Dan’s Vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake, with Bourbon Buttercream Bonfires

This traybake is absolutely perfect for autumn, packed with the warming flavours of a pumpkin spiced latte, and topped with bourbon buttercream bonfires. 

Not only do these simple cakes look really fun and different, they’re also vegan friendly 

Equipment

9″x13″ Traybake Pan 3x Mixing Bowls 2x Wooden Spoons Digital Scales Whisk Large Closed Star Tip Piping Bag 

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake:

250g Plain Flour 25g Espresso Powder 3tsp Ground Cinnamon 2tsp Ground Ginger ½ tsp Ground Cloves 1tsp Baking Soda 1tsp Baking Powder 425g Pumpkin Puree (1 can) 275g Caster Sugar 100g Sunflower Oil 150g Soya Milk 1tbsp Vanilla Extract 

For the Bourbon Buttercream Bonfires:

50g Vegan Baking Block 150g Icing Sugar 1tbsp Bourbon Orange Gel Fool Colouring Pretzel Sticks 

Method 

Pre-heat the oven to 180C / 160C Fan 

Grease and line a 12”x9” traybake tin 

For the Pumpkin Latte Cake:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, espresso powder, spices, baking soda, baking  powder, and salt. 
2. Whisk together briefly to combine, and break up any lumps of flour. 
3. In another mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, oil, soya milk, and vanilla  extract. 
4. Mix together until well incorporated and smooth. 
5. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, and mix everything together, just until  no dry patches remain. 
6. Transfer the cake batter into the prepared traybake tin, and bake for 25 minutes, or until a  skewer comes out clean.  
7. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely. 

For the Bourbon Bonfires:

1. Add the baking block, icing sugar, bourbon and orange food colouring to a mixing bowl. 2. Beat until very well combined, and the buttercream has a smooth texture. 3. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip. 
2. Remove the cake from the tin and trim the edges.
3. Cut the cake into 24 individual pieces, by making 4 rows of 6. 
4. Pipe a tall star of the buttercream on the centre of each cake, then add pretzel sticks around, to resemble a bonfire!