Pumpkin Bread With Maple Glaze
Entering spooky season in style.
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It’s spooky season my dudes!
October has arrived and I’m twiddling my toes with glee about it! I arrived home from Bali just yesterday (October 1st) and I could literally feel the crisp chill in the air the second I stepped off the plane. Thanks to the Bali sun and bottomless Indonesian food, I’m also pumpkin coloured and slightly more pumpkin shaped. I doubt it’s a surprise for you to hear that a food blogger’s favourite season is autumn (y’know, the season when all the baked goods come out) but it is. Something unlocks in me, as soon as October hits, and all I want to do is bake a mountain of sweet, spiced treats. Despite my tropical travels, this year is no different.
Today’s recipe is for my vegan take on a classic pumpkin bread. Pumpkin bread is apparently the most googled pumpkin recipe, and yet somehow this is the first time I’m publishing my version. This is not from lack of trying. I’ve been working on this recipe for years. The flavour was relatively easy to achieve (thanks pumpkin puree, brown sugar and spices!) but the texture has been a whole other challenge.
Pumpkin bread needs that soft, moist texture and, much like banana bread, it should flex under its own weight when you lift a slice from the plate. Yet somehow, it should also be light, not dense. Without eggs, this has been a bit of a challenge, but I’m glad to say that finally (no pun) I’ve cracked it.
The key to the perfect texture, it turns out, was more pumpkin! Banana bread is so easily veganisable because banana is often used as an egg substitute anyway, so you can simply up the quantity to account for the lack of eggs. I wondered if the same could be done with pumpkin puree, and it turned out I was right.
The texture of this cake is spot on. Absolutely perfect, no notes. But I find, much like my vegan pound cake recipe, that this cake benefits from being wrapped in plastic wrap once it’s fully cooled, and left overnight before adding the glaze. This extra step helps the crumb to become so ridiculously moist all the way through from crust to centre.
Most pumpkin breads are un-glazed, but I really wanted to include one. Not the thick, white icing you find on a Starbucks lemon loaf, but a thin, velvety veil that cracks as you slice. The glaze part of this recipe could absolutely be used for all kinds of other recipes, like cookies, snack cakes and donuts.
Celeb Sidebar: my husband is currently filming a TV show with Alan Cumming in the lead role. The other day, I took him one of these cakes as a vegan set-snack (Alan is vegan too) and it went down a storm. So, if you needed any more reasons to bake this cake, I can also confirm that it’s very much a famous cake!
My Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze recipe is at the bottom of this post, but heads up, this one’s for paid subscribers. If you want to, you can upgrade your membership here. You’ll get instant access to this recipe and full archive access to every recipe and every newsletter I’ve ever posted to Substack, all for the price of a nice cup of coffee. If you cant/don’t want to upgrade right now, that’s also totally fine. Just being here and reading my newsletters is massive and I’m so grateful you’re here!
OK, first here’s a quick weekly update.
Weekly Update
Here’s some stuff that happened this week!
I finally had some good vegan airplane food!
I flew back from Bali this week and spotted a sneaky little discount on upgrades, so I skipped my way into Emirates business class! I had 2 flights, totalling 20 hours of travel, so I wrote this expense off as an investment in not ruining my lower back again. As an added little bonus, the vegan food was actually decent. This meal in particular was a mismatch that just worked. Some sort of tomato pasta, peas, marinated tofu, pumpkin and roasted peppers. I ate every last bit.
My niece drew this owl picture
OK, proud uncle alert. LOOK at this picture. My niece Audrina, who is SEVEN, drew it at art club after school. I genuinely gasped when my sister (pictured) pulled it out. The composition, the colour choice, the emotion, it’s spectacular! Look at the three dimensionality of that beak! I’m absolutely obsessed and want it framed immediately.
I went to another wedding
It’s been a year of them! This time though it’s much more casual, hence why I can get away with no shirt or tie (or even sleeves).
I was reunited with Ripley
The best part about coming home is getting my hands (and lips) on this girl. She’s been such a good girl at her Nan and Grandad’s house. I asked my Dad if he was going to miss her and he said “no, not at all, because I’m not giving her back”. Oh, and this is your dog tax for this week too! Here she is pictured at my sister’s house, surrounded by stuffed toys.
OK, recipe time! Thanks for being here! See you next week!
Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze
Makes one loaf cake. I’ve included instructions on how to make your own pumpkin spice blend in the note at the bottom of the recipe, for anyone who can’t find store-bought stuff. Feel free to tweak the ratios to suit your own taste!
