Autumn is here. With it’s grey skies and cold toes and its penchant for spicy warm flavours and orangey hues. Which is why I baked this pumpkin loaf today. My desperation for cinnamon and nutmeg couldn’t be dulled with only a chai tea, and even though (after a weekend of Easter chocolate) my thighs were groaning at the thought, I flicked on the oven early this morning. I knew I had a drawer in the freezer with zip locked bags of frozen pureed pumpkin from who-knows-how-long-ago. Perfect.
This is a quick loaf (quicker if you too, have some pureed pumpkin on hand) and the smell alone is worth baking for.
Spiced Pumpkin Loaf
1 cup pureed pumpkin
100 grams softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat your oven to 180C. Line your loaf tin with baking paper, allowing some overhang.
Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy using a mixer. Add eggs and beat until combined. Add remaining ingredients and mix on lowest speed (or use a wooden spoon to combine gently).
Spoon into prepared loaf tin, bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes and turn out onto a wire rack.
Enjoy xx
Em Hazeldean 