Roast pumpkin, olive oil and nutmeg cake with ginger icing

Serves eight

For the ginger buttercream

• 1 delica pumpkin
• 300g plain flour
• 0.5 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 125g light soft brown sugar
• 175g caster sugar
• 100g buttermilk
• 150g olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

And for the rest of the week…

• 150g unsalted butter
• 100g cream cheese
• 1 thumb fresh ginger
• 280g icing sugar

Step 1
For a light cake, keep the dry ingredients apart from the wet until the last minute.

Step 2
Then fold deftly and quickly, and get it in the oven as soon as possible.

Step 3
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Step 4
Grease and line a standard, loose-bottomed cake tin.

Step 5
Cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and cut into wedges.

Step 6
Put these on a baking tray, scatter over two tablespoons of water, cover with foil and roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft.

Step 7
While the pumpkin is cooking, sift the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb and spices into a large mixing bowl.

Step 8
Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk with a fork.

Step 9
Once the pumpkin is tender, scoop 300g of the flesh into a food processor and add the sugars and buttermilk (save the rest for another dish).

Step 10
Whizz to a smooth puree, then blitz in first the eggs and then the oil and vanilla.

Step 11
Make a well in the centre of the flour mix, quickly fold in the pumpkin mix, then tip into the cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

Step 12
Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool.

Step 13
While the cake is baking, get on with the buttercream icing.

Step 14
Beat the butter for five minutes with the paddles of a food mixer until soft, voluminous and pale.

Step 15
Sieve the cream cheese to get rid of any excess liquid, then beat that into the soft butter.

Step 16
Finely grate the ginger (with a microplane, ideally) and beat in, then beat in the icing sugar a third at a time, then put in the fridge to set.

Step 17
Once the cake has cooled, cut it in half across the middle with a bread knife, sandwich the two halves with half the buttercream and spread the rest all over the top and the sides.

Step 18
If you want to be fancy, garnish with lightly toasted pumpkin seeds tossed in a hot dry frying pan with a few tablespoons of icing sugar.

Step 19
Whizz any leftover pumpkin with a few tablespoons of grassy olive oil, some seasoning and a hint of chilli or black pepper (and maybe a teaspoon of maple syrup), to make a fine side for a Sunday roast.