Pumpkin and Walnut Cake

The trouble with carving a pumpkin is that you are always left with a big mound of pumpkin when you have finished. Every year I find myself wondering what I am going to do with it. Pumpkin actually tastes quite nice when boiled and mashed with a bit of black pepper but you can only eat so much before its boring.

This year I decided I was going to try and make a pumpkin and walnut cake. I love carrot cake so I was hoping this would work equally well. This is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 175g butter, soften
• 100g light soft brown sugar
• 225g self raising flour
• 1 level tsp ground ginger
• 1 level tsp mixed spice.
• 100 g clear runny honey
• 2 eggs
• 150 g grated pumpkin flesh
• 100g walnuts

Method

1. Grease a cake tin and pre-heat the oven to 180C, Gas mark 4
2. Mix together the butter and sugar until they are creamy.
3. Add the honey and mix again.
4. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing.
5. Fold in the flour, ginger, mixed spice, pumpkin and walnuts.
6. Place in the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.

I had a slight disaster when I was making the cake. It all looked perfectly cooked on the outside and the top sprang back when I pressed on it so I took it out of the oven and removed it from the cake tin. At this point I realised it was not cooked in the middle so tried to put it back in the cake tin, at which point it cracked apart. I did manage to rescue it and cook it though but it did look a little weird. If you do make it I suggest you put a knife in and see if it comes out sticky before you decide if its cooked.

This was what it looked like:

I have to say that it did taste really nice and I would definitely make it again, hopefully next time without the disaster.

Read more:

• Banana and Walnut Bread Recipe
• Danish Pastry
• Banana and Chocolate Bars Recipe
• Pumpkin and onion quiche