Butternut Squash Cake Recipe (naturally sweetened)

WAIT! Before you jump to the recipe for this butternut squash cake be sure to check out the tips for cooking with butternut squash and how you can make this cake even if you don’t have a whole squash (it’s easier, anyways!)

This homemade cake recipe will surprise you with its sweet flavor and healthy ingredients. This butternut squash cake recipe is chock full of nutritious squash, natural sweeteners, and delicious flavor. You’ll be making this lovely cake with naturally sweetened cream cheese frosting on a regular basis for your family!

It is basically a squash spice cake with cream cheese frosting, let’s be honest. But a butternut squash dessert is sooo much cooler than an everyday spice cake, amiright.

This Butternut cake recipe and frosting uses maple syrup to sweeten it. Only maple syrup. And, if you are lucky enough to have a local supply (like we are)…you are excited right about now, aren’t you! You understand the amazingness that means! Recipes using natural sweeteners are my favorite, for sure!

Be warned: if you are interested in Pinterest/Instagram perfect cakes and desserts you can move right along from this recipe. This recipe is about crazy tasty, make your belly happy, and feel like home kind of food.

Okay, most of our recipes aren’t built for pretty. But this one, especially. But it’s so darn good.

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4.8 from 20 votes

Butternut Squash Cake (naturally sweetened)

This cake and the frosting are naturally sweetened, easy to make, and delicious! A recipe you’ll make again and again!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword butternut squash cake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

# of servings 8 large slices

Calories 380kcal

Equipment

• Mixer
• Round Cake Pan

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (use local, or real! Do NOT use fake pancake syrup)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 tablespoon nutmeg
• 1 cup butternut squash cooked and mashed(or can of pumpkin puree)

Cream Cheese frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 3 tbsp butter softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tbsp maple syrup or honey
• pinch salt

Instructions

• Turn the oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat the oil and syrup together.
• Add eggs and yogurt,beat well.
  
• Stir the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in. Stir gently.
• Add spices and squash. Stir just until mixed.
  
• Spray (or line with parchment paper) a 9inch pan.
• Pour the batter into the pan.
  

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat all of the ingredients together and add additional sweetener, as needed.

Video

Notes

top with Cream Cheese frosting!

Nutrition

Calories: 380kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 5gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 132mgPotassium: 262mgFiber: 1gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 1950IUVitamin C: 3.7mgCalcium: 101mgIron: 2mg

Hey, if you are still looking for butternut squash desserts and this cake wasn’t what you wanted check out these 20 Butternut Squash Desserts from Brit & Co.

Do I have to use freshly roasted Butternut Squash?

No, for sure not. It’s fairly easy to roast up a squash and use the leftover butternut squash from other recipes but, I often will take shortcuts to make this quick and easy…

The easiest way to use butternut squash is to get it pre-cut in bags from your grocery store (found in the produce section). If you don’t have access to that and don’t want to go through the trouble of preparing a butternut squash, you can use canned pumpkin puree instead.  Just make sure you use [easyazon_link identifier=”B00IVCRVQA” locale=”US”]pumpkin puree[/easyazon_link] and NOT pumpkin pie puree.  Pumpkin pie puree already has a bunch of spices and sweeteners added to it, so your butternut squash cake will taste wonky.

Another great trick… the baby food aisle. It sounds strange but you can get already pureed butternut squash in the baby food section. So, if you are looking to save some time, shop the baby section.

Quick trick for this butternut squash cake: line your pan with [easyazon_link identifier=”B006JCWGIC” locale=”US”]parchment paper[/easyazon_link], spray and flour the parchment paper, and then when the cake is done pick up the paper edges, flip it over (be sure to let it cool a couple of minutes!), and voila!…no dishes!

Maple Syrup Cream Cheese Frosting 

The frosting for this cake is also naturally-sweetened and utterly divine. You’ll be eating it by the spoonful! There have been a few readers that commented and let us know that it works great to sub out honey for the maple syrup, if you prefer. If you do so, decrease the amount of honey by half and then add it back as needed.

Cake for YOU. Cake for YOU. And cake for YOU.

This butternut cake recipe is a great way to introduce veggies to your kids in a new way! Ask them if they can taste the squash in the cake? We bet they will say no!

This squash cake is delicious. Not, oh my gosh call Mom delicious. (that would be my homemade chocolate cake recipe) But, really, really good. Truly! The kind of cake you could make every single day and not feel one bit bad about. The kind of cake you make for company. Or for Sunday brunch. Or because you had a bad day. It is just that versatile, easy, and delicious.

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