Indulgent, chocolatey, heavenly and rich.  This is a great way to use this nutritious vegetable (pumpkin) in a sweet sponge cake.

Ingredients

3 cups self-raising flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder (no added sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups milk (soya, almond or coconut all work well)
2/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup of organic sugar/coconut sugar (I used coconut palm sugar here)

Method

  1. Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and gently mix
  2. Put all the liquid ingredients into another mixing bowl and gently mix
  3. Slowly start adding the liquid ingredients into the dry mix and mix together.  If you had a food processor or hand held mixer, this works well to ensure all the ingredients are combined well.
  4. Keep mixing until all the mixture has come together and looks nice and smooth (no lumps).
  5. Divide the mixture into 2 greased cake pans (8″) and bake in the oven at 180C for about 25 minutes.

Ingredients for filling

1 cup of pumpkin puree (you can buy these in cans – make sure it has no added sugar).
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/2 cup of almond/cashew or peanut butter (no added sugar or salt brands).

Method for filling

  1. Mix all the filling ingredients really well and then fridge until the cake sponges are ready and cooled down.
  2. Once the sponges are cool, add the filling in the middle and decorate on top.

Enjoy!