Butternut squash loaf cake

I am part of The Happy Egg Co. Taste 100 Blogger network comprising of taste makers and I absolutely love it. They send us challenges every month with of course a winning prize, and its one of those emails i absolutely look forward to. In fact I won the May challenge which was photography and styling oriented and was pretty stoked to have Marte Marie Forsberg select my post as the winning entry. I won an 8 course tasting menu meal for two at the award winning L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon and i cant wait to check out the place (waiting for an occasion to celebrate to make a booking).

 

In July The Happy Egg Co. decided to rustle things up a bit and organised a baking masterclass for bloggers at the Central Street Cookery School. It was conducted by Bee Berrie of Bee's Bakery and it was an afternoon filled with baking. We made a sponge cake and went berserk flavouring it, layering it and decorating it, an Eton Mess, an easy version of puff pastry and Custard tarts. By the end of the evening we were all in a sugar coma, but absolutely satisfied with our work and went back home loaded with all the goodies.

 

The fact that i had to distribute my custard tarts on the bus back home and among friends that weekend is another thing (I would have ended up eating it all on my own if i hadn't done that). I now use only Happy Eggs at home (thanks for the vouchers) and love the sizes they come in. I had some left over butternut squash after the gnocchi expedition and I put it to good use in this super moist butternut squash loaf cake with all the flavours (and colours) of autumn, not to mention how easy it was to put this together.

Recipe adapted from here (makes 2 large loaves or 3 small loaves)

 

Plain flour- 1 3/4 cups

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Ground cinnamon- 1/2 tbsp

Ground nutmeg- 1/2 tsp

Ground allspice- 1/2 tsp

Granulated sugar- 1 1/4 cups

Eggs- 2 large

Vegetable oil- 1/2 cup (any flavourless oil can be used)

Milk- 2 tbsp (refer notes)

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Butternut squash purée- 7 1/2 oz ( a little less than 1 cup) (refer notes)

Preheat oven to 175C and line your baking pans with baking paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice together till well combined.

In another bowl whisk together the sugar, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla until well combined. This may need a bit of work, but absolutely achievable by hand and you don't need an electric mixer.

Add the squash puree and continue to mix well.

In batches, add the flour and fold until just combined, and no traces of flour is visible. Resist the urge to over mix.

Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes (for small loaves and around 1 hr for a large loaf) or till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool completely on racks, after which you can wrap them in cling film and refrigerate for up to a week.

Notes: The butternut squash can be replaced with pumpkin purée, mango puree or any fruit purée for a different flavoured cake.

To make butternut squash purée, slice the squash into two, apply some oil on each side and roast in a 200C oven for about an hour or until tender. Keep aside to cool and scoop the flesh into a food processor/blender and make into a purée.

If you find that your purée is quite watery, avoid adding the milk.

With thanks to The Happy Egg Co. for inviting me to the baking masterclass and for the vouchers to be redeemed at supermarkets.