October is the official start of my favourite time of the year! It also means that its nearly Halloween! Oh and that pumpkin spice lattes are back in Starbucks..
Its also getting darker sooner, and its the perfect season to snuggle up with a good book or tv series, light a few candles, make yourself a big mug of tea and eat a slice of cake.. And whilst I can't possibly list all my favourite books and tv shows, I can give you a recipe for a Pumpkin Spice cake, and also tell you where you can find the perfect candle to add to the mix!
I was very kindly sent a Pumpkin Pie candle by Oundle Candles {https://oundlecandles.com}, they specialise in natural soy wax candles, all handmade in small batches with individual embellishments on each candle, and have a huge range of different scents from lavender to bubblegum and parma violets to a gin and tonic candle!
They also come in a range of sizes, so you can buy a few to test them out and find your favourite scent! The Pumpkin Pie candle smelt incredible and really was a perfect blend of the sweet and spicy smell of an actual pumpkin pie, the cinnamon smell was great and as the wick continued to burn it really felt as though autumn was well and truly among us!
The Pumpkin Pie candle is described as a 'delicious treat of creamy pumpkin, mixed spices (nutmeg, ginger, clove and cinnamon) rounded off with lovely buttery vanilla.' so I used this as an inspiration for my Pumpkin Spice cake. A pumpkin puree sponge flavoured with cinnamon, with a soft vanilla buttercream tinted bright orange, with a few fondant pumpkins on top!
I also instead of using ground cinnamon in my cake used Holy Lama's Cinnamon Spice Drop {http://holylama.co.uk/spicedrops/}, so easy to use and so perfectly tasty! This is just one of the many flavours that the spice drops come in, they also have Rose, Nutmeg, Cardamon and Ginger to name but a few. They are known for being "concentrated extracts that retain all the natural goodness and authentic taste of the herbs, fruits and flowers." Super easy to store and ensure you always have a great range of spices to hand.
Here is a recipe for my pumpkin spice sponge, and also a vanilla buttercream recipe..
Recipe:
Cake Ingredients:
425g pumpkin puree
250g plain flour
3 eggs
few drops of Holy Lama Cinnamon Spice Drops 180g granulated sugar 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 215ml vegetable oil
Buttercream Ingredients:
250g softened butter
500g icing sugar
1/2tsp vanilla extract
Cake Recipe:
Preheat oven to 175 C.
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and soda
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the oil, pumpkin puree and a few drops of Holy Lama Cinnamon flavouring.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until fully incorporated.
Bake for 35-40 minutes in the preheated oven.
Allow the cake to cool a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Buttercream Recipe:
Beat the butter until creamy, pale in colour and light in texture.
Then add the icing sugar in three separate intervals, beating well between each addition.
Add some orange food colouring, and if assembling as the cake pictured make some fondant pumpkins for added decoration!
Be sure to check out the ranges of candles on Oundle Candles website and also their social media pages, alongside Holy Lamas pages - both wonderful brands with a massive amounts of great products!
