Pumpkin Cake

A delicious pumpkin cake with hazelnuts. A good alternative cake to celebrate the Halloween season.

Pumpkin Cake

Love the texture of this one, with it's hazelnut crumble and moistness thanks to the pumpkin. The chocolate-rum glaze gives the cake a well-rounded taste.

Batter:

  • 300 g grated pumpkin
  • 210 g fine sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250 g ground hazelnut
  • 5 medium eggs
  • 80 g breadcrumb
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp orange or yellow coloring powder
  • zest of 1 lemon

Chocolate Glaze:

  • 230 g icing sugar
  • 20 g dark chocolate
  • 1 full tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp rum or brandy
  • 4 tbsp hot water


  1. Grease a 24 cm spring form and lay a sheet of baking paper on the bottom.
  2. Grate the pumpkin or chop the pumpkin pieces in a blender until it's finely granulated.
  3. Beat the yolks with the lemon zest and add the hot water. Gradually add half of the sugar while beating. Continue until sugar is completely dissolved and yolks are pale yellow and foamy. When pale yellow add the coloring agent while beating.
  4. Beat egg whites with a good pinch of salt and vanilla until very firm. Then add the other half of the sugar gradually. Keep beating until all of the sugar is dissolved.
  5. Preheat oven at 160°C convection.
  6. In a large bowl, pour the egg whites and yolk mix together. Carefully add grated pumpkin, ground hazelnut, breadcrumbs, cinnamon and baking powder.
  7. Carefully fold the mass from under to over toward the center until you get a homogeneous batter.
  8. Pour batter in the spring form, make sure the surface has some roundness. It'll make the glazing easier. This batter hardly changes shape while baking.
  9. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Use the tester, it should come out with some moist but no raw batter.

Chocolate glaze:

To avoid lumps, sift the cocoa and icing sugar together before using them.

  1. Warm up water until it's hot. Add the chocolate in small pieces and stir until dissolved.
  2. Continue with adding the cocoa powder, stir until you get a smooth chocolate cream. If necessary warm up the mixture in the microwave.
  3. Add the icing sugar and tablespoon of rum. Keep mixing until smooth. Let the glaze cool off, until it becomes a light paste.
  4. When the pumpkin cake is cold put it on a grid and underneath the grid a recipient to collect the excess glaze.
  5. Pour the glaze over the cake starting from the center. The sides don't have to be completely covered. If necessary, use the excess glaze and pour over the cake a second time.
  6. Store pumpkin cake in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Tools used: Hand mixer, whisk, silicone spatula, wooden spatula, sieve, grater or chopper.





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