Drizzled Pumpkin and Orange Tea Loaf
This easy and healthy tea loaf is packed packed with fresh pumpkin, walnuts, dried apricots, and ground almonds. It can also be made with butternut squash.
From the book
The Squash and Pumpkin Cookbook
Healthy and creative ways with squash and pumpkin
Including midweek meals, one-pots, and sweet things
The perfect cookbook for the colder months
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Introduction
This tea loaf is moist, healthy and delicious. If you wish, you can forget the frosting and just dust it with icing sugar. You can enjoy it sliced and plain, or spread with butter at breakfast or teatime, or as a snack.
Ingredients
| butter, for greasing | |
| 200g/7oz (1 cup) | light brown sugar |
| 4 | medium free-range eggs, separated |
| 250g/9oz | pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and grated |
| grated zest and juice of 1 small orange | |
| A few drops of | vanilla extract |
| 75g/3oz (generous ½ cup) | chopped walnuts |
| 75g/3oz (½ cup) | ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped |
| 200g/7oz (2 cups) | self-raising (self-rising) flour |
| A pinch of | sea salt |
| 1 tsp | ground cinnamon |
| ½ tsp | ground ginger |
| 100g/3½oz (⅔ cup) | ground almonds |
| For the orange drizzle: | |
|---|---|
| 125g/4oz (1 cup) | icing (confectioner’s) sugar |
| 2 tbsp | orange juice |
| grated zest of ½ orange |
Essential kit
You will need: a 900g/2lb loaf tin (pan)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Lightly grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin (pan) with baking parchment.
2. In a bowl, beat together the sugar and egg yolks until fluffy, pale and creamy. Add the grated pumpkin, along with the orange zest and juice, vanilla, walnuts and apricots. Sift the flour, salt and spices and fold into the mixture, along with the ground almonds, moving the spoon in a figure-of-eight movement.
3. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold gently into the pumpkin mixture. Do not beat or overmix.
4. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake for 50–60 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. You can check whether the cake is cooked by inserting a thin skewer into the middle – it should come out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. To make the orange drizzle, mix the icing sugar and orange juice together in a bowl until smooth. Drizzle over the top of the loaf and then scatter over the orange zest. Leave to set.
6. Cut into slices to serve. The loaf will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in a cool place for 2–3 days.
OR YOU CAN TRY THIS…
– Use raisins, dates or dried cranberries instead of apricots.
– Use chopped pecans, hazelnuts or almonds.
– Use butternut squash instead of pumpkin.
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