recipe: Butternut squash chocolate cake

I made this cake for Theo's birthday this year as I had the recipe still sitting in my inbox since last year, after my friend gave it to me when she made it for her son's 1st birthday, nearly exactly a year ago...yes I'm slow when it comes to baking! I decided to make it because I was looking for a low sugar- low fat cake to make so we could all enjoy it, and we had two squashes in our veg box that week...fate some may call it. So I found the recipe and gave it a go! (make sure you give my friend's blog a look as it contains lots of beautiful recipes, all gluten free)

This recipe has been adapted from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache and goes a little something like this:

You will need: 

3 medium free-range eggs
160g caster sugar
200g peeled and grated butternut squash
120g white rice flour (I used ordinary plain flour)
3 tbsp good quality cocoa powder
80g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
125ml buttermilk

For the icing:
50g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar sieved
50g mascarpone
4 tsp cocoa powder
small pinch of salt

You will also need: two 18cm diameter x 5cm deep loose-bottomed tins

1.     Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Line the tins with baking parchment and brush a little vegetable oil over the base and sides.

2.     Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 4 full minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the grated butternut squash, followed by the flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the buttermilk before beating again one last time to make sure that all the ingredients are well introduced to one another.

3.     Pour the mixture evenly into both tins, then place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.

4.     Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven, unmould, peel off the baking parchment and leave them to cool down completely on a wire rack.

 

1.     You can make the icing whilst the cakes are cooking, as long as you don’t ice them until they are completely cold, otherwise the icing will run off. Beat the butter with 100g of the sugar in a large mixing bowl. You will need to work them together patiently, using the back of a wooden spoon. It will seem like an impossible task at first, but they will eventually turn into a lovely rich paste.

     Once you reach this stage, beat vigorously for 10 seconds to loosen the butter even further. Add the mascarpone, cocoa powder and salt, as well as the remaining sugar. Beat once again to combine.

    Refrigerate the icing for 15 minutes. Give it a good beating with your wooden spoon before icing the middle and top of the cold cake. Decorate the top with flowers lots of sprinkles before serving.

 It It turned out pretty nicely if you ask me, and Theo has been asking for "cake" all week so he obviously a fan! Sometimes I wish I had a fancier kitchen where I could spend my days whisking up marvelous cakes and creations using my dream mixer and cooking on my dream cooker! If we owned our own house one day I might consider buying one and paying for it this way...