Pumpkin Pecan Cake

The recipe for this cake comes from the book Lovely Butter Cakes by Amy Wong and KS Lee. However, the cake does not contain any butter but uses corn oil instead. Butter is applied only on the surface of the cake together with icing sugar and orange essence. It is an easy cake to make as it only involves the simple mixing of wet to dry ingredients, pretty much like making muffins.

I tried the recipe but I was not happy with the outcome as the cake was dense. Though it was moist, somehow it felt "dry". I don't know how to describe it but I reckon I missed the richness of butter. Though the cake contained orange zest, somehow the orange aroma did not sit well with me this time and the cake overall felt "empty". I also felt that I did not like nuts in my cake. It was a disappointment to me but my partner begged to differ. He liked the cake and he told me that it was good. Or was he just humouring me? hee..hee...

But I am not giving up on this cake because I love pumpkins and I love pecans. So I tweaked the recipe. I threw out the oil and substituted with butter. I also increased the amount of sour cream. And with much regret, I also threw out the orange zest (big mistake!). But I still maintained the chopped pecans as this is one of my favourite nuts.

The first time, I baked this cake in one loaf pan. It resulted in a big loaf of cake as the cake had a very good rise. This time I divided the batter between two smaller loaf pans. Though the batter looked like it was too little, it rose to fill up 3/4 of the pan. I prefer two smaller loaves of cake rather than one huge one.

I am happy to say that I liked this version a lot better. The cake was moist and soft and not dense at all. However, like I mentioned earlier, I should have added orange zest. I guess my perception was thrown out by my disappointment with the first cake. Though I added cinnamon, the aroma was not distinct at all. Perhaps I had added too little.

I know that some of you would very much prefer to use oil rather than butter and for your benefit, I am reproducing both recipes - the original and my adapted version.

Pumpkin Pecan Cake (Original)
Recipe source : Lovely Butter Cakes (page 51)

Ingredients A
- 200g shredded pumpkin
- 100ml corn oil
- 50g sour cream
- 2 tsp orange zest

Ingredients B
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 eggs
- 1 egg yolk

Ingredients C (sifted)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 250g plain flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp baking powder

Ingredients D
- 180g golden caster sugar
- 100g pecans toasted and chopped

Ingredients E (beat till smooth)
- 50g butter
- 200g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp orange essence

Ingredients F
80g pecans (toasted and chopped)

Method :
1.  Combine ingredients A and ingredients B.
2. Combine ingredients C with ingredients D, then gently mix with AB mixture.
3. Pour the mixture into a baking mould lined with baking paper. Bake in preheated oven at 175C for 35-40 minutes.
4. Remove and set to cool. Spread the top with a layer of ingredients E, then sprinkle with ingredients F.

Pumpkin Pecan Cake (My adapted version)
Recipe source : Lovely Butter Cakes (page 51)

Ingredients A
- 165g butter
- 160g caster sugar  
- 170g sour cream
- 200g shredded pumpkin
- 2 tsp orange zest (I omitted with much regret)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 4 eggs
- 250g self-raising flour
- 180g roasted and chopped pecans divided into 100g (toss with a bit of flour to prevent nuts from sinking in the cake batter) and 80g (for topping).

Method :
1.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. Stir in shredded pumpkins.
4. Add flour and sour cream alternately, ending with flour.
5. Fold in 100g chopped pecans.
6. Pour batter into two small loaf pans.
7. Sprinkle remaining pecans on top of batter.
8. Bake at 160C for 50 minutes or until skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Eileen of Eileen's Diary.

This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #17 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.