Vegan Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread

Fluffy, vegan, and made with simple ingredients, this cream cheese filled pumpkin bread is the best fall breakfast, snack, or healthy dessert!

I’m not going to lie. Probably the thing I get most excited about any season is the seasonal bread that goes along with it. Zucchini bread during the summer, banana bread during the winter months…you name it, I probably love it. But nothing quite compares to a slice of pumpkin bread with a nice mug of matcha in the morning during fall (feel free to insert coffee here). One loaf I remember enjoying quite a bit before going vegan was a loaf that was filled with cream cheese. It blew my mind, and since then I’ve been looking to veganize it in a way that brought the same joy. This vegan cream cheese filled pumpkin bread is the real deal and happens to be healthy at the same time. Moist and lightly sweet pumpkin bread to compliment the oh so delicious sweetness of the cream cheese filling.

How is this Cream Cheese Filled pumpkin bread healthier? 

Since we already went over some of the nutritious reasons to add pumpkin to things, let’s go over why this bread happens to be a healthier alternative to some other breads you might have tried in the past.

• We are opting for white whole wheat flour in this recipe in place of white flour. This will add more fiber and whole grains to our bread without making it super dense.
• This version is lower in sugar. Was able to lower the amount of sugar in this by also including some natural sweetness from fruit.
• You’ll also notice that we are using a nut butter in this recipe. This helps to increase the number of whole food ingredients, so more healthy fats along with fiber are included in this. If you prefer not to use a nut or seed butter for this recipe, using equal amount of oil still works wonderfully for this recipe as well.

How to make Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350F. While oven preheats, combine cream cheese, corn starch, sugar and lemon juice in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until cream cheese mixture is smooth, with no lumps remaining. Set aside to make batter.
2. In a large bowl, combine ground flax and water. Mix and then let stand to gel for 5 minutes.
3. To the bowl add pumpkin, yogurt, nut butter, apple sauce, apple cider vinegar, and apple juice. Whisk liquid ingredients well to combine evenly.
4. Fold in baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Note that your batter will fluff up.
5. At this time, fold in flour and brown sugar. Your batter will be thick once fully combined.
6. In a greased loaf pan, spoon half the batter and spread out evenly in the pan.
7. Spoon cream cheese filling on top of the first layer and smooth it out evenly all over top.
8. Take remaining bread batter and spoon evenly over top the cream cheese layer. Carefully spread top layer over cream cheese filling to completely cover.
9. Lift pan slightly up and lightly tap it on your countertop a few times to release air pockets between the layers.
10. Place pan in the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until you see your bread dome and turn golden.
11. Remove your loaf from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to completely cool on a wire rack before cutting into slices.

Tips for making cream cheese filled pumpkin bread

• I can’t emphasize this enough. ALLOW YOUR BREAD TO COMPLETELY COOL BEFORE CUTTING INTO IT. This is probably the most important step of them all and will lead to your biggest success with this recipe. If you cut your bread open while it’s still warm, the cream cheese filling will not have set.
• Do not replace the sugar in the cream cheese filling for a liquid sweetener. I have tried this and it leaves the cream cheese too thin and it doesn’t properly set while it bakes.
• Once all the layers are set in your loaf pan, lightly tap your pan a few times to release some of the air bubbles that might be trapped between the layers. This will help your bread remain more solid and less flimsy.
• If you want to make this recipe nut free, replace the nut butter with a seed butter like sunflower seed butter or use equal amounts of oil of your choice.
• No dairy free yogurt? Feel free to replace with non-dairy milk like soy milk.
• If not a fan of pumpkin pie spice, feel free to replace equal amounts of more cinnamon.
• This bread can be sliced into individual pieces and frozen for later. Once cooled and sliced, place slices between pieces of parchment paper to avoid sticking together. Thaw out when ready to eat and toast up for a minute or two in a toaster oven to warm it back up.

More sweet breads

• Roasted Corn and Jalapeno Cornbread
• Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread
• Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 2 reviews

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 55 minutes
• Total Time: 75 minutes
• Yield: 10 slices 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Fluffy, vegan, and made with simple ingredients, this cream cheese filled pumpkin bread is the best fall breakfast, snack, or healthy dessert!

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Ingredients

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Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz plain dairy free cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon

Pumpkin Bread Batter

• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup plain dairy free yogurt or milk
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 cup nut butter of choice
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour

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Instructions

Cream Cheese Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350F. While oven preheats, combine cream cheese, corn starch, sugar and lemon juice in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until cream cheese mixture is smooth, with no lumps remaining. Set aside to make batter.

Pumpkin Bread

1. In a large bowl, combine ground flax and water. Mix and then let stand to gel for 5 minutes.
2. To the bowl add pumpkin, yogurt, nut butter, apple sauce, apple cider vinegar, and apple juice. Whisk liquid ingredients well to combine evenly.
3. Fold in baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Note that your batter will fluff up.
4. At this time, fold in flour and brown sugar. Your batter will be thick once fully combined.
5. In a greased loaf pan, spoon half the batter and spread out evenly in the pan.
6. Spoon cream cheese filling on top of the first layer and smooth it out evenly all over top.
7. Take remaining bread batter and spoon evenly over top the cream cheese layer. Carefully spread top layer over cream cheese filling to completely cover.
8. Lift pan slightly up and lightly tap it on your countertop a few times to release air pockets between the layers.
9. Place pan in the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until you see your bread dome and turn golden.
10. Remove your loaf from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to completely cool on a wire rack before cutting into slices.

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Notes

• I tested this bread with both Toffuti Cream Cheese and Kite Hill plain cream cheese. 
• I used natural peanut butter for this loaf, but feel free to opt for almond butter for a more neutral flavor or tahini, sunflower butter or coconut oil if you have a nut allergy.  
• I did not test this recipe with gluten free flour, but if you do test it, let me know how it goes. 

Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats

★ Catherine