Let me give you some advice. Don’t make cake for yourself, it’s a bad idea… Scratch that. It’s a great idea, but it’s not so great for you. Tempted by all the beautiful photos in the new Gjelina cookbook, Shan and I were inspired to make the intriguing Kabocha, Olive Oil, & Bittersweet Chocolate Cake. The cake was beautiful, and had such a unique flavour. The problem – I pretty much ate the entire thing myself…How I stay thin, I’ll never know.
It’s really more of a loaf than a cake, at least that’s how I justified eating a piece for breakfast everyday. Not too sweet, great texture and unique flavours, thanks to the squash and olive oil. We made a few adjustments to the final recipe, reducing the amount of chocolate, cutting the glaze in half (making it suitable for breakfast, right!?), and using a touch less nutmeg.
After this recipe, I can’t wait to try some more beautiful recipes from the Gjelina cookbook.
Enjoy,
Bob
- 1 cup (225 g) kabocha squash puree
- 255 ml olive oil + more for drizzling
- 1½ cup (180g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1½ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- 1⅓ cup (265 g) granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
- 3 tbsp pepitas (raw hulled pumpkin seeds)
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- OLIVE OIL GLAZE
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- 75 g (1/2 cup) icing sugar
- 1 tbsp hot water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
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- ROASTING THE SQUASH
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- To make squash puree, heat oven to 425F, cut a 2 lb piece of kobacha squash into a few large pieces, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast 30-45 minutes, until squash is tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork.
- Once roasted, allow to cool, before remove the skin of the squash, and pureeing with a food processor. Transfer puree to a fine mesh strainer, or into some cheese cloth, and allow to drain for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- You will need 1 cup of the drained squash puree for the cake.
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- MAKING THE CAKE
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- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, mix until combined.
- In a medium bowl, add sugar, olive oil, squash puree, and eggs. Whisk until combined.
- Pour the squash mixture into the dry flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.
- Mix the chocolate into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake 75 to 90 minutes, until browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (their will likely be some chocolate streaks, but there should be no batter on the toothpick).
- Once baked, remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before icing.
- While the cake is cooling, in a dry pan on medium heat, roast the pepitas about 3-5 minutes until lightly toasted and fragrant.
- To make the icing, whisk together icing sugar and a tablespoon hot water, adding a small amount of additional water as necessary, until it has reached the consistency of honey. Whisk in a tablespoon of olive oil, and glaze the top of the cake once it has cooled.
- Sprinkle chopped dark chocolate, and the roasted pepitas on top of the glazed cake.
- Allow the glaze to set, about 45-60 minutes before serving.
seriously stunning. looks so moist, and perfectly glazed. i can see why it disappeared quickly. look forward to checking out the book.
Thanks Amanda! You definitely need to check out the cookbook, the photos are beautiful and there are some delicious recipes!