The Recipe Room

As with most rolled cakes, this apple sauce ginger roll is a little bit labour intensive, so it’s not the best option if you’re short on either time or patience. However, if you’ve got the time to do it right, the end result is more than well worth the effort required!

Another example of an elaborate cake roll is this Chocolate Caterpillar Cake. The author of this recipe made it for her niece’s birthday, and I think it was really clever!

My apple sauce ginger roll recipe is one of my kids’ all-time favourites. Hopefully soon they’ll be old enough to help with the preparation! The recipe calls for apricot jam, but any other fruit jam should work just as well; let your taste buds be your guide and you can’t go wrong!

Until quite recently, I was thoroughly convinced that the idea of putting vegetables in desserts was completely and utterly insane.  I just couldn’t get my head around the reasoning behind what seemed to me to be a ridiculous notion!  Carrot cake?! Courgette loaf?! Madness!

In any case, my opinion has changed, and it all started when I tried this Spicy Pumpkin Cake at a friend’s dinner party.  It was absolutely scrumptious!

You can use canned pumpkin purée for this recipe, but if you want it to be truly authentic, you should use fresh pumpkin.  To do so, slice, peel and seed 500 grams of fresh pumpkin and simmer until just tender (about 15 minutes), then push trough a sieve to make the purée.

Ingredients:

• 120 g butter, softened
• 250 g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 625 g sifted cake flour
• 12 g baking powder
• 1 1/2 g baking soda
• 2 g salt
• 5 g ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 g ground allspice
• 1 1/2 g ground ginger
• 175 ml buttermilk
• 175 ml pumpkin purée
• 150 g finely chopped pecans

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180º C.
2. Butter and flour two cake (or bread) pans and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition.
5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and ginger.
6. Sift the above a second time to make sure they are well blended.
7. Add the sifted flour and spices mix to the egg and butter mixture and stir for a few seconds.
8. Add the buttermilk and mix well.
9. Add the chopped pecans and pumpkin purée, mix thoroughly.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure proper mixing.
10. Pour half of the batter into each of the buttered and floured cake pans.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
12. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove them from the pans and put them in the refrigerator for 45 minutes, or until cold.
13. Serve. (Try with whipped cream or frosting for extra sweetness.)

Prep Time:  50 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Serves:  8

Difficulty: Difficult