Mikas Kabocha Cake Pumpkin Cake Food

MIKA'S KABOCHA CAKE (PUMPKIN CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
• Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Stir in mashed pumpkin. Mix in honey, milk, oil, and egg until batter is smooth.
• Pour batter into the greased cake pan. Gently press cashews into the batter for decoration.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool in the pan, 5 to 10 minutes.

KABOCHA SQUASH CAKE WITH BROWN SUGAR CREAM

Steps:

• For brown sugar cream:
• Place 1 tablespoon water in cup. Sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10 minutes to soften.
• Stir cream and sugar in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add egg whites and whisk until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes (do not boil). Add gelatin mixture; whisk until dissolved. Strain into large clean bowl. Chill until cold. Cover and chill overnight.
• For cakes:
• Combine squash and milk in heavy small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Partially cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Drain squash. Place in processor and blend until smooth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray six 3/4cup ramekins with nonstick spray. Place 1/2 cup squash puree in large bowl (reserve remaining puree for another use). Add sugar, oil, beer, and egg to puree and beat to blend. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt over; beat to blend. Divide batter among prepared ramekins.
• Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool cakes in ramekins. Turn out onto plates. Beat brown sugar cream to firm peaks; spoon alongside cakes.

KABOCHA PUMPKIN HOT POT

Steps:

• Place shiitake mushrooms in a large bowl and add 5 cups of water. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 5 hours.
• Strain liquid into a large bowl, reserving both liquid and mushrooms. Trim stems and discard; cut caps in half and set aside. Add soy sauce and mirin to bowl with mushroom liquid; set aside.
• Place kombu on the bottom of a 4 1/2- to 5-quart Japanese clay donabe or cast-iron pot. Top with pumpkin, daikon, taro, carrot, negi, cabbage, shimeji mushrooms, and reserved halved shiitake mushrooms. Add mushroom liquid mixture.
• Cover pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover and add noodles; let simmer until noodles are tender, about 10 minutes more. Serve immediately garnished with shichimi togarashi.

KABOCHA SQUASH CAKE

Steps:

• Cut off hard part from top and bottom of Kobocha then cut into 3 to 4 wedges. Scoop out the seeds and cut into chunks.
• Steam in steamer, covered, for 15 minutes over med heat then use a chopstick and see if it can be pushed into center easily. Remove and leave covered for 5 minutes.
• Remove skin. Mash flesh and push thru sieve or process in food processor. Transfer to mixing bowl and add rest of ingredients. Mix well.
• Roll out makisu sushi mat as if you were making sushi. Wet muslin slighly and lay on mat. Spread mix on evenly. Hold nearest end and tightly roll up to other end. Close both other ends by rolling up or folding over muslin.
• Put roll in steamer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest 5 more minutes.
• Open the makisu when roll has cooled. Cut into 1 inch thick slices and serve cold on plates with thinly sliced nashi and kaki if desired.

ROASTED KABOCHA (JAPANESE PUMPKIN) SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F / 175°C.
• Cut kabocha in half, scoop out seeds and membranes, and set aside.
• Prick the kabocha flesh with a fork, brush with olive oil and place face down on a baking dish. Bake for about 40 mins at 350F/175°C or until tender.
• While the kabocha is roasting, clean and dry the seeds (as best you can) and toast them in a dry pan on med-high heat for about 5 minutes or until nicely golden brown and set aside. Alternately, you can bake them in the oven for about 10-20 minutes at 400F / 200°C.
• In a large pot, saute sliced onion in butter until soft.
• When the kabocha is soft, carefully (it's hot!) scoop the flesh in chunks out of the skin and add to the pot with onions. Alternately, you can wait for it too cool or roast it already peeled.
• Add the bouillon powder, water and cinnamon, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Cover the pot to keep it from splattering.
• Pour the mixture into a large bowl. In batches, puree the mixture in a blender (only fill about 3/4 or less full), and add it back to the pan. If you have an immersion blender, even better, and you can just puree it all in the pan.
• Stir in the milk and heat gently over low heat, stirring frequently. Mix in salt and pepper to taste, ladle into bowls and top with toasted seeds.