A few months ago, I tried to bake Jamie Oliver’s Butternut Squash Muffins and it was a great success. I am not a big fan of vegetable cakes like carrot cake but I love the idea of hidden vegetables in cake. Ever since I tried the muffins, I’ve loved it. So I decided to make a Butternut Squash & Raspberry traybake for my Lichfield Mandarin Club’s party. This was my first time baking it and all the children and parents loved it. They all couldn’t detect the butternut squash. The only let down was that the raspberries were slightly sour!
Ingredients:
- 225g unsalted butter
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 300g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 200g of butternut
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Handful of raspberries
Method:
- For the traybake, grease a deep 9×13 rectangular baking tin and line with a strip of parchment paper, leaving about a 2-inch overhang along the long sides. This will make removing the cake a lot easier later on. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan oven 160°C, gas mark 4.
- This bake requires a food processor to mash up the butternut squash. I don’t have a food processor so I ended up using my Breville Blend Active to mash up the butternut squash and olive oil.
- For the sponge mixture, place the butter and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, for about five minutes.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and then one at a time beat in the eggs, beating each egg until fully combined before adding the next.
- Mix the flour and baking powder together and then in three additions add to the egg mixture, mixing until just combined.
- Add the butternut squash and mix to combine.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and spread into an even layer. Scatter over the raspberries and bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown, or when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the sponge comes out clean.
This traybake is very soft and fluffy. It taste great too. Almost everybody didn’t even realised there was butternut squash in it!
This is my June challenge with the Happy Egg company to stand a chance to win a Nutribullet. Have you seen their promotional packs in your local supermarket offering money off school trips? To celebrate the partnership between Happy Egg and Kingswood, simply collect codes for up to £1,000 off school trips and a chance to win yours for free. Find out more at www.thehappyegg.co.uk/
Disclosure: I have received money off to buy a packet of Happy Egg.