Spiced pumpkin cake with vanilla butter icing

Tamara West

A moist dense cake that keeps well in an airtight cake tin. Keep some cooked and mashed pumpkin in the freezer for this recipe. Defrost and bring to room temperature before using. Cake can be made in a 23cm cake tin but reduce the cooking time accordingly.

The cake

3 cups	High grade flour (Main)
2 tsp	Baking soda (Main)
2 tsp	Ground cinnamon (Main)
1 ½ tsp	Ground ginger
½ tsp	Ground nutmeg, or use freshly grated whole nutmeg
¼ tsp	Salt
2 cups	Caster sugar (Main)
1 cup	Raisins
1 cup	Vegetable oil
½ cup	Water
4	Eggs
1 ½ cups	Pumpkin, cooked and mashed, cooled (Main)
1 cup	Carrot, grated

The icing

100 g	Butter, softened
3 cups	Icing sugar
¼ cup	Milk
1 tsp	Vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 160C. Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, spices and salt into a large mixing bowl. Stir through the sugar and raisins.
3. In a jug beat together the oil, water, eggs, pumpkin and carrot. Pour into the flour mixture and gently fold all together.
4. Spoon into the prepared tin, smooth the top and place in the oven.
5. Bake for 1½ hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Remove cake from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely. Once the cake is cold, ice with vanilla butter icing.
7. To make the icing, beat all ingredients together until light and fluffy. (If you have one, an electric beater makes light work of this job.)
8. Spread icing over the cooled cake. Finish with extra freshly grated nutmeg if wished. Store cake in an airtight cake tin.