt topping, whip up some coconut yogurt. Add vanilla extract or vanilla bean and mix well. Spread on top of the cooled cake and pour plum sauce.
2. Enjoy with tea or coffee.

Recipe Notes

If the yogurt is too runny, then you could put some yogurt in a muslin cloth over a sieve for 15-20 minutes. This will discard the water in the yogurt and make it thick.