I always liked pumpkin but this fall season it really hit me and I am enjoying the pumpkin season to the fullest. I like making simple pumpkin soups which I make at least once a week. Every time I puree my pumpkin soups I am flabbergasted by the intense orange color. I always add a little bit of pumpkin seed oil (it is a speciality from Styria, Austria) and a few roasted pumpkin seeds and my bowl of soup looks like a piece of art. Every time I tell myself what beautiful color nature has to offer (who needs artificial color). Besides delicious soups there are so many different things that one can make out of pumpkin but my favorite sweet treats are little mini pumpkin bundt cakes. These petite pumpkin cakes are incredible moist and they are also very quick and easy to prepare. I made these bundt cakes a lot this fall season  - they were my edible gifts of this fall season - and I think I sweetened up the every day life of quite a few people.
NOTES: I do not know where you are located in the world but in my little corner of this world canned pumpkin puree does not exist (maybe it does but I never came across it) and I am not sure if I would use it if I had access to it. Making your own pumpkin puree is very easy. My favorite kind of pumpkin is hokkaido, also known as red kuri squash) because you can use the skin of the pumpkin and I like the slightly sweet flavor of this pumpkin. Feel free any kind of pumpkin that you like most.
Preheat your oven to 175 °C / 350 °F. Cut the pumpkin in half, crape out the pulp and the seeds. Cut the pumpkin into small chunks. Place the pumpkin pieces onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the pumpkin is very soft (the baking time depends on the size of the pumpkin pieces). Scoop out the pumpkin flesh (skip this step if you use hokkaido pumpkin) and place the flesh in a food processor or a blender and puree it until smooth.  You can keep the pumpkin puree in the fridge for two days or you can also freeze the puree. 

Makes 10 mini bundt cakes or muffins *

INGREDIENTS

  • 100 g / 1 cup pastry flour or 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 2 pinches of nutmeg
  • 2 pinches of cloves
  • 75 g  / 1/2 cup chocolate (50%), chopped
  • 50 g / 1/2 cup walnuts (I like my nuts toasted), chopped
  • 1 egg (medium size)
  • 50 g / 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 50 g / 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 50 ml / 3 tablespoons coconut oil (melted), alternative canola oil
  • 150 g / 2/3 cup pumpkin puree*, see my notes above
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • Powdered sugar, for decoration
* I like using mini bundt cake moulds because I adore the shape of bundt cakes (the size of my mini gugelhupf moulds are: 7 cm / 2.8 inches diameter and 4 cm / 1.5 inches height). But of course you can use a muffin tin instead of a gugelhupf pan.

DIRECTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 175 °C / 350 °F. 
  • Grease and flour your gugelhupf moulds or muffin moulds. In case you use silicon moulds you can skip this step. 
  • Mix flour, baking soda, salt, spices, chopped walnuts and chocolate in a medium bowl. 
  • Whisk egg and both kinds of sugar until well combined. You do not need to use a standing mixer or an electric mixer. Use a simple egg whisk. 
  • Add coconut oil or canola oil, pumpkin puree and orange juice and mix well. Add the flour mixture and stir with a (perferable wooden ) spoon until all ingredients are well combined. 
  • Spoon the cake batter into the bundt cake pan or muffins tin. Fill the batter almost to the top because the cakes does rise just a little bit. 
  • Bake the cakes for 17 to 20 minutes or if you insert a toothpick and it comes out clear the cakes are done.
  • Let the mini cakes cool, unmould the bundt cakes and sprinkle the cakes with powdered sugar.