Pumpkin Cake Recipe- don't let your pumpkin insides go to waste!

[MarkStretchingRack]

For the Cake:

300g Self Raising Flour
300g Light brown sugar
3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarb
75g walnuts
100g sultanas
4 medium eggs
1/2 tsp salt
200g unsalted butter, melted
zest of 1 orange
1 tbsp orange juice
500g of grated pumpkin insides

For the icing:

200g soft cheese
75g softened butter
100g icing sugar
zest of 1 orange
juice of half an orange

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan 160, gas mark 4)

Add flours, sugar, spice, bicarb, sultanas, walnuts and salt into a bowl and stir to combine.

Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice and then mix with the dry ingredients. Stir in the grated pumpkin.

Pour batter into a lined tin and bake for 30 mins or until golden and srpingy to touch.

To make the frosting, combine all the ingredients (but only 1 tbsp of orange juice) and leave in the fridge. When cake is baked and partially cooled, prick all over and drizzle over the remaining orange juice.

Leave to cool completely and then spread with frosting.

(This cake can also be made with butternut squash)

[BobbingForPeachys]

OOh yum- thanks will have a go at that.

[MarkStretchingRack]

Bump!

[Bumperlicioso]

Brill, I've been looking for a recipe. Now, I'm a complete novice at pumpkin carving though I have a rather fine large pumpkin that I grew myself. Can I use the pumpkin for carving and still use the insides or does most of the flesh have to remain in order to carve the pumpkin?

Can I freeze uncooked pumpkin?

[chopstheduck]

ooh that sounds lovely!

I mgiht have to buy another pumpkin now, cos I want pumpkin pie too.

[henryhuggins]

no - if you carve the pumpkin you generally don't use the same pumpkin flesh for cooking - esp if the pumpkin is outside with a tealight inside! they get pretty manky

generally use canned pumpkin for pies, cakes, etc

would imagine that frozen pumpkin wouldn't be so nice when thawed, holds a lot of water

[gagamama]

Ooh, I made this very cake at the weekend! It was yummy, although I didn't have a square dish so put half into a loaf tin and half into a loose-bottomed round tin. Took about 2 hours to cook, but the old skewer trick doesn't really apply to this because it's very moist - by the time it's cooled, the middle is more the consistency of a bread pudding or very moist fruit cake rather than a carrot cake sort of consistency which I was expecting. I didn't realise this, hence kept putting it back into the oven!

I also made the mistake of putting all the orange juice in the icing, which made for very runny icing. (I was following the recipe straight from my laptop but the battery died by the time I got to the frosting!)

Anyway, it's yummy and would recommend!

[Bumperlicioso]

I didn't mean after using the pumpkin as a lantern! What I mean is, can you scrape out enough flesh to make cake with and the pumpkin still be suitable for carving?

[gagamama]

Bumper, I don't think you could. It doesn't use the seeds, it uses the flesh (between the seeds and the skin) - I had to take off the lid, scoop out the seeds and then quarter the whole pumpkin, peel it with a peeler and then grate the wedges of pumpkin. I guess if you were very skilled you could hack out the flesh leaving the skin, but not sure this would have the structural integrity to maintain it's shape as a lantern!

Unless someone can correct me, no, pumpkin can't be used for both!

[Bumperlicioso]

Thanks, I've got two pumpkins in my allotment so I'm going to use one for carving and one for making cake!

[MarkStretchingRack]

Well I always carve the face out of the pumpkin and then remove the excess flesh from the inside with a spoon before putting the tea light in.

Definitely get enough to make a cake.

[mathanxiety]

You could use this recipe with pureed carrots if there are no pumpkins handy. I have a similar one and carrots work very well.