Recipe of the Week - Pumpkin Cake with Ginger-Mascarpone Frosting

Description

Baking a cake with your own pureed pumpkin doesn't have to be scary! Thanks to local food blog 5 Senses Palate and their step-by-step instructions below, we all can feast on creamy and spiced pumpkin cakes this Halloween. 

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Ingredients

Preparation

Pumpkin Puree:

The first thing we are going to do is make a pumpkin puree, start with a small size clean pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut in pieces of about 4 inches. Place the pumpkin in a large stock pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down to medium, continue cooking until tender, about 20 minutes. Let cool until safe to handle. Spoon out the flesh of the pumpkin into a bowl, discard the peels. Add to a food processor or blender and pulse on high until there is no lumps. You could also do this with a potato masher instead. Depending of the size of the pumpkin you may end up with more than 2 cups. You can place the extra puree in an air tight container and keep in the fridge up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 2 months.

Cake:

Preheat the oven at 350F – butter the bottom and sides of 2 – 9 inches round cake pans and dust with flour, shaking off any excess. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk. In a stand mixer combine the sugar and the egg yolks, mix lightly, with the mixer running on low start adding the oil in a thin strike until well incorporated. Add half a cup of milk and running in low start incorporating the flour mixture 1/4 cup at a time. When you are half way through the flour, scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, add the remaining milk and continue incorporating the rest of the flour. With the mixer off add the pumpkin puree and run on low until the pumpkin is well incorporated in the batter. In a medium bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. It does not need the consistency of meringue, just soft peaks. With a rubber spatula fold in the egg whites to the cake batter. Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes approximately. Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire rack for cooling.

Frosting:

In the bowl of your stand mixer add the heavy cream and powder sugar. Mix on high until soft peaks form. Add the Mascarpone cheese, vanilla and ginger. Mix well to desired consistency.

Assembly:

Place your serving dish on top of your cake pan and turn the cake over on the plate. Dab half of the frosting in the center of the cake and spread all over with the help of a table knife, top with the second cake and decorate the top with the remainder frosting. For a more sophisticated look, I added caramelized pumpkin seeds and a piece of sugar tuile. Enjoy!

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