It's pumpkin season again! I bought myself a large pumpkin to experiment with pumpkin recipes, and I'm so excited to share this Pumpkin Chiffon Cake recipe with you. If you bake this, your house will be filled with the autumn smell of pumpkins, spices, and all the goodness of fall.

The pumpkin chiffon cake manages to retain its fluffy texture despite the density of pumpkin puree. You don't need to frost the top with pumpkin spice buttercream, but it is highly recommended if you are looking for that added punch of flavour. P.S. On first bite, it might not taste like much, but the aftertaste is remarkable. Leaves you craving for more. 

As always, I love to give personality to my desserts. Thus, the cake is decorated as a happy pumpkin! I used half a walnut for the pumpkin stem and pumpkin seeds for the leaves (being resourceful in the kitchen haha). Give this recipe a try for Halloween!

PUMPKIN CHIFFON CAKE RECIPE
By: Sumopocky
Equipment: 7 inch chiffon cake pan, electric mixer
Time: 40min active time + 30min baking time

Ingredients
[For Pumpkin Chiffon Cake]
3 Egg yolks
3 Egg whites
50g of Caster sugar
40ml of Vegetable oil
60ml of Water
• 80g of Pumpkin puree
• 20g of Brown sugar
• 5g of Maple syrup
○ 65g of Cake flour
○ 1 tsp of Baking powder
○ 2g of Cinnamon powder
10g of Roasted pumpkin seeds *Optional

[For Pumpkin Spice Buttercream]
60g of Unsalted butter (at room temperature)
10g of Powdered/Icing sugar
1/2 tsp of Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp of Ground ginger
1/4 tsp of Nutmeg
50g of Pumpkin puree
1 tbsp of Milk

[For Decoration] *Optional, but I prefer my cakes to be cute!
1 Walnut
Some pumpkin seeds
Royal icing
2 Large white chocolate chips


Directions
[For Pumpkin Chiffon Cake]
1. To make the pumpkin puree, microwave the pumpkin wrapped with cling wrap at 600W for 8 minutes. Note: You will need around 150g of pumpkin to get 80g of puree as the pumpkin will lose its water when microwaved.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks. Then, mix in the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and maple syrup until they are well combined.
3. Pour the vegetable oil and water into a beaker and gradually pour it into the egg yolk mixture while continuously whisking.
4. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and cinnamon powder. Mix well and set aside.
5. Now, we are going to make the meringue. Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the egg whites until they are white and frothy. Then, add in 1/3 of the caster sugar and increase the mixer's speed to medium. Continue to beat the egg whites, adding the remaining sugar a little at a time (make sure the sugar has dissolved between each addition). Beat until stiff peaks form (a good gauge is if you turn the bowl upside down and the meringue doesn't fall out).
6. Add the meringue 1/3 at a time to the mixture in Step 4. Gently fold it in until well combined.
7. Pour in the pumpkin seeds and fold to combine.
8. Transfer the batter to a chiffon cake pan, and run the chopstick through the batter to level it.
9. Bake in a preheated oven at 210C for 15 min, then at 180C for another 10 min. Check if the cake is done by sticking a toothpick into the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, it is ready.
10. Let the cake cool upside down before removing from the cake pan.


[For Pumpkin Spice Buttercream]