Quick Spelt Butternut Squash Cake
I often make Butternut Squash Soup and don’t like to tamper with the quantity of ingredients in it, so I found myself with a hunk of spare Butternut the other day and my husband suggested I made a cake with it. I had actually been toying with this idea myself (he won’t believe me) as these beauties are so very sweet and perfectly suited to cake making.
After a quick check of the fridge and the cupboards I realised I had the perfect ingredients for something similar to a carrot cake. I’ve never made a carrot cake but have always wanted to! I researched carrot cakes and then came up with my own Quick Butternut Squash Cake, most people on forums seemed agree that wholemeal was best so I decided to go one better and use Wholegrain Spelt Flour as I love it for both its flavour and health benefits.
I was over the moon with the result of this very quick to put together cake. It’s perfect for making when you are having visitors for tea and equally good served as a dessert. The air is just filled with a perfume of butternut squash and orange and the taste is even better! For something so delicious you really wouldn’t know how easy it is to make (which is my favourite kind of recipe)! From now on, I’m going to purposely leave a small chunk of Butternut Squash behind when I’m cooking so that I can make this delicious cake again.
This recipe was previously published in Great British Chefs!
Quick Spelt Butternut Squash Cake
Ingredients
- 75 g Wholegrain spelt flour
- 1 ½ tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Ground allspice
- 160 g Butternut squash grated
- 75 g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
- 75 g Softened butter or buttery spread
- 2 eggs medium
- 50 g Sultanas I plump mine in boiling water & pat dry
- 5 – 10g Crystallised ginger finely chopped
- Grated zest of an orange
- 1 tbsp Orange Juice
- For frosting:
- 50 g Icing sugar
- 135 g Cream cheese
- 2 tbsp Orange juice
- Decoration:
- Zest of an orange
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 190°C
- Line a 20cm round shallow tin with baking paper and grease.
- Sieve flour, baking powder and allspice into a bowl.
- Add the butternut squash, Muscovado sugar, butter, eggs, sultanas, crystallised ginger, orange juice and zest then whisk (by hand) together until blended.
- Pour into the tin and level.
- Bake in the centre of oven for 20 - 25 mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 10 mins in tine before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and orange juice to form the frosting.
- Spread over the cake when cool and decorate with orange zest strands.
Martina Evans
This is such a unique recipe – I love it! I really like the fact that you used butternut squash. I usually just eat mine in or with a meal. But never in a cake! However, I think I should 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Martina it really is lush;-)
Paul Wilson
Just thing to go with my tea.
bev
looks delicious
William Gould
I don’t think I’ve ever had butternut squash in anything!
Paul Wilson
The squashes are nearly ready in the garden, have to give this a go.
Ursula Hunt
nice looking and moist cake
Bev
Very creative
Heather Haigh
I love ‘hiding’ fruit and veg in my cakes. Not tried one with butternut squash. Yet.
Camilla
Definitely worth trying:-)
Angela Burgess
Lovely recipe
Tracy Nixon
I made this cake yesterday for the second time with my kids help! It turned out much better than I thought and we enjoyed a slice with a nice warm cup of tea after watching the Rememberance parade through our town centre. It was really cold out so we looked forward to our cake when we got home!
Camilla
So glad you enjoyed it:-)
Kirsty Fox
That looks lovely, it’s making my tummy rumble!
Camilla
Thank you, it’s so simple and yet do delicious:-)
C Parkin
Looks delicious, will have a go at making this at the weekend
Camilla
Great, do let me know how you get on:-)
Beth Young
This looks fantastic! Love the idea of the butternut squash! Will be trying it out on my Italian friends this week!
Camilla
Do let me know how you get on:-)
prwilson
Spelt is much underused in my opinion.
Irene Wright
looks lovely – good enough to eat all by myself. Will definitely try this one out. Never baked with spelt before but there’s always a first time for everything.
Tina Jui
I’ve been seeing a lot of spelt breads and cake lately, and have been thinking about it a lot. How does it bake? I’ve never used it before. Any tips?
Camilla
I’ve just found it behaves in the same way aw wheat flour so no special attention needed:-)
Ursula Hunt
Good to see more recipes using spelt
Maya Russell
It looks lovely. I’ve never made a cake with spelt flour, only bread.
Camilla
Thanks, it’s is very versatile:-)
Tracy Nixon
Ohhh your cake looks mouthwateringly good! I checked out Great British Chef – what a great site! Thanks for sharing!
Camilla
Thank you, glad you enjoyed finding Great British Chefs:-)
tinkertink2010
Looks lovely. Could you add some chopped nuts as well or would it not go? That orange frosting looks fab! I would so lick the bowl! 😉 xoxo
Camilla
Oh that would be good, if I’d have had Walnuts I would have put those in too:-)