Now that my family has gone home and life is back to its usual rhythm, I have taken up baking again. This week, I made Pumpkin Pineapple and Prune Cake, a recipe by Womens Weekly reader Genevieve Clark from Geelong West, and which featured in the April 2013 edition of the Australian Womens Weekly.
I probably would have forgotten all about this recipe except that when I was tidying up for my family's visit, I decided to tear out the recipes from a magazine on my coffee table before disposing of the rest. That's when my memory was jogged and this recipe came back to the "must make" list.
Even then, it took me a while to get around to it. Out of laziness, I bought a piece of pumpkin, but forgot the crushed pineapple, so the poor piece of pumpkin ended going mouldy, forgotten in the crisper box.
I bought another piece of pumpkin, but again forgot the pineapple. I ended up mashing some of the pumpkin for dinner, but I finally remembered the pineapple and made the cake.
I took the cake to work, and it was a surprise hit. Who knew something fruity and healthy-ish be such a hit. It was a sweet cake with plenty of texture, and I think it would be great without the icing.
Tempted? To make this cake, you will need:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup course grated butternut pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped prunes
1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple (drained)
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 20 cm round cake pan and also line with baking paper.
Sift together the flours, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl. Add oil, eggs, pumpkin, prunes and pineapple to the bowl and stir all ingredients together until well combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35- 45 mins (or until cooked through). Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.
When the cake is completely cool, ice with a lemon glaze made from icing sugar and lemon juice.
