Halloween Spiced Pumpkin Cake
Made with real roasted pumpkin and packed with warm spices, zesty orange slices, and fiery stem ginger, this cake is moist, fragrant, and perfect for Halloween entertaining
Method
1. Roast the pumpkin:Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F. Spread pumpkin cubes on a baking tray and roast for 25–30 minutes or until soft and lightly golden. Allow to cool slightly, then mash or blend into a smooth purée. You should have around 300g mashed pumpkin.
2. Prepare the cake batter:
Reduce oven to 180°C (160°C fan) / 350°F. Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin or loaf tin.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, oil, and mashed pumpkin until smooth. Stir in the chopped stem ginger, ginger syrup, chopped sliced oranges, and orange syrup.
3. Mix and bake:
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
4. Cool and ice:
Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully.
Mix icing sugar with orange syrup or juice to form a smooth drizzle. Colour if desired, then spoon or pipe over the cake in a web or drizzle pattern.
Ingredients
• 300g fresh pumpkin (peeled, deseeded, and cubed)
• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 100g light brown sugar
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 180ml sunflower oil
• 3 Opies Stem Ginger balls, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp syrup from the Opies Stem Ginger jar
• 3 Opies Sliced Oranges, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp syrup from the Opies Sliced Oranges jar
For the orange drizzle:
• 100g icing sugar
• 1–2 tbsp syrup from the Opies Sliced Oranges jar or orange juice
• Optional: orange or black food colouring
