Potimarron Spice Cake (gluten-free)

A couple months ago, I was visiting my aunt and on her living room's buffet was standing this odd looking squash.  Odd because I had never seen one like it.  It is called a potimarron.  We decided to cook it and eat it!  It was delicious, very similar to a kabocha squash, a mix between a butternut squash and a sweet potato.  The good thing about it too is that you boil the whole thing for about 20 minutes, open it up, remove the seeds and mash the whole thing, skin and all.  We made a puree out of it but this time I decided to make something like a pumpkin bread.

During the holidays when I lived in California I loved everything pumpkin.  So in the spirit of Thanksgiving this week, I created this gluten-free and absolutely delicious potimarron cake.  I took it to a party today and everyone loved it.  The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, the cake that tastes like a very moist pumpkin bread.

3/4 cup (95 grs or 3.3 oz.) cornstarch (or gluten-free flour)
1 cup (165 grs) brown rice flour (or regular flour)
3/4 cup (70 grs) almond flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (100 grs) brown sugar
3/4 cup (150 grs) granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups mashed potimarron (pumpkin puree)
4 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. (175ºC.)  Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, mix the flours, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In an another bowl, mix the sugars, honey, potimarron, eggs, vanilla and oil with a whisk.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir the raisins.

Transfer this batter to the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool to room temperature.  Cut into small or large squares (24 or 48) and frost with cream cheese frosting.

1 cup cream cheese (Philadelphia), at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Sprinkles

In a bowl, with an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese and butter.  Add the vanilla and sugar and mix well.  Pipe onto each square and decorate with sprinkles.

 

Torta de dos naranjas

After looking all over the web for the perfect spanish orange cake (and starting this blog...), I gathered a couple of recipes and came up with my own. I liked that most of them didn't use flour but just ground almonds. The rest of the ingredients were pretty straight forward: eggs, sugar, oranges.

Some recipes used whole oranges cooked into a compote. Others used just the zest of the oranges and then poured an orangy syrup over the cake at the end. Well, I decided to use both hence the name: Torta de dos naranjas!

It is a delicious cake with a coarse texture specked with tiny bits of candied orange pieces giving it an intense but not overwhelming orange flavor. It is also moist from the syrup made of orange and lemon juices. Serve it with a dollop of creamy mascarpone for a true culinary delight that makes you want to come back for more... It was the perfect ending to my spanish inspired dinner last night.

Torta de dos Naranjas

For the cake:

2 oranges, about 280 grs or 10 ounces, scrubbed and roughly chopped (with skin) pips discarded

5 eggs, at room temperature, separated

200 grs or 7 ounces sugar

220 grs or 7 ½ ounces ground almond or almond meal

A few whole blanched almonds

For the syrup:

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

¼ cup sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 oranges, cut into segments

Mascarpone cheese for serving

Make the cake: Place the chopped oranges in a small saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons water, cover the pan and simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until the oranges are soft and all the excess liquid has evaporated. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly greased the sides. Finely chop the oranges.

Place the egg whites in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until they form stiff peaks. Gradually add half the sugar, then beat for 1 minute.

Place the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in another bowl and beat for 2 minutes or until pale and very thick. Add the oranges and beat to combine well. Carefully fold in the ground almonds.

Stir in ¼ of the egg whites to lighten the batter then gently fold in the remaining whites. Transfer the mixture to the tin and level the surface. Arrange the whole almonds on top of the cake.

Bake for 50 minutes or until the cake is golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Check the cake after 25 minutes and cover lightly with aluminum foil if it is browning too quickly.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup: Place the orange juice, sugar, lemon juice and orange segments in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

After removing the cake from the oven, leave it to cool in the pan, then turn it out, peel away the parchment paper and transfer to a serving plate.

(May be made the day before and kept covered at room temperature.)

A few hours before serving, brush half the syrup over the cake and arrange the segments on top. Serve the cake with the remaining syrup and mascarpone cheese.