What’s Your Favourite Pumpkin?

I imagine everyone is sitting in their kitchens now with tools in their hands, ready to carve their pumpkins. So what design are you going for? Simple or really artistic.

Here’s a few ideas…

Share your pics I’d love to see them, I’m not doing any this year so I’d like to share your halloween with you.

Leftover pumpkin? Try this…

Pumpkin & caramel cake

PREP: 45 MINSCOOK: 30 MINS

Ingredients

• 80ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
• 450g pack vanilla or white cake mix (or make your own cake mix, see tip below)
• ½ x 425g can pumpkin purée
• 125ml full-fat milk
• 4 large eggs
  For the cake. 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice or mix it yourself by combining ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves)

For the spread

• 4 tbsp dulce de leche from a jar

For the filling

• 225g full-fat cream cheese
• 125g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• ½ x 425g can pumpkin purée
• 440ml double cream

To decorate

• 70g pecans, toasted and roughly chopped

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the bases of two 23cm cake tins. In a big bowl, beat the oil, cake mix, pumpkin purée, milk, eggs and spice mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake for 22-25 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins while you make the filling.
2. Beat the cream cheese briefly in a medium bowl until fluffy, then add the icing sugar, spice and pumpkin purée and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat or it will go runny. In another bowl, whip the cream and fold it gently into the cream cheese mixture.
3. When the cakes are cool, cut each one in half horizontally so you have four thin sponges. Put the bottom layer on a plate, spread with 1 tbsp dulce de leche, then smooth over a quarter of the filling. Add the next layer and repeat until you have an amazing tower of pumpkin, cake, caramel and cream, then sprinkle the pecans on top.

There’s loads more great recipes on BBC Good food site 

Thanks to the BBC for the above recipe.

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