Gluten Free Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• Easy ingredients - Two gluten free flours including oat and almond flour plus brown sugar and a handful of other pantry ingredients form the base of this velvety smooth cake.
• Gorgeously gluten free - The dense, always tender crumb of this luscious pumpkin sheet cake means you'd never be able to tell it's gluten free - I promise.
• Crammed with fall flavors - Everything you love about fall, from mellow pumpkin to warming spices, is featured in this cake.
• Versatile - You can make this pumpkin sheet cake recipe with or without frosting, add chocolate, nuts, and more.

Ingredient Notes

I've included an overview of what you'll need for gluten free pumpkin sheet cake below, plus a few notes to help you gather up the componenets.

• Oat flour - Learn how to make oat flour easily at home or purchase a package of premade oat flour. If you can't eat oats, substitute brown rice flour.
• Almond flour - Use fine-ground almond flour rather than almond meal. Substitute with teff flour or another nut flour if you don't eat almonds.
• Rising agents - Baking powder and baking soda (check to make sure they're fresh).
• Spices - A combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, or substitute pumpkin pie spice blend for the total amount of spices.
• Salt - I always use fine sea salt and table salt is great, too.
• Pumpkin puree - ALWAYS use plain pumpkin puree NOT pumpkin pie filling, which contains extra additives and sweeteners, unless otherwise specified.
• Eggs - Bring the eggs to room temperature so that they seamlessly blend into the batter.
• Oil - Your choice of oil! I've used vegetable oil, olive oil, and melted coconut oil interchangeably. Avocado or canola oil would be fine as well. (I forgot to add it to the ingredients when I photographed them so it's not in the photo!)
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar - Light or dark brown sugar is fine.
• Maple syrup - For an extra hint of natural sweetness. Substitute with brown sugar if needed.
• Cream cheese - Use full-fat block cream cheese brought to room temperature for the best frosting.
• Unsalted butter - Room temperature unsalted butter is best!
• Confectioners’ sugar - Sift the sugar before adding it to the frosting to remove any clumps.

Scroll down to my recipe card at the bottom of this post for the full ingredient amounts and instructions!

Substitution Suggestions & Tips

• Use room temperature ingredients: Bring ingredients to room temperature before using. This will help them seamlessly blend into the batter. This is especially important when making the cream cheese frosting - the cream cheese should be very soft so the finished frosting is beautifully smooth.
• To make vegan: Substitute three flax eggs for the eggs. Use your preferred vegan butter substitute and cream cheese substitute in the frosting.
• Swap gluten free flour: Easily use a gluten free all-purpose flour blend - try my homemade gluten free flour blend! - in place of the combination of oat and almond flours.
• Make your pumpkin puree: Here's how to make homemade pumpkin puree: Pick up a sugar pie pumpkin at the store. Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and innards, then bake it face down on a baking sheet at 350°F for about 45 minutes. When the pumpkin is soft, remove it from the oven and let it cool a bit. Scrape off the skin, place the pumpkin in a food processor, and process until very smooth. For this recipe, you will need 2 cups of homemade pumpkin puree.
• Use pumpkin pie spice: Swap 2 ¼ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice for the combination of spices in the batter if you have this spice blend handy.
• Add a sprinkle of spice: Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon - or ginger, cardamom, or pumpkin pie spice blend - over the top of the frosting for a decorative finish as is shown in the photos.

Variations

Make this beautiful pumpkin sheet cake according to the recipe or try a few simple changes:

• Omit the frosting: Leave off the frosting and dust the surface of the cake with sifted powdered sugar, or sprinkle it with a mix of cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon granulated sugar + 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon. Save any leftovers for another project!)
• Add candied nuts: Scatter candied pecans or walnuts over the top of the cream cheese frosting.
• Make it with chocolate: Stir in 1-2 cups of mini or regular semisweet chocolate chips to the batter to make pumpkin chocolate chip cake. Or try milk chocolate chips if you want it sweeter.

Proper Storage

• Fridge - Store gluten free pumpkin bars in an air-tight container or well-covered in the pan in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can serve the bars cold from the fridge or at room temperature. You can slice them all up at once or as needed.
• Freezer - I don't like to freeze the whole cake because of the dairy in the frosting. However, to save time later, I'll bake and freeze the cake. Wrap it well and freeze it, unfrosted, for up to 3 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge, then make the frosting and assemble the sheet cake.