Halloween is only a few hours away… You have your costumes ready, your pumpkin carving session is done, your guests are already asking at what time they should show up, and the one thing that you don’t want to spook them out with is your baking skills. With this butternut squash cake, not only will you not scare them away, but you will have them asking for more and more. Long story short, this cake is absolutely scrumptious! I don’t use that word too often, but if it fits any recipe, it is definitely this one.
As a nutritionist, I’m always very careful when it comes to sweets. They are usually full of added sugar and saturated fat, which translates to a high amount of calories with little nutritional value (a.k.a. empty calories). What I’ve done here is take advantage of the natural sweetness that butternut squash, yoghurt and mascarpone have, and only add the very necessary amount of sugar for this cake to be nothing short of irresistible.
Butternut squash cakes are very often packed with butter, and as much as I like good old butter, it is not as necessary as traditional baking seems to propose. You’ve probably seen hundreds of dessert recipes that include it, but what I’m trying to do here is show you that there is an alternative in olive oil that will give so much to your cakes, without compromising any of the taste.
Ingredients for the butternut squash cake
Butternut squash: Bear in mind that the variety of squash you use in this recipe can easily affect the final result. If the variety of squash is too wet, you can get a gummy layer on the bottom of the cake. Overall, I got the best results when using butternut squash. For this recipe, you will need to cook and mash the squash before adding it to the batter.
Olive oil: I really love to use olive oil in sweet recipes, as you can see if you tried my vegan banana bread. It provides juiciness and pleasant aromas that go great with many different ingredients.
Yoghurt: I’ve decided to use yoghurt in this recipe for two reasons. The first one was to substitute part of the olive oil in order to lower the final amount of fat in the recipe, and the other one was to add an acidic element that will help activate soda bicarbonate.
Regarding the type, I’m using liquid yoghurt, which gives a good amount of moisture to the cake.
Eggs: When creating this recipe I’ve tried a few different ways of incorporating the eggs into the batter.
I’ve tried separating the eggs, beating egg whites with sugar to soft peaks and adding them to the mixture at the end. The cake doubled up in size, creating a fluffy and airy texture, but the bottom stayed too dense and slightly gummy.
Leaving the eggs whole and mixing them with sugar resulted in a lower height, but the cake had a consistent texture all throughout while staying moist and light.
Sugar: Since this cake batter is quite wet, I’ve decided to go with granulated sugar, which works perfectly! A very good substitution, but a bit more expensive one, is xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol found in plants. It has the same sweetness level as granulated sugar, 40% fewer calories and is better for your oral health. You can substitute it for granulated sugar in a ratio of 1:1.
Flour: Spelt is one of the ancient varieties of wheat, but probably the most common one you will find in the stores, in both the refined and whole grain versions, just as classic wheat flour. It has a pleasant, slightly sweet and nutty taste, which will take your sweets to a higher level. It performs very well when substituting all-purpose. So much so, that I’m surprised we are not using it more often in our kitchens.
Because of its distinct gluten structure, the batter will rise less and be more wet and sticky than one made with common wheat, but to be honest, that’s what I really like about this cake.
Baking soda & baking powder: While baking soda, with the help of the yoghurt’s acidity, does most of the work, I added a little bit of baking powder to aid with the rising.
Spices: As for the spices, you can go with your own combination, but I’ve picked the ones that are absolute winners when paired with squash and that you most probably have in your pantry: cinnamon and ginger. To make it a tad more flavourful I added vanilla extract, but what really makes a difference is the addition of orange zest! It is definitely a must-have in this butternut squash cake.
Salt: It will enhance the flavours and help with both the rising and the final texture.
What will you need for the mascarpone frosting?
I’m not sure it can get much simpler than this mascarpone frosting. You will need only three ingredients: mascarpone cheese, firm yoghurt and powdered sugar. It is really light and easy to spread. Even though the cake is amazing without it, the mascarpone frosting really makes it a perfect holiday treat.
I guess most of you are familiar with mascarpone, especially if you’ve tried tiramisu before, but in case you are not, it is Italian cream cheese with a thick, creamy and extremely smooth texture. It is made by curdling cream from cow’s milk and then cooking the curds until reaching the final consistency.
In case you don’t have mascarpone, you can exchange it for regular cream cheese, but keep in mind that it is a bit firmer and more acidic than mascarpone.
How to make this butternut squash cake?
Steam pumpkin
If you want to cut down on the preparation time you can use store-bought pumpkin puree. Another option, which I will show you later in this recipe is to cook your butternut squash and mash it.
My preferred way to cook it, especially when making desserts, is to steam it.
Some other recipes include roasting, which takes much longer, giving a similar result; or boiling, which gives way too much moisture to the cake. As you could see in my miso pumpkin cream, steaming pumpkin is an extremely easy and quick method that you will for sure fall in love with.
To cut it short, steam the squash for 10-15 minutes in a steamer pot. When it is done, take it out onto a kitchen towel and leave it to cool down. This step is important since it will allow the pumpkin to drain before being mashed and incorporated into the batter.
Combine dry ingredients
In this step, combine all the dry ingredients, except sugar and orange zest.
What I like to do is to sieve all the ingredients to avoid any lumps from getting into the mixture or some foreign material that can sometimes be found in flour. Plus, when all the ingredients are sieved it is much easier to mix them.
Don’t skip this step!
Combine wet ingredients
Start by mixing eggs with sugar and then add olive oil, yoghurt, vanilla extract and orange zest. Don’t overbeat the mixture, it is just important that the ingredients are evenly combined.
Mix dry ingredients into the wet ones
Gradually start adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones using the mixer. Blend it until you get an even batter.
Add mashed pumpkin
Using a fork, mash your steamed pumpkin until no big pieces are visible. Add the mashed butternut squash to the batter and continue mixing for another few seconds until it is fully incorporated into the rest of the ingredients.
Bake the cake
Transfer the batter to a previously greased mould. To grease your mould, you can use butter, coconut or olive oil in order to prevent your cake from sticking to the edges.
Bake the butternut squash cake for 40 minutes at 180 °C. When the cake is done, leave it in the mould for 10 more minutes to cool down, take it out of the mould, transfer it to a cooking rack, and cover it with a kitchen cloth.
If you have the chance, leave the cake to cool down completely for a few hours, ideally overnight. But in case you don’t have that much time, give it a couple of hours before adding the mascarpone frosting.
Prepare the mascarpone frosting
To make this mascarpone frosting, you will need an equal amount of mascarpone cheese and firm yoghurt. Mix those two ingredients with the powdered sugar until fluffy. Transfer the mascarpone dressing to a piping bag, using a spatula, if you want to decorate your cake more elegantly. This allows you also to store your mascarpone more easily, and use it when needed. Spread the mascarpone frosting in an even thin layer on the top, using a palette knife.
Be careful that the cake is not hot when adding the mascarpone frosting. Otherwise, the frosting will start melting.
You can additionally decorate your cake with mixed nuts, dried fruit like apple or orange, or a sprinkle of cinnamon.
