Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

I found a recipe online for pumpkin gingerbread and was really intrigued. We had some canned pumpkin at home so I decided to give it a go. My mum's really keen on pumpkin and anything with spices in it so while I was visiting my parents I thought it would be a good time to try it out to make sure it'd get eaten! I must admit, it didn't really appeal to me at first but once I'd tried it I was convinced. I added more spice to the recipe than it initially said and drizzled the finished cake with some icing just to give it a sweet edge rather than being somewhere in between sweet and savoury (not that it needed it as it's definitely more cake-y than bread-y but I liked it with the extra sweetness). Anyway, even if you're not a massive pumpkin fan I'd still give this cake a go. It doesn't overpower the cake at all, just gives it a really nice moistness and subtle earthy flavour. I'm sure you'll be convinced as I was!!

 

 

These quantities make a regular loaf tin sized cake. I'm sure if you wanted to do it in smaller tins to make individual cakes that would work really well or in a big square to slice it up into little cubes. I like the convenience and less 'pretentious' loaf tin for this simple cake though.

 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup cold water

1/2 can pumpkin puree

1tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

 

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease your loaf tin with butter or line it with a paper insert (I use some paper liners which are super convenient and really inexpensive from Lakeland http://www.lakeland.co.uk/5553/2lb-Loaf-Tin-Liners )

 

2. Mix your sugar, oil and eggs together until smooth then beat in the water. When it's smooth and frothy, add in the pumpkin and spices and mix well.

 

3. Sift the remaining dry ingredients into a bowl then add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and fold through until incorporated. Don't over-mix it.

4. Pour your batter into your lined tin.

 

5. Once your tin is full, place it in the oven for about an hour. Mine took about an hour and 20 minutes but check it after an hour to see if a skewer comes out clean.

 

When it's done, the cake will be risen and golden. I thought it looked a bit bland and wanted to jazz it up a bit....

 

 

So I made a really simple icing just by adding water to icing sugar a little at a time to make a thick paste. I then piped it over the cake in a giant zig-zag and let it set before slicing it up and serving.

 

 

Like I said, even if you wouldn't consider yourself a pumpkin fan or don't like the idea of pumpkin in cake, try it! It may sound a bit strange but it's popular for a reason. I think this would go down a treat in the cold winter months with a nice big mug of tea or hot chocolate but even in summer it's a really nice tea bread or alternative to other cakes. It's dense yet moist and has a unique earthy and subtley spicy flavour. I actually quite like it (and that surprised me!).

 

If anyone does give it a go I'd love to think what you thought of it! There don't seem to be many recipes around so I'm not sure if that's because it's just not popular or because the cake goes by a different name. I'm sure any pumpkin cake has spice in it but I really like the balance in this one without it being too overpowering. I'm not sure what else I can say to convince you other than you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

Also, I know in the UK canned pumpkin can be hard to come by but while shopping in Waitrose last week I saw they'd started to stock it. I'm sure ASDA would sell it too as they're quite good on stocking American products over here (for obvious reasons). I really think canned pumpkin is underrated in the UK... I'm definitely a convert and intend using it much more now!! 

 



Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

I made a pumpkin gingerbread cake based on a recipe I'd seen online. When wondering what to do with my leftover 1/2 can of pumpkin puree, I decided to experiment with some pumpkin spice pancakes. I'd never had them before so didn't really have a guide to go on - it was just a case of making it up as I went along. Considering that, I'm pretty pleased with the result: not bad for a first attempt! The recipe could use a bit of tweaking but they're still a pretty big success already I'd say! For someone who's not a fan of pumpkin in sweet things, they were pretty unusual and went down a treat with a big bowl of fruit and some maple syrup on a cold and rainy morning!!

You'll need:

2 eggs

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 pinch salt

1/2 can pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground all spice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon (half if you want a more subtle taste but we're biiiiiig cinnamon fans!)

1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 - 3/4 cup milk (depending on how thick your batter is due to the size of your eggs).

What to do:

1. Firstly I mixed the eggs and caster sugar together with a pinch of salt.

2. I then added the pumpkin, flour, baking powder and spices and enough milk to turn it into a thick paste to get the lumps out of it (I was too lazy to sift it).

3. I then added the remaining milk and melted butter and mixed it again. 

This is what my batter looked like. Still quite thick so it held it's shape on the griddle but not too thick so that it was paste-like.

I heated up the crepe maker and cooked the pancakes on that (each one was about a tablespoon of batter). As I'm pretty sure not everyone has one in their kitchen (I certainly don't I was just making the most of the novelty of having it at my parents' house), a regular bakestone or frying pan would do just as well. When the mixture started to bubble on top (after about a minute), I flipped them over to let the other side cook (about 30 seconds). Obviously the cooking time might be different depending on how hot your pan is; I'm not sure the temperature of my crepe maker.

When they're cooked, pile them up on a big plate and enjoy the smell!!

Mine look really rustic and homemade but if you wanted to take a bit more care over spreading the batter out you could get a much more professional finish! I made a few into heart shapes which I much prefer to the classic round ones. I'll definitely be taking a few extra seconds in the future to 'prettify' them into heart shapes.

We made these after lunch one day so my mum opted to eat hers hot off the griddle with maple syrup, ice cream and a few token berries.

I put the cooled pancakes in the freezer and just took some out for breakfast the next morning (had I known the temptation to tuck in would've been so great I wouldn't have bothered freezing them at all). Microwaved for a few seconds they were as good as fresh and went down a treat with a big fruit salad and some maple syrup.

They're super simple to make and can make a handy quick breakfast (if frozen and microwaved or toasted), great lazy brunch or a super simple dessert. They make the house smell amazing too!!