Pumpkin Spice Cake with Honey Frosting

I was in my local supermarket this week when I found myself in heaven;
NKOTB, Marteka, Backstreet Boys. I even got to get my aisle groove onto Right Said Fred... yes I was too sexy for the canned goods aisle! It was like a time machine; whisking me back to the nineties. A simpler time where song lyrics where about holding hands, singers wore clothes in their film clips and song beats consisted of more than 2 annoyingly repetitive beats.

At my gym they only play a cable music channel; not the good one which sees you curling to Love Shack or squatting to Richard Marx, but the channel that now has me singing along to the latest fad boy band and wondering what the hell happened to Hannah Montana. I know, I could wear headphones but then I couldn't hear how loud I was grunting! Embarrassingly, I think I now like 1D (even the fact that I have referred to them as 1D means that I am losing my nineties cool).

Not everything about the nineties was as cool as the Divinyls. One winter I wore overalls and a flannel shirt (sadly more than once). One summer I had a pair of tie dyed high cut bathers (don't even try to picture them because they are too wrong to ever be seen again). I even got a Rachel haircut (but so did most of the TV watching female population at the time). The nineties... slightly cooler than eighties but without the flare of the seventies!

I wonder what kids of this generation will look back on as dorky and regrettable? Fingers crossed it involves their bi-minute status updates and inability to use grammar respectfully! Gosh, I sound like an old, cranky woman with cats!

Now, without a clever segue...

Halloween isn't much of an occasion in Australia, so stereotypically all I can think of is Pumpkin! So predictably my Halloween posts will be pumpkin inspired... I promise next year to be more inventive. This Pumpkin Spice Cake with honey frosting is practically dinner and dessert combined, and it doesn't hurt that it's super delicious.  

Notes:
In Australia we don't have Pumpkin spice, so the spices listed below are the individual spices. Of you do have pumpkin spice substitute 3 teaspoons of it for the spices listed in the recipe.

I have been asked if it is OK to use canned pumpkin in the recipes I make. In Australia we don't have pumpkin purée, but from what I have read it may be moister than pureeing roasted pumpkin. The simple answer, I can't try it so I can't vouch for it. My suggestion would be to slightly warm the canned purée to remove some of the moisture.

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE WITH HONEY FROSTING

Cake
INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup Coconut Flour
1/2 cup Almond meal
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
Dash of Allspice
Dash of Cloves
360grams pumpkin purée (I used Butternut pumpkin- diced and roasted for 45 minutes in a moderate oven then puréed)- Measure purée not diced pumpkin.
1/2 cup apple sauce (see recipe below)
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup Maple Syrup

INSTRUCTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F
Grease and line a 20cm/8 inch round cake tin.
Shift the dry ingredients together.
Purée the apple and pumpkin together.
Add the egg whites to the bowl of a kitchen stand fitted with a whisk attachment.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks from.
Slowly, add the Maple Syrup whilst whisking on high.
Add the egg yolks and continue to whisk until combined.
Turn the mixer to low and add the pumpkin/apple purée.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk on low until combined.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Whisk on high for 1 minute.
Pour cake into prepared tin.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Honey Frosting
INGREDIENTS
1 can Coconut Cream, Refrigerated overnight with the thick part removed and the watery part discarded
2-4 Tablespoons Honey, slightly warmed to make pourable

INSTRUCTIONS
Place thickened cream into the bowl of a kitchen stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
Whisk on high until thickened.
Add the honey, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired taste is reached.
Place cream in the the fridge to thicken before spreading over the cake. ,

Apple Sauce
INGREDIENTS
4 apples, peeled and cut into small pieces
3/4 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS
Place apples and water in saucepan. Cover with lid.
Bring to boil, then simmer for 7-10 minutes, or until apple is soft.
Store in fridge.