I love autumn, and I really enjoy finding new seasonal recipes to try out. I never really used to cook or bake with pumpkin, but it’s such a great ingredient – it keeps this cake beautifully moist. You might have to have more than one slice of this pumpkin lemon and poppy seed loaf…

This recipe originally comes from Delicious Magazine.

Ingredients

225g peeled and deseeded pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed
4 tbsp full cream milk
1 large egg
175g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150g caster sugar
11/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
50g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp poppy seeds
Grated zest of 1 small lemon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with baking paper or greaseproof paper, then grease well once more.

2. Cook the pumpkin in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Drain well and leave until the steam dies down and the pumpkin has cooled, then blend to a smooth purée in a food processor. By making sure the pumpkin has cooled you should avoid a dense cake. Scoop it into a mixing bowl and mix in 3 tablespoons milk and the egg.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar, mixed spice, nutmeg and seasoning into the cleaned bowl of the food processor. Add the butter and process until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs.

4. Add to the purée and stir until just mixed, adding the remaining milk if the mixture seems dry. Stir in the poppy seeds and grated lemon zest. Spoon the mix into the loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes until well risen and golden.

5. Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Remove the paper and serve cut into slices.

Enjoy!