When my walking mate Kala gave me this perfectly spiced cake, I instantly liked the taste and the moist texture. She was gracious enough to give the recipe to me. Moist and delicate with a hint of pumpkin, spices and orange flavour, it tastes delicious even without the cream cheese frosting. You can add any nuts like pistachois or walnuts into the batter. I have not added any nuts in the cake except for decorating it on top.
Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour/Maida – 2 cups
Granulated Sugar – 1 1/2 cups
Chopped Pistachois – 2 tbsp (optional)
Eggs ( room temperature) – 3
Oil -1 cup (vegetable or corn oil)
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Nutmug powder – less than 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder – 2 tsp
Dried Ginger powder – 1/2 tsp
Dried Orange Peel Powder – 1/4 cup
Salt – a pinch
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Soda bi-carbonate – 1 tsp
Pumpkin Puree – 1 3/4 cup
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 170 C /350 F and grease a circular 9 x 13 non stick baking pan with a brush. Dust some flour into the pan so that the cake comes off easily after baking. (Optionally, you may line the pan with parchment paper).
Dice roughly about 1/4 of a medium pumpkin and steam it in a steamer. Grind it in a mixie to a puree. Measure 1 3/4 cups and keep it aside. (Or you may use a store bought pumpkin puree can).
First, mix the dry ingredients. In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, dried ginger powder together in a large bowl. Whisk it and set aside.
Next, mix the wet ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the oil, eggs and granulated sugar. Add the pumpkin puree, dried orange peel powder and vanilla essence together until combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and use a mixer or whisk until completely combined. Batter will be slightly thick. In case the batter is too thick, you may add 2 tbsps of milk.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake it for 35-40 minutes. The baking time may vary slightly in different ovens. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely. You can dust the cake with powdered sugar and chopped pistachois. I prefer this to the cream cheese frosting.
Meal Haven 