Michelle Darmody: How to make a spiced pumpkin tray bake

I have used this recipe as a base for party cakes: with scripted lettering and sprinkles on top it goes down a treat.

Baking is a great way to cheer up a grey November afternoon and adding a spoon or two of spices helps to lift the mood.

This spiced pumpkin tray bake is made in much the same way as a carrot cake and can be sliced up to whatever size you like. The trickiest and most time-consuming part is grating the pumpkin; once that is done the other ingredients are simply stirred together and your baking tin filled with the batter. 

It is a nice recipe to make with children, or people learning to bake, because after the grating is completed, there are no mixers or specialist equipment needed, just a wooden spoon, scales and some bowls. The sheet of white icing also lends itself to a festive or birthday decoration. I have used this recipe as a base for party cakes: with scripted lettering and sprinkles on top it goes down a treat.

Pumpkins come in many shapes and sizes. The huge ones we carve at Hallowe'en are not always the tastiest for eating and baking with. Smaller ones tend to have denser texture and a better flavour. It is nice to choose a variety that has deep coloured flesh as it adds a beautiful orange hue and makes the resulting cake moist, tender and flavoursome.

Spiced Pumpkin Traybake

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

This spiced pumpkin tray bake is made in much the same way as a carrot cake and can be sliced up to whatever size you like.

Servings

9

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 15 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 300g self-raising flour

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 2 tsp mixed spice

• 1 tsp bread soda

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• Zest 2 oranges

• 200g melted butter

• 480g pumpkin, peeled, seeds

• removed and grated

• For the icing

• 200g cream cheese

• 75g icing sugar

• Zest 1 orange

• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

• ½ tsp ground ginger

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. 

2. Line a 12 x 8-inch baking tin with parchment.

3. Sieve the flour, cinnamon, mixed spice and bread soda together into a large bowl.

4. Mix in the sugar and set aside.

5. Stir your eggs, orange zest and melted butter together and add this mixture to the flour and combine.

6. Stir in the grated pumpkin.

7. Scoop the mixture into your prepared tin.

8. Place in the centre of your oven and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

9. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

10. To make the icing, whisk all of the icing ingredients together until light and fluffy.

11. You can spread the icing over the traybake and cut it after it is iced, or you can do it the other way around and ice the pre-cut slices.

Baker's Tips

You can use butternut squash or grated carrot in place of the pumpkin.

It takes a long time to grate the pumpkin, you can do this with a food processor if you have one. If you are grating by hand, the largest side of your box grater will suffice. I scoop out the seeds and remove the peel then cut the pumpkin into large easy-to-hold wedges.

Pumpkins can vary a lot in how much water they hold. Keep an eye towards the end of baking, some traybakes might need a little longer to bake in the centre if the pumpkin was very moist.

It is good to keep an eye on your bread soda, it is best to use it within six months of opening the packet as it loses its potency.

I often use a cinnamon stick and grate it to a powder as I need it. I use a microplane to do this. The result is much more fragrant and stronger than the pre-packed ground cinnamon.

Adding bread soda to the batter raises the pH which helps to soften the flesh of the pumpkin as it bakes.

This traybake can be frozen either in squares or as one large slab. It is best to freeze it without any icing then defrost it at room temperature before icing and serving.

The cake will keep for about three days in a cool place once it is in an airtight container.

Three delicious variations:

Walnut and date

I like to add chopped walnuts and chopped Medjool date to my porridge on a winter’s morning and this combination translates well into cake form. The pumpkin batter is a great vehicle for the dried fruit and nuts, and they add texture as well as flavour. I leave out the icing in this version as there are enough elements in the cake itself.

Golden raisins

By simply adding 160g of golden raisins you elevate the traybake. The raisins create little pockets of soft sweetness that works really well with the spiced pumpkin flavour.

Ginger and maple

You can make this traybake with ginger added. In place of the cinnamon add powdered ginger and also add 70g of crystalized ginger chopped. Rather than the cream cheese icing, I like to add a maple syrup glaze. To make the glaze, whisk 65g of icing sugar with three tablespoons of melted butter, 100ml of maple syrup and 1 tsp of vanilla. Start slowly when whisking so the icing sugar does not bounce out of your mixing bowl. Spread the glaze over the cooled slices of the tray bake.