Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

By Julie

© Diana Chaccour

       I know that most people think of pumpkin as an autumn delight but really, is there such a thing as a wrong time for pumpkin cake? With no further ado, let us introduce you to a classic and an all-time favourite, perfected with the icing from its cousin, the carrot cake:

       Pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing 

Ingredients


250 g cooked pumpkin/butternut squash (never tried the canned version but might work, too)
115 g soft butter
185 g brown sugar 
2 large eggs
peel of one orange
230 g flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ TL ground cinnamon
½ TL ground cloves
½ TL ground ginger
pinch of ground nutmeg 
-For decoration:
200 g of cream cheese
100 g soft butter
vanilla extract
50 g icing sugar
or, alternatively simple icing sugar 


Preparation method


     Start by preheating the oven to 180°C.


    If you like the final product more spongy, separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until they are nice and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix butter, sugar, egg yolks, pumpkin mash, orange peel, flour, baking powder and spices. Eventually slowly and gradually stir in the beaten egg whites, taking care not to stir for too long. If you don’t have much time, screw all that and mix all together from the start, works just as well. 

© Diana Chaccour

     Now butter a baking pan of your choice, I used a loaf pan and fill it with your dough. It is really up to you which pan you use but it will influence the time inside the oven. For my loaf pan, it took around 45 min to bake but keep checking if your cake is done by inserting the good old fork. If the dough sticks, give it some more time. 


     Now, after the cake has cooled down, you can mix the ingredients for the icing and spread it evenly all over, maybe creating a cloudlike texture - be generous!  If you don’t like this icing (although I cannot think of ANY reason why) or are under time pressure, cover the cake in a cloud of icing sugar. Now enjoy!

© Diana Chaccour

                                  

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