This soft pumpkin cake is a breakfast or afternoon treat made with pumpkin flesh, eggs, milk and seed oil. The pumpkin is baked first, then blended into a purée before it goes into the batter. There are no pumpkin chunks in the mixture, and the cooled cake is simply finished with icing sugar.
There is no butter in the batter. However, the method below uses butter and flour to prepare the tin, so this is not a completely butter-free or dairy-free cake.
Servings, tin and timing
- Serves: 6.
- Round cake tin: 20–22 cm in diameter.
- Difficulty: very easy.
- Indicative cost: low; actual cost depends on the ingredients purchased.
- Preparation time stated in the original recipe: 15 minutes.
- Pumpkin baking time: 20 minutes at 200 °C.
- Cake baking time: approximately 45 minutes at 170 °C, in a preheated conventional oven, without the fan.
- Sum of the stated times: approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, excluding preheating and cooling. The 45 minutes refer only to baking the cake.
- Cooking method: oven. Cuisine: Italian.
Ingredients
For a 20–22 cm cake tin:
- 3 medium eggs;
- 300 g pumpkin, weighed after cleaning and before baking;
- 150 g granulated sugar;
- 50 ml seed oil;
- 50 ml milk;
- 270 g Italian tipo 00 flour;
- 16 g baking powder for cakes, equivalent to one sachet in the 16 g format;
- icing sugar as needed, for finishing.
You will also need butter and flour to grease and flour the tin, as already required by the method. These are for the tin, not additions to the batter quantities.
To make “one sachet” precise, we use the 16 g format documented by Paneangeli. The original cake recipe does not specify a brand. This is baking powder, not baker’s yeast; if using a different formulation, check the manufacturer’s dosing instructions.
How to make the pumpkin cake
1. Bake and blend the pumpkin
Remove the skin and weigh out 300 g of cleaned pumpkin flesh. Cut it into small cubes and spread them over a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake at 200 °C for 20 minutes. Blend the cooked pumpkin and set the purée aside.
Baking helps dry out the pumpkin before it is added to the batter. Remember to include this separate step when planning your preparation time.
2. Make the batter
Use an electric whisk to beat the whole eggs with the sugar until fluffy. Pour in the oil and milk while continuing to mix.
Add the pumpkin purée, then gradually incorporate the sifted flour. Add the baking powder last and mix until the batter is smooth.
3. Bake the cake
Grease and flour the 20–22 cm cake tin, then pour in the batter. Bake in a preheated conventional oven, without the fan, at 170 °C for approximately 45 minutes.
Check the cake with a skewer before taking it out of the oven: the baking time is approximate, so the final doneness check is still needed.
4. Finish the cake
Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool. Dust with icing sugar only when the cake is cold, then cut into portions.
Variations suggested in the original recipe
The original recipe also suggests chopped chocolate, lemon or orange zest, and chopped almonds. These are optional ideas without specified quantities, separate from the plain version.
For the cocoa variation, replace 20 g of the flour with unsweetened cocoa powder: use 250 g flour and 20 g cocoa. Keep this variation separate from the plain cake described above.
Orange juice is mentioned in the original introduction, but without a quantity or substitution ratio, so it is not included in the practical instructions.
A little history: pumpkin desserts and pumpkin pie
Plants in the genus Cucurbita, which includes the edible pumpkins discussed here, have an American native range documented by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
There is also historical evidence of pumpkin being used in desserts. Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, published in 1796, includes a pumpkin preparation baked in a pastry crust. The Library of Congress links it to the classic American pumpkin pie.
That dessert is different from this cake: pumpkin pie has a filling in a pastry shell, while here the purée is mixed into a raised cake batter. This is background on pumpkin desserts, not a claim that this particular recipe dates from the eighteenth century.
Preparation questions
Should I weigh the 300 g of pumpkin before or after baking?
Weigh the pumpkin after cleaning it and before baking it. The quantity does not mean 300 g of cooked purée.
Does raw pumpkin go into the batter?
No. In this recipe, the pumpkin is first baked for 20 minutes at 200 °C, then blended and added to the batter.
Is this a butter-free cake?
The batter contains seed oil instead of butter. The tin is buttered and floured, and the recipe also contains milk.
How long does it bake?
The cake takes approximately 45 minutes at 170 °C in a preheated conventional oven, without the fan. There is also a separate pumpkin baking stage: 20 minutes at 200 °C.
Storage
The original recipe states 2 days, with the cake covered in plastic wrap. It does not specify a storage temperature. We report this as the source’s guidance, not as a shelf life validated for every room condition or for cakes with added fillings.
Recipe source
Reference quantities and method: Torta di zucca morbidissima by Vale cucina e fantasia. Editorial adaptation for Tutto Pasticceria Magazine, with clarification of the baking powder sachet size and overall preparation time.
Accompanying image: AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of a test bake.
