This recipe is my petty rebellion against the pumpkin spice craze. Every fall it comes, and every fall it drives me nuts. It’s not that I don’t like pumpkin and pumpkin spice, I just can’t stand how overdone it is. For reference, see Exhibit A.
Truthfully, I love the flavor of pumpkin and warm fall spices. So I made a cake just different enough that I don’t have to call it pumpkin spice. It’s made with honeynut squash, which I found at my local farmer’s market. Honeynut sqaush is basically a smaller, more intensely flavored version of butternut squash, so if you can’t find it, butternut would make a fine substitute. If you don’t feel like roasting squash, you could even use canned pumpkin instead. Hint hint, that canned pumpkin isn’t really pumpkin anyway.
For the spices in this cake, I used a blend typical of masala chai. Black pepper, cardamom, and extra ginger make for a deliciously spicy cake. If you want to go the more traditional pumpkin spice route, simply omit the black pepper and cardamom and reduce the ginger to 1/4 tsp.
I chose to make a two-layer cake frosted with cream cheese buttercream, but you could certainly bake this as a single loaf instead. In fact, this cake is so tasty on its own I think I might prefer it in simple loaf form. Just be sure to increase your baking time accordingly.
If you are starting with fresh squash, you’ll need to roast and puree it first. To make honeynut squash puree:
Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Place squash cut side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake squash until tender, a fork should easily pierce the flesh.
Once the squash is cooked, let it cool down enough to handle. Scoop the flesh out into a food processor and puree until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mash the squash with a fork and then force it through a fine mesh sieve. Measure out 134 grams and proceed with the recipe.
Roasted Honeynut Squash Cake
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Loading...A super moist cake full of deep roasted squash flavor and warm spices.
Ingredients
- 173 g brown sugar
- 50 g egg (1 egg)
- 113 g buttermilk
- 134 g honeynut squash puree
- 50 g neutral vegetable oil
- 5 g (1 tsp) vanilla
- 149 g all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two 6 inch cake pans and line the bottom of each with a round of parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, egg, buttermilk, squash puree, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
Into a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Whisk the flour mixture to make sure spices are well distributed, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, being careful not to over-mix. The mixture may still look a little lumpy.
Use a scale to divide the batter equally between the two cake pans. Bake until the cake is firm and springs back to the touch, about 25 minutes.
When the cake is done, let it rest in the pans for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges of the cakes and turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
When the cake is completely cool, frost with your favorite cream cheese icing.
Notes
*honeynut squash puree can be substituted with butternut squash puree or canned pumpkin.
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