Maple Pumpkin Pound Cake枫糖南瓜磅蛋糕

Cake ingredients

• 200 g salted butter
• 240 g self-raising flour sifted, or cake flour + 3 tsp baking powder
• 140 g icing sugar sifted
• 4 large eggs (room temperature) lightly beaten
• 2 tsp matcha powder sifted

Pumpkin maple syrup

• 200 g pumpkin cut to cubes
• 3 tbsp maple syrup or honey

Sugar syrup for glazing

• 30 g hot water
• 15 g caster sugar stir well with water till sugar dissolved, set aside

• Steam pumpkin cubes for 8 minutes and leave to cool. Then gently boil at low heat with maple syrup (or honey) till thick and leave aside to cool.
• In a cake mixer, beat butter for one minute at low speed, then add icing sugar in 3 batches till pale white and fluffy (about 3 minutes at medium speed).
• Gradually add in beaten eggs till smooth and creamy.
• Fold in sifted self-raising flour in 3 batches with a rubber spatula.Then take out 1/3 of the plain batter (about 200g) and mix in the matcha powder, blend well.
• Add the maple syrup pumpkin cubes to the remaining plain batter and gently fold well.
• Pour plain batter mixture into loaf pan (9x5x3 inches) lined with parchment paper. Then spread matcha batter on both sides, gently smooth the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 170 deg C (place a glass of hot water in the oven below the cake pan). 
• Bake the cake for 12 minutes. Dip a sharp knife in water and slit the cake in the center, then continue to bake for about 30-40 minutes or skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Once the cake is out of the oven, glaze the cake with sugar syrup. Wrap up the cake with cling wrap while it is still warm and keep in an airtight container in room temperature for 3-4 days for the cake to be softened.