make some mini cakes!

butternut squash mini cakes

I made these for a festive gathering with friends on Sunday. They are perfect for taking to parties, and so quick to make that they are great for last-minuters/folks with small children etc. You can play around with the ingredients: try grated courgette with fresh mint and parmesan!

If you don't have little silicone mini-cake molds you can use muffin cases (it is basically a muffin recipe, really). I always have too much mixture for my 6 mini cake cases so end up making some muffin-shaped ones as well.


Ingredients


1/2 butternut squash, cooked & diced (roasted in a little oil or butter until soft)
100g lardons or chopped bacon (optional - veggies can just leave out or replace with goat's cheese)
75g grated mature cheddar cheese (or gruyère, or other flavoursome hard cheese)
handful of finely chopped fresh parsley (or frozen)
70ml milk
70ml olive oil
125g plain flour
2 eggs
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
salt & pepper, to taste
handful of sunflower seeds


Method


- pre-heat oven to 200C (170C fan) / 400F / gas mark 6
- lightly beat the eggs, oil and milk in a large bowl
- very gently add the squash, grated cheese, lardons (if using), and parsley;
- season (I skip salt if using lardons/bacon) & very gently mix in the flour, baking powder and bicarb (a good idea to mix these together in another bowl first);
- be careful not to stir too much - keep the mixture nice and lumpy so it rises well.
- transfer to cases and sprinkle sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds) over the top. Try to do this quite quickly so that the baking powder can hit that hot oven while it's at its peak!
- cook for 20 minutes, or until they are nice and golden
- leave to cool on a rack before turning out of cases
- TIP: cut into slices they make pretty canapés!

I hope this gives you some recipe inspiration: I'm linking it up with Polkadot Pretties today!