Hello my pumpkins =)
It's been a bit of a mad week, what with helping organise Food Bloggers Connect, wrapping up the final shoot for Mooli's, and trying to get this post ready - not to mention the fact that the first batch of photos I took for this post all ended up in my trash can! It's safe for you to assume that I'm surviving on no sleep at the moment, and I have to say it's got my creative juices in overdrive!
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I'd been cracking my skull thinking about what to do with all these pumpkins for a Halloween-inspired blog post - I needed to capture that gorgeous orange! I knew that figs were also in season and I hadn't eaten any yet this year. I also wanted to make something that looked slightly gory (yet hopefully appetising at the same time!) without having to necessarily draw or carve out a face on a pumpkin. I just happened to catch the 'Alien' movie on TV the other night and, well, what can I say? I was totally inspired!
I decided on a light, fluffy and very moist pumpkin cake recipe, using muscavado sugar instead of normal sugar, chopped figs instead of the usual raisins and sultanas, and with freshly grated organic pumpkins instead of the canned version. Oh, and freshly drained kitten's blood* for the red sauce - yum!
Continue reading for the recipe...
Makes roughly 12 downcakes
Ingredients:
300g flour
300g muscavado sugar
4 eggs
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp mixed spice
200g butter
zest of 1 orange
2tbsps orange juice
500g grated pumpkin
2tsps baking powder
1tsp baking soda
200g figs
For decorating:
12 figs
Some raspberry coulis
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a 12-set cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in one bowl.
3. Beat the butter in another bowl until light and fluffy, and slowly whisk in the sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
4. Alternately fold in a spoon of flour and a spoon of the grated pumpkin. Fold in the orange juice and zest.
5. Fill cupcake cases, leaving a space for the batter to rise. Bake for roughly 30 minutes (the baking time depends on how watery your pumpkin was, so it may take anything up to an hour for the cupcakes to be ready -keep checking at 5 minute intervals after the initial 30 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. You can either serve them as cupcakes, or if you'd like to try making my downcakes, remove the cupcake cases and cut the top layer of the cupcakes. Place upside down on a plate. Quarter a fig, making sure not to cut all the way through, so that the figs open just enough to balance on a downcake without completely falling apart. Squirt some raspberry coulis down the middle of the fig and allow it to drip onto the plate.
* Note: No kittens were harmed in the making of this dessert =)
