I almost didn’t want to do anything for Halloween, because I’m not the biggest fan. But than I made a 2 layered pumpkin birthday cake for my lovely pig Oliver (it was his 2nd birthday!) and it was so delicious, that I had to make it into a recipe. Around this time of the year pumpkins are everywhere! Go into any supermarket and you will see big boxes with huge pumpkins everywhere and because I love pumpkins so much, I’m always tempted to buy one (or 2..), every time I step into a supermarket. Most people buy them to carve them and make them into pieces of art. Sometimes they don’t even realise what tasty things you can make with them and how delicious they are. So that is why I thought I will buy 1 of those pumpkins and I will show you 3 recipes you can make out of that 1 pumpkin. If you want to carve your pumpkin, you can still make 2 out of 3 recipes. As I said before, there will be the pumpkin cake (and only this recipe is worth buying a pumpkin), but I will also tell you how to roast the pumpkin seeds (sooo addictive) and how to make a big batch of the creamiest pumpkin soup ever (unless you carve your pumpkin, then you won’t have enough for soup). You can also follow my pumpkin soup recipe Pumpi if you don’t like it too creamy. So there we go..

You will need:
1 big Pumpkin (about 4kg)

PUMPKIN CAKE 

Serves: 8

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
pinch of salt 

Wet Ingredients:
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups scraped pumpkin *
1/2 cup oat milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tbs lemon (juice)

Extra:
1 cup scraped pumpkin*
2 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup raisins

-Preheat the oven at 180C.
-Slice 1/4 off the pumpkin, remove the seeds (keep them for later) and the pulp. Scrape 3 cups of pumpkin.*
-Put 2 cups of the scraped pumpkin + the rest of the wet ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
-Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix it up.
-Gently pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Preferably use an electric mixer to make it a smooth cake batter.
-Add the pumpkin seeds and the raisins to the batter and gently mix them in.
-Grease a baking tin and pour the cake batter in the tin.
-Squeeze as much juice as you can from the last cup of scraped pumpkin (put the pumpkin in kitchen roll, fold both hands around it and squeeze). Then mix in 2 tbs brown sugar and divide this over the top of the cake batter. Use your fingers to push it down a little bit.
-Put the tin in the oven for about 45-50 min.

*See picture: After taking the seeds out, use a spoon to scrape the inside of the pumpkin. It basically looks like grated pumpkin. You can also actually use a grater or pulse it in the kitchen machine until you’ve got the same.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Makes: 1 cup 

all the seeds
1/2 tbs coconut oil (soft)
1 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tsp bouillon powder
salt/pepper (to taste)

-Preheat the oven at 220C.
-Try to take out as much pulp as you can.
-Rinse the seeds to get rid of more pulp.
-Cook the seeds in boiling water for 5 min.
-Rinse the seeds to get rid of the last pulp and dry them with some kitchen roll.
-Mix in the coconut oil, nutritional yeast, the bouillon powder and the salt/pepper.
-Put some baking paper on a flat baking tray and divide the seeds. Spread them out as much as you can.
-Put the tray in the oven for 5 min. Then mix it all up and put it in the oven for another 5-7 min. Keep checking, because you don’t want hem to burn. They are perfect when they just start to change colour a little bit.
-Let them cool down and enjoy the crispiness.

PUMPKIN SOUP 

Serves: 6-8 

the rest of the pumpkin (you can also add the pulp, chopped)
3 medium red onions (chopped)
10 big carrots (chopped)
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 L water 
1/3 cup bouillon powder
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp turmeric
salt/pepper (to taste) 

Cream:
200 gram tofu
1 cup cashew nuts
1 can coconut milk
1 cup almond milk 

Serving:
-1-2 tbs (tofu-coconut) cream
-1-2 tbs roasted pumpkin seeds

-Preheat the oven at 220C.
-Put all the pumpkin, the onion, the carrots and the garlic in a big oven tray (you might need 2!), sprinkle some salt on top and put the trays in the oven for 30-40 min.
-In the meantime make the cream: put the tofu, cashew nuts, coconut milk and the almond milk in the bender and blend until completely smooth (0 crumbs!). Keep a little bit separate, to use as a topping.
-Take the vegetables out of the oven and blend them with some water, the bouillon, nutritional yeast and the turmeric until smooth.
-Put it all in a big pan and mix in the cream.
-Add salt/pepper to taste.
-Serve with some extra cream and some roasted pumpkin seeds.

Are you excited to get a pumpkin now? Which recipe are you most excited about? Please show me your results on Instagram. You can do this by tagging me or by using #planetmanel. Thank you! X