• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Quite Good Food
  • About
  • Sign up
  • Contact
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • About
  • Sign up
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Spiced pumpkin loaf with dates and pecans

    16 October 2017 by Amber |

    368 shares
    • Facebook130
    • Print
    Jump to recipe
    A dark and moist pumpkin loaf sweetened with dates, fragrant with pumpkin pie spices and topped with pecans (vegan and refined sugar free).

    A dark and moist pumpkin loaf sweetened with dates, fragrant with pumpkin pie spices and topped with pecans.

    Spiced pumpkin and date loaf, pictured on a chopping board, sliced and ready to eat. (Vegan and refined sugar free).

    I'm the first to admit that I may have my seasons mucked up with this recipe. It's spring in New Zealand, strawberries and asparagus are in the shops (and so very good!) and here I am writing about a cozy pumpkin and date loaf.

    My reasons are two fold.

    1. We've had a few sunny days, but on the whole it's been freezing and won't stop raining. We even had a fire last week. I'd hazard a guess that our chilly spring weather isn't too far removed from a chilly northern hemisphere autumn. Just without all the fall leaves.
    2. And 'bout that chilly northern hemisphere autumn. I have so much FOMO right now! I'm seeing a stream of gorgeous autumnal recipes from my northern hemisphere food blog buddies, featuring pumpkin, sweet potato, apples, mushrooms, chestnuts and ALL the pumpkin pie spice. I love me some pumpkin pie spice.

    I'm just desperate for some pumpkin pie spice in my life right now. And why the heck not? This loaf makes me want to snuggle up with a book and a cup of tea in front of the fire. It's warming, tender and sweet, and somehow dark and interesting all at the same time.

    Pumpkin pie spice

    Pumpkin pie spice is a mixture of sweet, warming spices: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and sometimes mace or allspice too. In America it exists as a pre-blended spice. That’s not the case in New Zealand, but it’s very easy to make.

    The proportions I used are a 4:1:1:1 mix of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves. So, in this recipe I used 2 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon nutmeg and ½ teaspoon cloves. You can also follow those proportions to make a bigger batch of the spice and use it liberally in EVERYTHING, if you're also feeling the pumpkin pie spice vibe. I love it in this smoothie.

    Date loaf, pumpkin loaf, pumpkin and date loaf?

    One of my favourite baking treats is a lovely date loaf. I love the sticky, gooey nuggets of sweet date dotted throughout, and it brings back nostalgic childhood memories (both my mother and grandma loved it too).

    It hit me last week that a basic date loaf could be transformed into a pumpkin loaf, with dates and pumpkin pie spices working together to provide most of the sweetness instead of using refined sugar. I added a splash of maple syrup for good measure, and the flavour is just divine.

    The recipe calls for pumpkin puree, which is easy enough to make from scratch. I peeled and chopped about quarter of a buttercup pumpkin (use the rest for soup), simmered it until tender (about 10 minutes), drained and allowed it to steam dry a little before mashing it until smooth. If you have a baby in the house you're probably doing this on the regular already, or have your own way of making pumpkin puree. You do you.

    The other ingredients are pretty straight forward. I used a flax egg to replace an ordinary egg (1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed to 3 tablespoon water, allowed to thicken), soy milk, grapeseed oil, and regular white flour. I'll try a gluten free version another time.

    I dotted the top of my pumpkin loaf with pecans and glazed it with soy milk near the end of the cooking time. Both steps are optional, and you could also replace the pecans with walnuts or other nuts if you prefer.

    Overhead photo of pumpkin, date and pecan loaf just out of the oven and ready to slice. (Vegan and gluten free).

    Spiced pumpkin loaf with dates and pecans (vegan and refined sugar free).

    Pumpkin loaf with dates and pecans

    A dark and moist pumpkin loaf sweetened with dates, fragrant with pumpkin pie spices and topped with pecans.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep time: 15 minutes
    Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
    Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes
    Course: Sweet treats
    Cuisine: Vegan
    Servings: 10
    Calories: 183kcal
    Author: Quite Good Food

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 cup dates chopped
    • 1 cup boiling water
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 cup pumpkin puree
    • ½ cup soy milk (or almond or cashew milk)
    • 2 tablespoon maple syrup
    • 2 tablespoon grape seed oil (or other mildly flavoured oil)
    • 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed soaked in 3 tablespoon of water until gloopy)
    • 1 ½ cups white flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
    • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
    • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
    • ¼ cup pecans or walnuts for garnish (optional)
    • Additional soy milk to glaze (optional)

    INSTRUCTIONS

    • Mix dates, boiling water and baking soda and set aside to soak for an hour. This will soften the dates a lot. 
    • Preheat oven to 160C (320F) fanbake. 
    • Mix soaked dates and the soaking liquid with the pumpkin puree, soy milk, maple syrup, oil and the flax egg.
    • Add the flour, baking powder, salt and spices to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine, without overmixing. 
    • Pour the mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin. Dot the surface with pecans or walnuts. 
    • Bake for 50 minutes, then brush the surface with soy (or other) milk. Return to the oven and continue baking until cooked. Use a skewer to check for doneness from 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time, returning the loaf to the oven for another 5-10 minutes if necessary. The loaf is cooked if the skewer remains clean. 

    RECIPE NOTES

    • Prep time does not include soaking time for the dates. An hour is ideal to perfectly soften the dates, but you can cut this time down depending on how much time you have available. 

    NUTRITION INFORMATION

    Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Sodium: 193mg | Potassium: 259mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 3840IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1.6mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @quitegoodfood or tag #quitegoodfood!
    Nutrition Facts
    Pumpkin loaf with dates and pecans
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 183 Calories from Fat 45
    % Daily Value*
    Fat 5g8%
    Sodium 193mg8%
    Potassium 259mg7%
    Carbohydrates 31g10%
    Fiber 3g13%
    Sugar 13g14%
    Protein 3g6%
    Vitamin A 3840IU77%
    Vitamin C 1mg1%
    Calcium 65mg7%
    Iron 1.6mg9%
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    Related

    « Creamy spinach and artichoke borek
    Buckwheat pikelets with blueberry chia jam »
    368 shares
    • Facebook130
    • Print

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. narf7

      October 17, 2017 at 11:47 am

      There are SO many superlatives that I could use with this bread. I would just like to use one understated word to describe how amazing this bread looks. "Yes!" Thank you for sharing this with us. It really looks like a game changer.

      • Amber

        October 23, 2017 at 5:04 pm

        Haha! Yes! Thanks I hope you try it and enjoy it xx

        • Ash

          October 15, 2020 at 10:18 am

          This recipe is exactly what I was searching for. The nutritional info states per serving, please can you tell me how much one serving is (how many servings are in the whole cake)? Excited to try it!

          • Amber

            November 29, 2020 at 1:09 pm

            Hi Ash, the nutritional info is calculated based on 10 servings. The number of servings is listed on the recipe card, beneath the cooking time etc. Hope you enjoy 🙂

    2. Andrea

      October 01, 2020 at 3:28 pm

      I tried this recipe step by step and it was a HUGE fail 🙁
      The inside of this loaf was dense, caked together and didn't bake.

      • Amber

        October 02, 2020 at 2:15 pm

        Hi Andrea, I'm really sorry to hear this recipe didn't work out for you. I wonder if perhaps it needed more cooking time?

    Primary Sidebar

    About me

    About me

    Join the mailing list

    Click here to sign up for email updates.

    Finalist - Best Food Website 2019

    The Foodies - NZ Food Media Awards.

    Popular recipes

    Basic okonomiyaki
    Easy home made five seed crackers
    Crispy kumara cakes
    Mushroom, onion and lentil pie
    LSA: Linseed, sunflower seed and almond meal
    French-style lentils
    Mexican black bean hand pies
    Broad bean falafel with tahini sauce

    Footer

    Finalist - best food website 2019

    The Foodies: NZ Food Media Awards 2019 logo.
    • Privacy policy
    • Sign up for emails
    • Contact us

    Copyright © 2022 Quite Good food

    368 shares
    • 130
    368 shares
    • 130
     

    Loading Comments...