Writer and photographer Kaylie Johnson

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his moist and delicious pumpkin cake with maple frosting is melt-in-your-mouth good! Almond flour, arrowroot flour and palm oil shortening provide healthier alternatives in this dairy-free, gluten-free and refined sugar-free version of your grandma’s favorite pumpkin cake recipe. We promise your mouth won’t notice the difference!

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

Cake Batter

1 c. almond flour

1/2 c. arrowroot flour

1/2 c. palm oil shortening

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 c. real maple syrup

1/4 c. almond butter

3 whole eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/3 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

Frosting

1/2 c. coconut butter

1 tbsp. real maple syrup, room temp

1 tbsp. palm oil shortening

1-2 tsp. hot water, depending on how thin or thick you desire the frosting to be

Directions:

Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch by 8-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper.

Combine all of the cake batter ingredients in a large mixing bowl until completely smooth. You can also use an electric mixer for this. Pour cake batter into the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until golden.

Frosting

Before combining ingredients for the frosting, be sure that your maple syrup is at room temp! This is very important! If the maple syrup is chilled, it will clump the frosting.

For the frosting, combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor for about 1 minute until smooth. Do not over whip or frosting will clump.

Gently frost the cake with the whipped maple frosting, serve and enjoy!