Right in the heart of pumpkin season, it's time to bake something pumpkin-inspired. Today I'm sharing a gorgeous pound cake made with pumpkin purée — I used this cake as my starting point, but gave it a marbled twist by turning half the batter into a chocolate version and layering them in the pan in a special way. The result is absolutely stunning! The cake turned out incredibly soft, with a delicate aroma and an impossibly tender crumb that just melts in your mouth. It has no distinct pumpkin taste or smell, which is exactly what I love most about pumpkin cakes.
Ingredients:
- Orange part:
- 125 g pumpkin purée (about 200 g peeled pumpkin)
- 125 g flour
- 100 g sugar
- 50 ml vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- zest of half a lemon
- salt
- Chocolate part (everything the same, except for the following changes):
- 100 g flour + 25 g cocoa
- no lemon zest
How to cook marble pumpkin pound cake
Peel the pumpkin and cut it into large chunks. You'll need about 400 g of peeled pumpkin in total (for both portions of batter).
Cook in the microwave until completely soft, about 5–10 minutes (if any liquid has released, drain it off). If you don't have a microwave, you can roast the pumpkin in the oven instead. Alternatively, add a small amount of water to a saucepan and simmer until fully soft, then drain in a colander until all the liquid has run off. I use the microwave — it's the fastest and easiest method. Blend the pumpkin using an immersion blender until completely(!) smooth, then let it cool.
Divide the purée evenly between two separate bowls (125 g each). Make the orange batter. Add sugar, vegetable oil, egg, lemon zest, and salt to one portion of the pumpkin purée.
Add the flour mixed with baking powder and beat just a little longer, until the batter is smooth and uniform.
Make the chocolate batter. Repeat the same process, but add cocoa (mixed in with the flour) and leave out the lemon zest.
Grease a suitable loaf pan with oil — mine is 24x10 cm. Using two tablespoons, drop alternating spoonfuls of the orange and chocolate batters in a checkerboard pattern. I ended up with two such layers stacked in height.
Using a long skewer, drag it lengthwise through the batter with several up-and-down strokes, as if gently swirling the mixture. Repeat this 2–3 times. Look at how beautiful it turns out!
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