Monday 19 November 2007

Pumpkin Harvest


Since my previous experiment with pumpkin turned out so well, I’ve been looking for opportunities to use pumpkin in my baking. If I lived in the US, this wouldn’t be a problem since pumpkin features so heavily in Thanksgiving cooking. Thankfully, Sugar High Friday comes to the rescue as the theme for the 37th SHF is The Beta Carotene Harvest. This episode is hosted by Leslie of Definitely not Martha. I very nearly missed the announcement altogether but am glad that I found it just in time to squeeze in an entry this past weekend.

Looking through my treasure trove of recipe books, I found a scrumptious sounding recipe in a book that I really like but haven’t made anything from recently. That’s the problem when you have over 100 cookbooks fighting for your attention and not enough time to try all the recipes and not enough stomachs to feeds.

This time, rather than pairing pumpkin with the traditional mix of spices such as cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, the recipe simply calls for pumpkin and orange juice. Yet, although surprising simple, I found the cake exceedingly flavourful. I think I’m really starting to develop a love for all things pumpkin. Best part is since this cake is called a breakfast cake, I feel like I’ve been given the green light to substitute this for my daily bowl of cereal.


Pumpkin and Orange Breakfast Cake
From In the Sweet Kitchen

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp finely grated orange zest
3 large eggs, two of them separated, all at room temperature
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9-inch fluted tube pan and set it aside. Cream the butter, sugar and orange zest together until light and fluffy. Add the whole egg and the two egg yolks, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Beat in the pumpkin puree.

Sift together the flours, baking powder an salt. Add to the pumpkin batter in three or four stages, blending gently but thoroughly after each. Stir in the final addition of dry ingredients by hand if you have been using a mixer, so as not to overwork the batter. In a clean, small bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Fold into the batter, then scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is springy when lightly touched, the sides are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan and a wooden skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

This cake keeps very well for several days, well wrapped, and it freezes beautifully for up to 2 months.

Makes 10 servings