This post has been updated. The recipe was originally featured on The Paleo Mom's site in April 2015.
It's official. Autumn has arrived, the woollen sweater is on and it won't be long before we're carving a pumpkin for the front doorstep.
Winter squashes are making a comeback on the cosier side of the front door too. But before I think about some recipes to bring you, let me tell you about this one.
This cake was inspired by a recipe Angie Alt's cookbook "The Alternative Autoimmune Cookbook". There I was, tucking into her shallot and rosemary roasted butternut squash when I suddenly thought how delicious it would be as a cake. Only without the shallots haha!
I love finding ways to add more veggies to my day, and this works really well. It's moist, full of flavour and would be equally delicious eaten with a cup of tea or as a pudding accompanied by whipped coconut cream or AIP ice cream.
Anyway, since Dr Sarah's recent site revamp, the cake has come home after 5 years. So I thought I'd share it with you here.
Rosemary Roasted Butternut Cake
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Serves 12
Print the recipe here!
SQUASH
1 tbsp lard
1+3/4 lb butternut squash, peeled and cubed (this will give you 1+1/2 lb)
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
CAKE
1/2 cup lard
pinch sea salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 cup coconut flour
1+1/2 tsp baking soda
2 gelatin eggs (recipe follows)
2 tbsp gelatin
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp just boiled water
Preheat oven to 400F.
To prepare the squash, heat the lard in a large baking tray. Add the squash and rosemary, mix well so that the squash pieces are well coated, then place into the oven for 30 minutes, turning mid way. Make sure the squash doesn’t burn or your cake may have a bitter taste.
Remove the squash, scraping up all the rosemary, and put into a food processor with the ’S’ blade. Purée until smooth, then remove onto a large plate to cool down completely. This can be done up to 3 days in advance and refrigerated in a covered container, until you’re ready to make your cake.
To make the cake place a baking tray into the oven and preheat to 350F. Line the base and sides of an 8 x 2 inch round cake tin with parchment paper.
Put the squash purée, salt, lard, maple syrup and honey into a bowl and, using a stand or handheld mixer, combine thoroughly. The mixture will probably look a bit ‘splitty’ at this point but don’t worry, this is fine. Sift in the coconut flour and baking soda and mix again until combined.
To make the gelatin eggs put the gelatin into a small bowl and the liquids into another. Pour the liquid over the gelatin and whisk quickly until the gelatin has melted and the mixture looks frothy. With the motor running, pour into the bowl and whizz again for a few seconds to fully incorporate.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface and place onto the hot baking tray. Cook for about 1hr + 10 minutes until browned and fairly firm to the touch in the centre (it will firm more on cooling). Allow to cool completely in the tin.
For best results, the cake should be put in an air tight container overnight to firm completely. If you cut into it too soon, it may crumble.
congratulations! I am so happy to hear this. As a fellow metro Vancouver aip'er I can say that the weather is nicely coinciding with your smile. Sending you and yours much love and spring time wishes!
Thank you so much Courtnae. Yep this weather is adding to the euphoria this morning 🙂 . Sending much love back to you!
I an looking to make this for my aunt. She needs aip. However, with having autoimmune, she is not supposed to eat "leftovers" (cake should be fresh to avoid histamines). What timing would you suggest to keep it from crumbling yet not making it the day before? Thank you!
I do not think that leftover cake is a cause for concern on a low histamine diet. If you want to take precautions I would allow the cake to settle, as mentioned in the instructions, then cut into slices and freeze.
Congrats! Your blog is definitely on the top of my list. Your recipes have inspired me with beauty and helped me feed my family. You definitely deserve this honor!
Janel, thanks so much for your comment, it means a lot to me to think you and your family are enjoying my recipes 🙂
Yay Kate!!! Your blog is definitely deserving! You have amazing food, your photography is stunning and you have such a personable style of writing!! I definitely will give you a big thumbs up vote! 🙂 I ate the whole batch of sticky pudding by myself...oops, and I am just making the peach n'oatmeal as we speak 😉 yummy! So hope you win! Please keep the inspiration coming 🙂
Tammy you are so kind, thank you for those words. Now as for the sticky pudding, tut tut, it actually serves more than one person you know 😉 but I can see exactly where you're coming from hehe. Enjoy your oatmeal!!
Well deserved. The best AIP cake maker out there.
Love the sound of this beauty but was wondering if I can sub organic shortening for the lard as I'm allergic to pork...
Oh and I voted for you 🙂
Amanda, seeing as you put it like that I shall say yes to your shortening 🙂 . You could also use duck fat or coconut oil. And thank you, thank you - I love that you try and enjoy my cakes and I love that you voted 🙂
I always enjoy your cakes, as does hubby. He purposely leaves 3 bananas in the fruit bowl to ripen off just so I will "have to" make the banana teacake
Haha, that's funny. We have a '3-banana rule' in our house. Anyone can help themselves to the bananas but once it gets down to three, they need to check with me first or it could spell trouble 🙂 🙂
I just made the rosemary butternut squash cake last night. It came out great and really helped me satisfy the desire for something baked. Thanks for being innovative. These kinds of recipes really help make AIP easier.
Dwan
Thanks for your comment Dwan, I'm so pleased you satisfied your craving 🙂
This cake tastes good but it burned and was only cooking fifty minutes.......had to scrape off the top and try again. I also didn't use the honey....I
I used a half of banana, which was tasty.
Hi Janys. Cakes burn for a variety of reasons, it could be your oven temperature is hotter than mine (an oven thermometer is a good investment with frequent cake baking), if you are using a teflon coated pan (or a thin pan) or perhaps the shelf is too high. One other thing is when you make substitutions that could easily make a difference in the time it takes to cook. Don't forget I didn't bake my cake using your substitutions.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked the flavour 🙂
The link to the Paleo Mom website doesn't work. Can you please repost the recipe? It's one of my favorite and I don't want to loose it!
That's so weird, not sure what happened there. Anyway, I've updated the post and here it is again - http://www.thepaleomom.com/guest-post-by-kate-jay-roasted-rosemary-butternut-cake-autoimmune-protocol-friendly/ .
Thanks for the heads up 🙂
This was delicious. I made it yesterday and the wait for it to settle was well worth it. I did have to make some substitutions - I live in Egypt and lard is hard to get, so I used half coconut oil and half bacon fat. Maple syrup is also expensive and so I changed the proportions of sweetener. I used 1/2 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of IKEA's elderberry syrup. I think elderberry is not AIP compliant but it's what I have. The cake came out moist and flavorful. Loved it! Thanks for sharing.
This is such a beautiful cake. Thanks for the recipe!
I haven't made this cake in years, you make me want to roast a butternut now, lol. Glad you like the cake Jacinta.
Can I substitute arrowroot or tapioca for the coconut flour? Or even rice flour? Thanks!
Coconut flour is so different from any others so you'll need to experiment with that I'm afraid. Let me know how you get on though.
This looks delicious and I would love to make ahead if possible. Do you think this can be made in advance and frozen?
Yes absolutely, it freezes well. Hope you enjoy!
The cake looks really good! I don't have maple syrup at hand so can I substitute it with honey instead? Also, can I use the Instant Pot to cook the butternut squash instead of roasting it in the oven? Would this change the flavor of the cake?
Yes to the honey. I would stick to roasting the squash - it gives a richer flavour and will be a better consistency for the cake.
Oh my goodness- this is so good! I had to substitute shortening for lard and green banana flour for coconut flour but thankfully it worked! It made the entire house smell so good and we are really loving it. Couldn't wait a whole day to eat it but it didn't crumble. Will you please create a similar recipe for an AIP gingerbread cake? I'm going to try but I'm sure your recipe would be fantastic. Thank you so much, this has really helped me to not feel so deprived with my food restrictions. I'll be making another one soon.
Hi Jody. So happy to hear you're loving the cake. As for the gingerbread, I actually have one in my upcoming cookbook which is available for pre-order as of today. You can check it out here if you like. ☺️
Hi love your recipes! Would you happen to know the measurements of the cooked squash in cups?
When you originally posted this recipe in 2015, I asked a friend at work to bake it for me for my birthday. It was quite a success. Members of my team at the office very much enjoyed it and were fascinated by the flavor. So I can thoroughly vouch for how good it is. My only regret is that I didn't thank you at the time. I had not been able to enjoy a cake on my birthday for several years, and this made all the difference. I'm very late in saying so, but thanks so much!
You're so sweet, I appreciate you - and happy you got to enjoy some birthday cake!
This sounds like such an interesting cake, I am excited to try it next time I need a treat!
I am sure you hate substitution questions but here I go. I have successfully reintroduced eggs. Do you think this recipe would be more forgiving with regular eggs rather than gelatin eggs or should I just stick to the gelatin eggs? My baked goods usually end up gooey and sagging in the middle so I am thinking maybe this will help...
Oh, and if yes to the regular eggs, would you still include some ACV in the cake?
I would still use the ACV since it's there for the baking soda. It's a dense cake so eggs, ACV and baking soda will all help. Enjoy!
Hi Skip, yes you can absolutely use a couple of eggs instead.
Could you cut the squash in half and roast face down rather than peeling the squash?
Yes, whatever works for you
Do you think this recipe would work as muffins?
Better as cake I think. You could bake it and then cut into squares. If you do try as muffins adjust the timing accordingly and please let me know how they turn out.
Could I ask why you think this would work better as a big cake rather than muffins? Looking for a two-person birthday treat and to not have loads of extra dessert within reach!
Just a hunch. I think you may find the top and sides cook much faster than the insides because it's a dense/moist cake, which was why I mentioned making the cake and then cutting into squares (which you can freeze). Some people would suggest covering the copy with foil after a while, but I never use foil. If you try muffins, adjust the cooking time and let me know what happens?
Good evening, I am making your butternut squash cake again. It was so good the first time! I guessed on squash. This time it is for a big party. It is the birthday cake for an 80th. So, I want to be sure it will work. I do not own a kitchen scale. (With little children who eat what they find, have already dealt with two scares with button batteries). Do you have a rough idea of how many cups of squash (in about 1 in. cubes) I would need to use. Thank you so much!
I can't say I'm afraid. Most grocery stores have a set of scales, so I would weigh your squash before purchase so you know you have the right amount for the cake. I'm so pleased you enjoyed it before, hoping it goes down well for the 80th!!
A quick tip to get roasted butternut puree easily without any risk of burnt edges and bitterness and also less prep; put the whole butternut in a low oven (240°F) for a couple of hours. Then cool, and refrigerate. Just halve it, scoop out the flesh and puree!
Thanks for the tip Rebecca.
This sounds delicious! However, I am allergic to butternut squash. Do you think it would work with sweet potatoes?
Yes, delicious!