These spiced, spongey cakes of goodness smothered with a ‘rich chocolate’ sauce are one of my favourite creations to date. I could cook and bake with both pumpkin and butternut squash all day; their versatility and ability to be whizzed up, added to sweet recipes and resulting in a deliciously moist and soft texture while absorbing the flavours continues to astound me.
Tell people that these bad boys are made from the vegetable and you might get strange looks, but you can’t deny the wonderful substance they give to the overall bake, coupled with autumnal spices, some added protein thanks to PhD Woman and sweetened with stevia in place of sugar. You’ll also be pleased to know these treats are gluten-free and contain no added fat which is a bonus! The joys of being able to have your cake and eat it…
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked pumpkin or butternut squash cubes
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salted caramel extract (you can buy this in Tesco)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- A little almond milk
- ½ cup natural sweetener (I used Truvia stevia)
- 2 scoops PhD Woman Vanilla Exercise Support protein
- ¼ cup coconut flour (I used Sukrin)
- ¾ cup buckwheat flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking powder
For the chocolate sauce:
- 2 tbsp TRKG vanilla Skinny Syrup
- 2 tbsp cacao powder (I used Kaizen Living)
Get baking!
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and lightly grease 4 small Bundt cake tins.
- Place the cooked pumpkin/squash chunks, eggs, vanilla and almond extract in a blender and whizz up until smooth.
- Mix together the sweetener, protein powder, coconut flour, buckwheat flour, mixed spice, cinnamon, ginger and baking powder in a large bowl.
- Pour in the liquid mixture into the bowl and stir gently until a thick batter-like mixture forms. If it’s a little too dry, add some almond milk until you get the right texture.
- Depending on the size of your tins, divide the mixture between them until they reach the top of the tins, then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until risen and cooked through.
- Leave to cool for about 20 minutes in the tins, then tip the cakes out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- For the chocolate sauce, simply whisk together the skinny syrup and cacao powder until you have a sauce, then drizzle over each cake. Now – get digging in!
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