{"id":4043,"date":"2016-10-24T14:07:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T14:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yousaytomatocooking.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=4043"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:45:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:45:48","slug":"pumpkin-chocolate-loaf-olive-oil-icing","status":"publish","type":"recipe","link":"https:\/\/cookwithgem.com\/recipe\/pumpkin-chocolate-loaf-olive-oil-icing\/","title":{"rendered":"pumpkin chocolate loaf with olive oil glaze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I fell in love with pumpkin loaf (really a cake) in America but had never made my own. Feeling a bit like my American boy was being deprived of his birth right, I decided to have a bash at making it with my boys. There are tons of recipes but one was speaking to me more than the rest…the kabocha, olive oil and bittersweet chocolate cake from the Gjelina cookbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was in LA recently I went to Gjelina in Venice for dinner. I loved it so much that 9 hours later I went back for breakfast. I’d have kept going back if only I hadn’t had to come home to England. Luckily the restaurant has a cookbook that I bought and had delivered, so it was waiting for me when I arrived home. It is packed with amazing recipes and I’m slowly working my way through it. I’m pretty sure it is my cookbook of the year so I’d urge you to treat yourself to a copy, you can buy it by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My last teaching trip to California fell in early October. So I was assaulted with pumpkin spice at every turn. In principle, the mixture of pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg is a good thing, but things have got a bit crazy stateside and I feel like that spice mix is in everything – body lotion, lattes, granola, candles, air fresheners. It has even started to appear over in England in coffees at a certain chain. We’re not yet at peak pumpkin spice here so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way and we can just enjoy it as it is meant to be – in pies and cakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

canned pumpkin vs making your own pumpkin puree<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The chaps at Gjelina recommend you roast kabocha squash before pureeing it and then straining it through cheesecloth overnight. I can imagine that you’d get a slightly smokier, roasty flavour from doing that, but having read a Bon Appetit<\/em> magazine taste test of home roasted and pureed versus canned pumpkin puree (the canned stuff won the taste test) I will happily take the cheat option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By using canned pumpkin puree you’ll be able to mix this cake together in less than 10 minutes – and I know that will make it much more appealing to make for most of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American readers will need no instruction on what canned pumpkin is, but in the UK it is a still a bit of an unknown ingredient. It is easy to buy online and I’ve bought it at Tesco and Waitrose but it isn’t always in stock. Ask for it as it tends to appear in strange parts of the shop – sometimes with the baking things and sometimes with the baked beans! Be sure to buy 100% pumpkin with no added sugar or anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the final flourish<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One part of the recipe that some of you may not be feeling is the addition of olive oil in the sweet glaze. Trust me, it is amazing and is what elevates this cake beyond the pumpkin bread you may have had before. The popped pumpkin seeds and cacao nibs are also perfect to balance out the sweetness elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n

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You can find cacao nibs in most health food shops or the health food aisle at the supermarket – they are chopped, raw cacao beans and as they are unprocessed they don’t contain any sugar. On their own they’re quite bitter but with the sugar of the cake and glaze they work really well. If you can’t find them, just use chopped dark chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a few final notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because this cake is made with oil rather than butter it is very moist, verging on damp. No bad thing in my book, but if you are expecting a fluffy light sponge cake texture you’ll be better using a recipe that has butter creamed with sugar as a base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don’t bake regularly, be sure to check that your baking powder and bicarb (baking soda) are in date. If they aren’t you won’t get the required rise to your cake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lovely thing about rapeseed is that the plants not only produce this heart and brain friendly oil (which is lower in saturated fat than olive oil and can be used at high temperatures), but the flowers encourage bees. Rapeseed is known as canola<\/em> oil in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This cake is made in a loaf tin but I’ve also made it in a shallower brownie tin – just cut the cooking time if you’re making it in a shallower, wider tin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make your pumpkin chocolate loaf with olive oil glaze<\/h3>\n\n\n\n