Coffee & Pumpkin Cake Recipe

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Apparently, in 1475 a Turkish law was enacted that made it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he failed to provide her with her daily quota of coffee. If that law still applies, best no Turk ever proposes to me! But, maybe if he can bake, I will overlook a cup or two or three of coffee.

With a bit of poetic licence, I have changed a nursery rhyme:

‘Peter Peter pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn’t keep her,
So he combined coffee with the contents of the pumpkin shell,
And baked her a cake, and all was well.’

I am trying my very best to stick to gluten free eating – this is easier said than done! I love baking but have found that it’s a lot more convenient to bake ‘normal’ things as gluten free ingredients aren’t always as easily accessible… or as affordable, either. This recipe, however, is ultra convenient requiring only coconut flour and not a myriad of nutty flours as a cake flour alternative. Although the idea of a coffee and pumpkin cake may sound completely bazaar, believe you me, it’s delicious and moist. There were plenty of oohs and aahs when I served it to my family, and, they were none the wiser that it was a healthy cake! It is gluten free, sugar free, grain free and LCHF friendly. My grandmother would have had a lot to say about me using eight eggs! She always scouted for egg free cake recipes. I’m not sure whether this was a cost factor or whether it was out of respect for hens. Maybe she was an undercover vegan?!

Inspired by a pumpkin spiced latte that I enjoyed during Autumn in the UK, I thought I would transpose the tasty beverage in to a (much healthier) cake.

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Cake ingredients
2/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 TBS cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
A pinch of salt

2 mashed avocados
1 packet of diced pumpkin (boiled and liquidated) (250g)
8 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or vanilla extract
1 shot of espresso (I used a medium roast Ethiopian and Guatemalan blend)
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
Stevia liquid sweetener (add according to your level of desired sweetness)

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs until fluffy. Blend in the avo and pumkin. Then add the remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Grease two baking trays. Pour the batter into the trays and bake at 180 c/ 350 f for 25-30 minutes.

Filling ingredients

2 TBS macadamia nut butter
1 TBS Mascarpone cheese
3 TBS unsalted butter
2 tsp avocado
3 TBS Honey

Mash the avocado until smooth.
Combine all the ingredients together until smooth.
Once the cake has cooled down lather the icing in between the layers. Place the cake layers on top of each other.

Icing ingredients
4 TBS Mascarpone
3 TBS Honey
2 tsp Cinnamon
A handful of crushed walnuts for decoration (optional)

Combine the mascarpone (at room temp) with the honey and 1 tsp cinnamon. Mix together well. Ice the top of the cake and sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon.

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake

Coffee & Pumpkin Cake