We’re Fanny and Greta, dear friends with deep backgrounds in sustainable food. This is a space for the food lovers, home cooks, would-be home cooks and anyone who needs a bit of inspiration and gentle guidance in their family kitchen.
Santa Anna•
April 5, 2025
Happy Birthday to us! Let’s have some cake! We have an autumn birthday, so we thought we’d lean into that with a recipe for a subtly-spiced, kabocha squash-infused confection. Scorpios are known for—among other fabulous traits—their stubbornness, and there’s no other way to describe our devotion to kabocha squash. The perfect roasted kabocha squash recipe was our second ever post (the one that garnered us a mention in The New Yorker), and our love hasn’t waned since.
This cake has a *perfect* crumb, is moist and tender and yet firm enough to slice for making layers. It’s sweet without being cloying. In short, it’s DELICIOUS. You’ll want to make it even when there isn’t a birthday to celebrate.
Preheat the oven and prepare two 4" pans: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350 °F. Coat the bottom and sides of your cake pans with coconut oil. Line the bottoms with parchment rounds.
In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour (1 cup), whole wheat flour (½ cup), hemp seeds (¼ cup), baking powder (1 ½ tsp), turmeric (½ tsp), cinnamon (½ tsp), nutmeg (¼ tsp) and salt (½ tsp).
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs (2 large), maple syrup (2 Tbsp), vanilla (1 tsp), orange zest (1 orange) and coconut sugar (¾ cup). Whisk vigorously until the mixture is smooth, then slowly add in the coconut oil (½ cup), whisking until incorporated.
Stir in the kabocha squash purée (1 cup).
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk gently just until you have a smooth batter with no evident dry ingredients.
If your batter is a little stiff and you're meeting a lot of resistance while stirring, you can add half a cup of boiling water and whisk it in until the batter is smooth.
Fill the pans ¾ of the way up. Smooth out the tops.
You'll have enough leftover batter to make about six mini muffins/3 regular muffins—which you will not regret!
Bake until the tops have risen and cracked and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30–45 minutes.
Muffins should cook in about 15 minutes
While the cakes bake, make the frosting (see below).
Let the cakes cool in the pans for at least 20 minutes, then run a paring knife around the perimeter of the cakes on the inside of the pans before inverting them onto a wire cooling rack until ready to frost.
If your cakes have "domed" while cooking (as they likely will) and you'd like a very clean layer cake, use a bread knife to slice off the rounded part (makes a great little snack!)
Frost between layers and add a generous dollop of frosting to the top. If you go the sprinkle route, consider using plant-based colored sprinkles to avoid harmful dyes!
Use a hand mixer—or a whisk and some steely resolve and forearm strength—to combine the cream cheese (1 cup), yogurt (¼ cup), maple syrup (3–4 Tbsp) and vanilla extract (1 tsp) until it's completely smooth. Frost promptly!
Place the canned coconut cream (2 12-oz cans) in the fridge for 12-24 hours to harden.
Remove the canned coconut cream from fridge, careful not to shake.
Remove the thickened coconut cream (top portion) and place into a stand mixer bowl or mixing bowl.
Reserve the coconut water for another use—maybe a smoothie?
Add the arrowroot powder (2 Tbsp), maple syrup (¼ cup) and vanilla extract (1 tsp) and set the stand mixer or handheld mixer on high, whipping until the cream is light and fluffy. Frost promptly!
