Easy Pumpkin Cake (flourless, butterless, sugarless)

Serves about 8

2 cups, ground almonds

3/4 teaspoon, baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, (Unsweetened. You can make your own, or get it from a can. See below to make your own)

1/2 cup of honey

2 eggs

Chopped walnuts and almonds, and maple syrup for topping (Optional)

1. Preheat the over to 180 degrees Celsius. 

2.  Mix the ground almonds, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and salt. 

3. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin puree (make sure you pack it well into the measuring cup), honey and eggs. Whisk until you get a smooth paste.

(*Note: I left my pumpkin puree in the fridge so it hardened a little. You can use a hand blender to puree these three ingredients if you can't achieve it with a whisk)

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.

(*Note: You can also take the hand blender to this if you think the ground almonds are not fine enough. I did a few blitzes but don't go crazy!!!!)

5. Line a cake tin with baking paper. Grease it if you wish with oil or butter. Pour the mixture in and bake for 35 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. 

6. Leave to cool, remove and place on serving plate. 

7. Optional: Mix some chopped walnuts and almonds with some maple syrup and scatter over the top. 

If using fresh pumpkin puree:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

2. Cut your pumpkin in half and dig out the seeds ( you can save and roast these!)

3. Sprinkle some salt on the flesh side and place them flesh side down on baking paper.

4. Bake for 30 minutes or until it's tender and soft when poked with a paring knife. 

5. Let it cool and scoop out the flesh. Mash with masher or hand blender. 

If you're using this just for the cake above, you'll be left with A LOT of mash. Suggest saving 1/2 cup for the cake (make sure to pack the cup tightly) And use the rest for a pumpkin mash as a side dinner dish (just add a bit of milk, knob of butter, salt & pepper.) 

I used a local pumpkin (I'm guessing "local" means grown in Malaysia as I can't see Singapore having the space to grow them!). It's cheaper than the imported ones such as the butternut pumpkin/squash. Feel free to use other pumpkins other than the "local" ones!