PUMPKIN HONEY NUT ROLL
Happy New Year and welcome to the first post for 2019. When I was back in Brisbane for Christmas I discovered an old but never used nut loaf tin in the cupboard under the oven. It needed a good clean so once that was done I came back to Sydney with the tin in my luggage, inspired to make a nut roll.
There are quite a few recipes for the classic date and nut roll on the internet but I wanted to make something a little different. I looked through my copy of Sweet by Ottolenghi and Helen Goh and decided to make the butternut, honey and almond tin cake. I thought I had all the ingredients on hand but when I checked I'd run out of almonds so I used toasted pecans instead.
I'd never baked a cake in a roll tin before so I closely followed the instructions I found online, which cautioned over filling the tin. I probably could have filled the tin a little more because I had enough batter leftover to make a little bundt cake. If you don't have a nut roll tin, Ottolenghi suggests using two 400g tin cans with one end removed. The tins need to be lined with baking paper, with an overhang to help remove the cake from the tin once baked.
Here's the recipe for the pumpkin honey nut roll which was adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe from Sweet. This should make 1 large roll, 1 loaf or 2 small cakes baked in 400g tin cans. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.
Pumpkin Honey Nut Roll
Ingredients
100g cold cooked mashed pumpkin (I oven roasted mine but you could steam it or microwave it)
125g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
25g runny honey
1 large egg, beaten
160g self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt
¼ cup milk
100g raisins, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes then drained
50g coarsely chopped toasted pecans
Method
Preheat oven to 190°C. Adjust the oven racks to give you enough space to place the tin upright in the oven. Grease and flour an 8cm x 17cm nut roll tin. Line the 2 ends of the roll tin with baking paper and secure one to make the base of the tin. If you can’t locate a nut roll tin then you can use two 400g tin cans, with the top removed, carefully lined with baking paper. Allow an overhang if using this method to help you wrangle the cake out of the tin. Otherwise use a small loaf tin or a 17cm round tin greased and lined with baking paper.
Cream together the butter, sugar, grated orange rind and the honey until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg gradually and beat until combined. Mix in the cooked pumpkin, followed by the flour, alternating with the milk, then stir in the raisins and the pecans. The mixture should be quite soft. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. If using a nut roll tin you should fill the tin just over halfway. Place the second lid on top of the roll tin. If you’re using a loaf tin, cover the top of the tin with a layer of pleated foil to allow the cake to steam while cooking, giving it its characteristic texture. I had a bit of mixture leftover so I greased and filled a small bundt tin.
Place the tin(s) on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes for the bundt and 45-50 minutes for the roll or until a long skewer or piece of spaghetti inserted comes out clean. You’ll need to use an oven mitt to carefully remove the top lid to do this.
The baked cake is very moist so allow it to cool and firm for about 30 minutes before unhooking the side of the tin and placing it on a cooling rack or sliding the roll out using the baking paper. Once cold, I wrapped the cake in plastic and stored it overnight in the fridge before serving.
The cake is lovely thickly sliced and topped with butter. I found it quite sweet because of the pumpkin, so next time I’d reduce the sugar to 75g.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian
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