Pumpkin, hazelnut and orange cake

This is a flavoursome, moist crumb cake. No pre-cooking of the pumpkin is required, as it uses finely grated raw pumpkin (see details in the recipe). I used some of my freshly roasted hazelnuts for this cake, ground into a meal for the cake batter, and some chopped for the top. To make ground hazelnuts: completely cool the nuts then place into a food processor with 1 tbsp flour and process until finely ground. The addition of the flour absorbs the oil from the nuts preventing them turning into a paste.

If you want to make this cake dairy-free, replace the yoghurt quantity with dairy-free milk such as oat milk mixed with 1 tbsp lemon juice, and use oil rather than butter.

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cook time: 35-40 minutes Serves 12-16

■ About 250g wedge of pumpkin or squash

■ 1⁄2 cup (125ml) natural yoghurt

■ 1⁄2 cup (125ml) light olive oil, neutral oil or melted butter

■ 2 free-range eggs

■ 1⁄2 cup (100g) sugar or 1⁄3 cup honey

■ Finely grated zest of 1 orange, about 2 tsp

■ 11⁄4 cups (190g) plain flour (can use gluten-free, using the weight rather than volume quantity)

■ 1⁄2 cup (60g) ground hazelnuts or almonds (see recipe intro)

■ 2 tsp baking powder

■ 1 tsp ground cinnamon

■ 1 tsp mixed spice

■ Pinch of salt

■ 3 tbsp roasted chopped hazelnuts

■ 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C). Grease and line a 20cm round or square cake tin.

Scoop the seeds from the pumpkin and use a sharp knife to remove the skin. Cut into 2-3 chunks then finely grate on a box grater. It is important the pumpkin is finely grated, not coarsely grated, so it will cook into the crumb of the cake. If you don’t have a grater with small holes use the standard holes then finely chop the grated pumpkin.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the yoghurt, oil or melted butter, eggs, sugar and orange zest.

In another bowl combine the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder, spices and salt. Whisk to combine and remove any lumps, then add this to the wet ingredients. Use a spatula to mix until just combined – don’t over mix, treat it as you would a muffin mixture.

Scoop the batter into the prepared cake tin. Scatter with the chopped hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds. Bake for 35-40 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool on a rack then cut into slices and serve.