Spicy pumpkin loaf

Cooking this cousin-to-carrot-cake in a loaf shape means it can - almost - pass for a breakfast option. (My motto is ‘life is short, you may as well eat cake for breakfast occasionally’.) If you want to make it look a bit more fancy, add your favourite cream cheese icing and a shower of toasted pumpkin seeds on top.

Ingredients

½ cup	Neutral oil, rice bran, canola or even 'light' olive oil
1 cup	Firmly packed brown sugar
2	Eggs
1 Tbsp	Yoghurt
1	Orange, finely grated zest
1 ¼ cups	Wholemeal flour
1 ½ tsp	Chinese five spice
½ tsp	Baking soda
¼ tsp	Salt
200 g	Pumpkin, (2 packed cups), grated (Main)
½ cup	Pumpkin seeds

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 160C. Grease and line a standard loaf tin (21 x 11 x 7cm).
2. Put the oil, sugar, eggs and orange zest in a large bowl. Beat well until thick. Pour in the flour, five-spice powder, baking soda and salt. Stir gently until combined, then fold in the grated pumpkin and pumpkin seeds until well mixed.
3. Scrape into the prepared tin and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer plunged into the loaf comes out cleanly. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out on to a rack to cool completely.