Saturday morning I got up and while I was still in my pajamas, I baked a bunch of pumpkin stuff – well, kabocha squash really. I had a bucket of puree that was really dry, but smooth and sweet and a very pretty color. It went into pumpkin scones and pumpkin-cranberry muffins earlier in the week. No pics of the muffins but they were my regular recipe, and looked a lot like the ones below. The file name of the picture is libbymuff, and I suspect they were made with commercial canned pumpkin that I took home after volunteering to help to bake several thousand pumpkin pies for the community center Thanksgiving baskets, way back in 2016. Pray God we do not repeat November 2016. I made about a dozen mini muffins that were quite cute and probably deserving of a picture but I guess they were like the second child, when the parents have gotten tired of documenting every moment of their offspring.
So here’s today’s:
Pumpkin spice Battenberg cake
Smitten Kitchen full can of pumpkin pumpkin bread (large loaf)
Yes, we’ve been watching the Great British Baking Show, and that’s why I tried the Battenberg. What would Paul Hollywood say … “the sponge is quite dense”, it didn’t rise well. The eggs and butter were too cold and I didn’t get them creamed sufficiently. He’d also probably say, “Did you practice this?” and I’d have to say no, this is the practice. The bread is a Smitten Kitchen recipe, a large loaf for using the whole can of pumpkin. I had been lying in bed trying to figure out how I’d soften and loosen up the 1/4 cup of the stiff kabocha puree for the Battenberg, and finally realized the thing to do was put all I had into the food processor and mix in a little cider. That worked perfectly, and I had just the right amount for both the Battenberg and the bread. The bread has a lovely smooth soft texture, which is what I wanted for the cake. Oh, well at least one of the baked goods has it, and I guess the Battenberg wouldn’t have been as easy slice and stack into a checkerboard if it was less dense.
I also discovered that my last two cans of almond paste from last year were going bad – one was moldy completely through and through; the other was starting to darken but still tasted OK so I took the extra 2 oz. I needed for wrapping the Battenberg, and threw the rest of the 10 oz. can out. Or ran it down the disposal really, although fearing 2 cans of almond paste down the disposal would surely plug up the drain. But I every time I even think of throwing food into the garbage – instead of the compost or disposal – I already feel guilty enough about it because I should be using it all, and I hear Tony Bourdain telling me he’ll turn into a hell hound and chase me down the alley if I do. He wouldn’t be nipping at my nut sack because I don’t have one, but still it’s a fearsome thought.