Not too long ago, I gave pumpkin soup the old college try. We’re talking west indian pumpkin soup. The pumpkin isn’t what we think of here as pumpkin. It’s more like squash. Supposedly, the “fairy tale pumpkin” is a pretty close analog.
But I digress.
You’ll note I said that I gave the soup the college try. That’s code for “it didn’t turn out quite the way as planned.” In my case, I didn’t intend for it to turn out so freaking hot! It still tasted good, mind you: it just wasn’t the type of soup you’d sit down with and eat a bowl of without something to tone it down.
Given that the other thing I made recently was ropa vieja, I had two spicy things competing for my attention in the ‘fridge. I couldn’t eat the callaloo alone, and I certainly couldn’t eat it with something else spicy. So it seemed the soup was doomed for the sink.
Then a friend had a birthday. And I repurposed my soup. Kind of a story of redemption…or somesuch.
Pumpkin Soup Cake
What You Need
- 1 cup pumpkin soup (or just about any other savory/spicy puree of vegetable soup, depending on your level of adventure)
- 2 1/3 cup flour (I used a mixture of cake & all purpose, but only because I had a bit of cake flour running around)
- 1/4 cup half & half
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups sugar (if you’re doing premeasurement, 1 1/2 & 1 1/2)
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 tsp. butter & a little cocoa powder for dusting
What To Do with It
Preheat an oven to 350.
Sift together the dry ingredients (using only 1 1/2 cup sugar). Cut in shortening until you get small crumbs. Add the pumpkin soup, vanilla, half & half and eggs, and mix untill well blended (but don’t overdo it).
Butter a bundt pan and dust with cocoa. Pour in the batter & bake for about 35 minutes.
With about 15 minutes to go, melt the remaining butter and add cream: keep on very low heat. Bring water to a boil & add the remaining sugar. Caramelize it to something south of amber (not quite dark brown). Add a dash of the cream & butter & whisk like the dickens while adding the rest. Pour that over your cake.