Recipe: Pumpkin and maple sheet cake

Pumpkin is a comforting vegetable, especially in winter. Anyone for pumpkin soup or roast pumpkin matched with succulent roast meat? Yes please! But what about pumpkin in a dessert? Amy from Blossom and Pearl has created this recipe to tempt you to use pumpkin in other ways. Although the weather is starting to warm up, the nights in Canberra (and sometimes days) are still cool. So it might be the perfect time to make this comforting cake to celebrate the end of winter. 

I was a little fussy with food as a child. If I’m being completely honest, I still am in some ways.

My aversion for all things celery-related still exists, as does my dislike for the taste and smell of lamb. I am a big fan of tomato-based sauces and stews, as well as tomato sauce. But fresh tomato remains completely out of the question.

One of my main adversaries as a fussy child was the vibrantly orange, stringy and watery pumpkin. It didn’t matter if it was roasted, steamed, boiled or mashed. I absolutely loathed the stuff. My views on pumpkin persisted until my late teens when I was introduced to the wonders of pumpkin in cakes and desserts. And wow – things changed.

To explain, pumpkin is to cakes as butter and cream is to mashed potato.

Pumpkin completely lifts the flavour of a cake and makes the texture simultaneously light yet decadent and moreish. When pumpkin is combined with wintery spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, plus a touch of maple syrup, it forms a flavour combination that cannot be passed up.

This pumpkin and maple sheet cake is simple yet incredibly delicious. It delivers all of the taste of a wintery dessert with a serve of vegetables that could make you feel better about working towards your summer bod.

Pumpkin and maple sheet cake

Ingredients for cake

360g steamed and mashed butternut pumpkin
300g plain flour
1¼ tsp baking powder
1¼ tsp baking soda
1½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp allspice
150g unsalted butter (softened)
150g brown sugar
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla bean paste
160ml whole milk

Ingredients for maple frosting

250g unsalted butter (softened)
250g cream cheese (softened)
500g icing sugar
4 tblsp maple syrup
1 tsp salt

Make the pumpkin sheet cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180◦C.
2. Grease a large baking tray (30 x 20 centimetres) and line the bottom of the tray with baking paper.
3. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth.
5. Add the brown sugar and caster sugar to the butter. Cream for 3 to 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
6. Slowly add the eggs and vanilla bean paste to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until combined.
7. Add the mashed pumpkin to the mixture. Mix until combined.
8. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk.
9. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan.
10. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out of the centre of the cake clean. Set aside to cool.

Make the maple frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
2. Slowly add the icing sugar. Mix until combined.
3. Add the maple syrup and salt. Mix until combined.

Assemble the pumpkin and maple sheet cake

1. Generously spread the maple frosting on the cooled pumpkin sheet cake.
2. If desired, tint any remaining frosting with orange and green gel food colouring and pipe a little pumpkin patch on top using a large and small round tip. Enjoy!

About the author:

Amy Alyce is a Canberra based dessert blogger with a passion for brunch. By day she works as a lawyer, by night she writes recipes for her love project Blossom and Pearl. Follow Amy on Instagram at @blossomandpearl for dessert recipes and inspo!

Love to bake? Get the recipe for Amy’s red wine and dark chocolate cake or her lemon and Earl Grey tea loaf with cream cheese glaze.