We just love pumpkin. Pumpkin scones, pumpkin pasta, roast pumpkin and steamed pumpkin. And now, PUMPKIN CAKE!

This cake was born because my mother had given me 2 whole beautiful organic pumpkins fresh from her garden. What better way to make use of it than whipping it up into a delicious cake! The cake is so moist, packed full of flavour and smells delicious.

Before I started baking, I carved this into the pumpkin for The Chef (Jeff).

This recipe is nutritious in that it uses olive oil instead of butter. Olive oil is rich in monounstaturated (good) fats which is now very well known to be protective against heart disease, good for the brain, and wonderful at keeping skin hair and nails in good shape. The olive oil gives a beautiful ‘fruity’ flavour to the cake.

We don’t use sugar in this recipe, instead using a product called Natvia which is an all natural sugar subsititute. It has 0.6 calories per teaspoon, as opposed to sugar which has 16 calories per teaspoon. So a wonderful way to easily cut down on some calories without having to use synthetic chemical sugar replacers. (For this recipe, you can also use normal honey or sugar if you don’t have access to Natvia).

The recipe contains almond meal which provides fibre, vitamin E and again…the good monounsaturated fats.

We use sultanas to sweeten the cake further and soaking them in a small amount of fruit juice or brandy makes them plump and delicious.

This cake is able to be modified to be gluten free, simply by replacing the flour with equal quantities of almond meal, and using a gluten free baking powder.

Serve as a whole cake, or use a cookie or scone cutter to cut small shapes and make little individual cakes (as pictured).

Recipe and photographs by: The Nutrition Guru

Recipe

Ingredients ~

¾ cup olive oil
450 g peeled pumpkin
A pinch of salt
75 grams Natvia (a natural sweetener) or equal quantities of raw sugar or Rapidura sugar (a low GI sugar)
50g ground almonds
50g sultanas, soaked in 30 ml of brandy or natural fruit juice until swollen (soak the sultanas for at least 30 minutes).
Grated zest of 1 orange
80g plain flour (or equal quantities of wholemeal flour, or almond meal if you require gluten free)
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg or all spice powder
2 eggs (separated)
Icing sugar for decorating (optional)

Method ~

Preheat oven to 180C
Grease and line a 30cm springform cake tin.
Peel pumpkin and cut into small cubes. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and roast in oven for approximately 30 mins, or until cooked through and pumpkin is soft.
Place cooked pumpkin in a large bowl and either mash, or blitz with a barmix to make a smooth puree.
To the puree, add the Natvia, olive oil, ground almonds, soaked sultanas with the remaining brandy or fruit juice, cinnamon and the grated orange zest. Mix well to combine
Sift the flour and baking powder into the pumpkin mix and mix well to combine.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until pale and foamy. Fold into the pumpkin mixture.
Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff peaks have formed. Fold lightly into pumpkin batter taking care not to knock air out of the egg whites.
Carefully pour the mixture into the cake tin. Place in middle shelf of the oven, and bake for approximately 1 hour. Cooking times may vary so check cake at 45 mins. Insert skewer into the centre of cake and if skewer comes out clean, the cake is ready.
When cooked, remove from oven and turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
Dust with icing sugar to serve (optional).