Sweet

Pumpkin Cake + Chai Latte Frosting

I’ve been feeling a little bit left out with all my friends across the seas running around amidst orange and red autumn leaves and the crisp cold weather; and of course, my blogger friends bringing out the pumpkins for Halloween, and now for Thanksgiving.

I’ve often wondered why we don’t use more pumpkins in India – we get them all year round! They are nutritious, tasty and can be used in countless ways.

Here is a pumpkin cake with (because I craved a bit of Starbucks) an old-fashioned cream cheese frosting with chai latte. This is a very simple cake, which I decided to make a bit fancy – a double layer. I rarely do a double layer, because I have enough cake in the house to go around my hips, but today I felt wee bit decadent – because, why not?

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The Recipe
Serves

Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter, soft
  • 2 tsp honey or maple syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1/3 cup yogurt
  • 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 100g cream cheese
  • 1/8 cup chai, strong, unsweetened
  • 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 1/4 vanilla bean pod

Instructions

  • Heat the oven to 200C and grease and line two 9” cake tins.
  • Beat butter, sugar and honey/maple syrup for 5 minutes.
  • Then add the eggs and vanilla essence until light and frothy.
  • Add the yogurt, pumpkin puree and spices and whisk until well combined.
  • Fold in the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour until just mixed. The batter will be thick.
  • Pour the batter into the cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes ut clean.
  • Allow the cakes to cool for 5-10 minutes within the tins before turning out.
  • While the cakes cool, prepare the frosting.
  • Whisk the cream cheese with vanilla pod scrapes until nicely whipped.
  • Add the chai and whisk again, and slowly add the sugar until you achieve a dripping consistency.
  • Once the cakes have completely cooled, spread half the frosting on top on one layer of cake. Gently place the second cake on top and slather the remaining frosting on top.
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