Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Cake
After last week's deep-dive into the plethora of culinary applications for pumpkin, I thought it would be rude to not follow up with a recipe - so here's how to make a moist, warming, mouth-watering pumpkin cake!
Ingredients:
- 1⅔ cups puréed pumpkin (roasted or steamed, then well drained)
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup caster sugar
- 1 cup neutral oil (sunflower or canola)
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 2 cups flour
- 3½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp allspice
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange (optional)
Maple cream-cheese icing:
- 250g block cream cheese
- 150g butter, softened
- 2½ cups icing sugar
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180⁰C.
In a large bowl, beat together the pumpkin, eggs, sugars, oil and vanilla until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices and zest (if using). Gently fold into the wet ingredients until the flour is just combined (don't over mix).
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before icing: beat butter and cream cheese for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Gradually add icing sugar to taste, then beat in the maple syrup, vanilla and salt. Spread generously over the cake, then top with a drizzle of maple syrup and a scattering of toasted pecans.