Pumpkin cardamom chocolate cake with pumpkin spiced frosting

When you start baking with pumpkins, you know it's Autumn. I'm super busy getting ready for overseas visitors and doing the laundry that seems to be breeding in every corner I look and trying to get rid of all my junk (yeah, it's that time of year). But I can always find time for baking.

You can buy canned pumpkin puree in most places now, but it's so easy to make your own and it makes the house smell delicious. Instructions here if you feel like it.

The cardamom spicing in the cake is very mild, and if you use the pumpkin spice mix in the frosting it pretty much overpowers it so feel free to use a more bland frosting/no frosting. I just couldn't resist it.

Based on a recipe by Celine

You'll need:
1/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
half tsp bicarb of soda
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp ground cardamom

and for the frosting:
1/3 cup vegan cream cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of mixed spice, ground nutmeg and ground ginger
splash of soy milk

Put the soy milk into a jug and add the vinegar, leave to curdle. Sift all of the dry ingredients into a bowl.

 To the milk and vinegar mix add the oil, pumpkin puree and the vanilla and mix, it'll look like this:
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, folding in as much as possible, try not to over-mix. Then add the chocolate chips and make sure they're evenly distributed. Grease (and line if you can be bothered) your cake pan. I used two because I wanted a layer of the frosting in the middle but it'll be fine to just use one.

Bake at Gas mark 4/180C/350F for 20-25 minutes, until it's browned on top and springy when you poke it. Leave it to cool for a little longer than you want to, because any chocolate on the bottom will be all melty and you'll have holes in the bottom from missing chocolate bits that'll drop out otherwise.

To make the frosting just beat the cream cheese, add the icing sugar and spices and beat again and add soy milk if the mix gets too stiff. Do not ice until fully cooled or there'll be trouble.