Mini squash cakes

Hi foodies,

It's squash season! And for me, the word squash goes hand in hand with the USA, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Yes yes, Americans love to cook squash in desserts and I took note of a few recipes during my travels. :o)

This morning, I'm sharing mini squash and maple syrup cakes in the shape of little pumpkins.

To make about 22 mini cakes, you will need:

Squash purée

- One butternut squash of about 500gr

Squash cake

- 220gr butter

- 150gr brown sugar powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 3 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp ground nutmeg

- 1 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

- 80gr maple syrup

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp baking soda

- 300gr flour

- 150gr almond flour

Decorations

- Orange chocolate flavour pen

- Green chocolate flavour pen

- Black chocolate flavour pen

- Mini "Halloween" pearls

Squash purée

For this recipe, I used a butternut squash of 500gr. It's a squash with nice thick flesh and that's exactly what we need.

Start by peeling and then cutting your squash into small cubes. I cut it into 3-4 cm cubes so it cooks faster.

Then pour the squash cubes into a small saucepan and add 100 ml of water.

Let your squash cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes with the lid on.

Be careful not to add too much water. We need a nice thick squash purée. The 100ml of water should be enough if you use a small enough saucepan and keep the lid on properly.

After 15 minutes, your squash will be tender and will break apart with a simple spatula.

Blend your squash without adding anything.

Your purée is ready! :o) Let it cool down.

Squash cake

In a bowl, pour 220gr of butter and 150gr of brown sugar powder.

Then add 1/2 tsp of salt, 3 tsp of ground cinnamon and 1 tsp of ground nutmeg.

Finish by adding 1 tsp of ground ginger and 1/2 tsp of ground cloves. Use measuring spoons for more precision.

Then mix using the whisk attachment of your mixer at medium speed for about 2 minutes.

You will get a fairly thick and smooth dough.

Add 80gr of maple syrup and 1 egg.

Also add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 240gr of squash purée then whisk again for one minute. You will have some squash purée left over. You can freeze it for future recipes such as squash brioche, squash cupcakes or even squash pie. :o)

The dough will be a little lumpy because of the butter, that's normal.

Add 1 tsp of baking soda and 300gr of flour.

Finally, add 150gr of almond flour.

Remove the whisk and this time attach the flat beater (K beater) as the mixture will become quite thick. Mix for 2 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180°C fan.

The dough will be quite compact and thick. It is very difficult to work by hand due to its texture. Americans work it with a large spoon (a bit like an ice cream scoop but smaller).

But the result isn't super pretty. It gives a small heap, not very round... So I preferred to work this dough with a piping bag to pipe it into a mould.

Pour your dough into a large piping bag of at least 40 cm.

Get 2 silicone "Pumpkin" moulds and a perforated baking tray.

I recommend having 2 moulds as you will need to do 2 batches of 12 cakes.

To prevent sticking when unmoulding, spray each cavity with release spray.

Fill each cavity with the piping bag 3/4 full.

Bake at 180°C fan for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, the little cakes are baked.

Turn your mould upside down on a cooling rack and let your little pumpkins cool like that.

Do not try to unmould while hot! Your warm cakes are still too fragile, they will unmould without any problem once cooled. :o)

Once fully cooled, unmould them carefully.

Decorations

We are now going to decorate the pumpkins. :o)

To do this, place the chocolate flavour pens in a jug of hot water.

For this recipe I used chocolate flavour pens in Halloween colours: orange, green and black.

Decorate the pumpkins as you like, let your imagination run wild.

Discover some examples in the photos below.

You can also decorate some pumpkins with mini "Halloween" pearls.

To keep the pearls in place, apply a little chocolate using a pen, then stick the pearls on.

And there you go, the little squash pumpkins are done! :o)

A great idea for your Halloween night! The little pumpkins are also perfect for school breaks.

You may have already seen this recipe in the "Pixcake" mould decorated with little unicorns! Unfortunately we no longer have this mould in our range... If you would like to make this recipe again, here it is in PDF version.

I wish you a very lovely Sunday!

Karin

P.S.: All the materials used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.