Kumara and Ginger Loaf

kumara ginger loaf

June is the perfect month for this kind of baking. Dense, moist and gingery – its just the thing to make a grey day bright.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Steam or roast, 2 large orange kumara or the equivalent of pumpkin, to create a thick, dry-ish puree.

11/2cups of kumara/ pumpkin puree
75g melted butter
1/2cup muscovado sugar or coconut sugar
1/3cup molasses (or honey if molasses is not your thing)
2eggs
1/2cup milk

Whizz altogether in the food processor. Then add

11/2cups spelt flour (or your favourite gluten free mix)
1tsp baking soda
11/2tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1tsp mixed spice
2 generous tablespoons finely grated ginger
1/2tsp of salt
For an optional gingery extra: add some sliced up preserved ginger.

Pulse a few times to bring together and spread mixture into a loaf tin that’s been buttered and floured or lined with baking paper.

Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before tipping out of the tin.

This loaf is a great keeper – lasting at least a week in an airtight container.

Comments

  1. Will make this loaf tomorrow. Love anything with ginger.

    • Oh goody, I hope you enjoy it. We had the end of a loaf warm with custard tonight, just what a cold night needed. Let me know how it goes!

  2. What a delicious cake! I only had ginger powder and used honey instead of molasses and it still worked out. Very satisfying and not overly sweet. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  3. Love your blogs Katherine! Hope to get to your garden one day. Can you make this with almond meal in lieu of flour?

    • I haven’t tried it with ground almonds Cynthia. You’d probably get a better loaf with a mix of flour and almonds – may be too crumbly with 100% almond. Give it a go and let me know what happens!

  4. Michelle Kerr-Allen says

    Sounds deliciious. You have such a way with words. Makes the reader think they are about to bite into the deliciousness. Will make this for Saxon today. Will substitute a gluten free flour. Can’t wait 🙂

  5. Kay Williams says

    Can you use any type of kumera?

  6. Vanya Bailey says

    Hi Kath I too love anything with ginger in it and also molasses. Now kumara are about $8 a kg around here at the moment. Could the loaf be made with pumpkin instead. It might be a bit more watery than kumara though

    • Wow! $8 a kilo! Yes I’d give pumpkin a go for sure. Perhaps roast them rather than steam them – to get the right texture.
      Let me know how you get on!
      best
      Kath

  7. Just made this. Followed the recipe exact and cooked it for an hour. By this time it had collapsed and was still gooey and wobbly so I left it in the oven for another 49mins. It collapsed even more and in the end I gave up and took it out. Left it to cool in the tin and then served. I had to eat it with a spoon. Cooked another cake in the same oven straight after and that was fine so it’s not the oven. Any idea what happened? Maybe I needed self easing flour or baking powder? Such a shame!

    I have to say though, the flavour is lovely and I will still eat it but just with a spoon . Haha! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    • loving your lateral thinking Helen!

      Too much liquid is my first thought…..? I make this loaf often and apart from longer or shorter cook times due to different ovens I’ve never had to eat it with a spoon! I can imagine how good it would be – the mixture is yum when licking the bowl 🙂