Spiced and sweet pumpkin bread (with cream cheese vanilla frosting)

Not only was this recipe delicious, it was also pretty easy to make and isn’t actually as calorific as it sounds!

This is a great recipe as we approach the autumn months and need a little comfort food but one that isn’t going to completely ruin the diet. I have gone for a little indulgence here and added a rich cream cheese frosting but you could skip this and stick with the bread as the star of the show – I reckon toasting a slice, pared with a slither of butter or dollop of honey, would make for a great breakfast.

I have skipped the sugar on this recipe, and added sweetness through a mashed banana, honey, raisins and stevia. Little changes like these make the recipe a little healthier.

I used gluten free flour for this bread which also helped save the bloat.

Ingredients:

For the bread:

2 eggs

1 banana, mashed

½ cup stevia or xylitol

1/3 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

½ cup Greek yoghurt

Can of pumpkin purree

2 cups of flour (gluten free works)

2 headed tsps baking powder

1 haeped tsp of baking soda

3 tsps cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp fine sea salt

Generous swueexing of honey

Handful of raisins

For the cream cheese frosting:

60g cream cheese (I went for the lightest option)

150g icing sugar

25g butter

Few drops of vanilla essence

raising add juiciness to this recipe 

Preheat the oven to 180*c and grease a baking tin – I went for a 9 x 9 tin

In a bowl, add the eggs, mashed banana, sugar, oil, yoghurt and pumpkin, and mix at a medium speed with an electric mixer – the mixture should start to go fluffy

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and mix well on a low speed (you don’t want to beat out the air otherwise the bread won’t rise). You want the batter to be smooth and lump free

Add the honey and raisins and give one final stirring to make sure this is well combined 

 

Spread the batter into your greased baking tin and bake in the oven for about 45 – 55 minutes. My gas oven is pretty slow so mine actually took closer to an hour. You know when the bread is done, when its gone golden and firm – put a knife or stick in the mixture and it will pull out clean if the bread is done

Once cooked, you need to let it completely cool before frosting

To make the frosting, simply pop all the ingredients in to a bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk until creamy and smooth. Once the bread is cool, simply spread the frosting on top

 a sprinkling of chocolate shaving add a touch of colour 

Raisins add a real juicy and moist texture to this recipe. I love it!

A large wedge of this with an afternoon cuppa was the perfect Sunday treat and great taste for minimal effort.

For a real comforting, winter-warming dish, serve the pumpkin bread with hot custard and a dollop of jam for a tea time treat! Amazing.

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