Physalis are one of the prettiest fruits: a crisp, papery husk shrouding the tomato-like berry inside. When it turns to autumn my mind turns towards how to use them. And so this cake came to be. Taking inspiration from a popular recipe (below) and marrying it with my autumnal intent, a cloudy October afternoon was spent layering it together and, later, it was enjoyed by candlelight with my sister and friend and a hot cup of Chinese Wuyi Oolong tea.
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For the cake
80ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
450g pack vanilla or white cake mix (or make your own cake mix, see tip below)
½ x 425g can pumpkin purée
125ml full-fat milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (mix it yourself by combining ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp nutmeg and a pinch of ground cloves)
For the spread
4 tbsp dulce de leche from a jar
For the filling
225g full-fat cream cheese
125g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ x 425g can pumpkin purée - I completely forgot to put this in
440ml double cream
For the filling
225g full-fat cream cheese
125g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ x 425g can pumpkin purée
440ml double cream
1 x punnet physalis
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Method
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the bases of two 23cm cake tins. In a big bowl, beat the oil, cake mix, pumpkin purée, milk, eggs and spice mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into the cake tins and bake for 22-25 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tins while you make the filling.
Beat the cream cheese briefly in a medium bowl until fluffy, then add the icing sugar, spice and pumpkin purée and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat or it will go runny. In another bowl, whip the cream and fold it gently into the cream cheese mixture.
Recipe from BBC Good Food.
