Recipes: Spelt Butternut Squash Cake with Yuzu Icing

A good slice of cake in these cold & wintery months is the comforting treat we all need! This cake is simple in it’s looks, but anything but simple on the taste front. Very similar to carrot cake, this is a delicately moist spiced cake, full of grated butternut squash & toasted nuts, generously covered in a tangy and sweet cream cheese icing. It’s beautifully fragrant and the butternut squash gives a lovely earthy tone. We used dark muscovado sugar and lightly toasted pecans for a deeper flavour. This cake would be equally nice with some raisins or sultanas but we decided to head down the nut route for an added crunchiness. We used wholegrain spelt flour as we love its flavour and health benefits and we found it gives the cake a more richer & wholesome tone. It’s rich without being overly decadent & the Yuzu juice we used in the cream cheese icing perfectly balances the creamy sweet taste with a punchy citrus note. Check out the recipe below!

Ingredients:

190g of raw butternut squash, grated

60g pecans (lightly toasted, finely processed)

110g of spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp ground allspice

75g butter, softened

2 medium eggs (room temperature)

70g of dark muscovado sugar

15 g of crystallised ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp sicilian orange extract

1/3 cup orange juice ( or juice of 1 orange)

YUZU ICING

50g of icing sugar

135g of cream cheese

2 tbsp of yuzu juice

finely crushed pecans to garnish

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Line a 20cm round baking tin with baking paper

In a bowl, mix spelt flour, baking powder, sea salt and ground allspice. Add the butternut squash, muscovado sugar, butter, eggs, orange juice and extract then whisk until fully combined.

Using a spatula, mix in the lightly toasted (finely chopped or processed) pecans, and crystallised ginger pieces.

Transfer the mix into your prepared tin.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for a further 20 minutes, before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, add icing sugar into a bowl and beat in the cream cheese and yuzu juice until smooth and fluffy. Spread over the cake when cool and decorate with more crushed pecans & dust with icing sugar.