Pumpkin Citrus Syrup Cake

This cake is a favourite in our household.  It's sweet, syrupy, and moist, but not too heavy.  The pumpkin gives the cake a great texture.

Recipe adapted from: Women's Weekly Cakes & Slices Cookbook
Ingredients - 23 cm (9 inch) square cake or equivalent
250g butter
2 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp lemon zest
195g caster sugar
3 eggs
310g flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup mashed pumpkin (about 350g)

Ingredients - syrup
6 tbsp orange juice
6 tbsp lemon juice
500g white sugar

Method
1. Preheat your oven to 180C (355F) and line a 23cm square pan or equivalent with baking paper.  I also prepare my pumpkin at this point by chopping it up and microwaving it with a splash of water until it's cooked, then mashing it with a fork and setting it aside to cool.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy.

3. Separate the eggs.  Beat the egg yolks into the butter mixture.  Put the egg whites in another bowl for use later.

4. Mix half the pumpkin into the batter, then half the flour.  Once that's combined, mix in the rest of the pumpkin and the flour along with the baking powder.

5. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks.  Mix a spoonful into the pumpkin batter to lighten it, then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter.

6. Spread the batter into your prepared cake tin, and bake for about an hour.  An inserted toothpick in the middle of the cake should come out clean.

7. Make your syrup!  Combine all the syrup ingredients in a saucepan.  Stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, without stirring.  Make sure you keep a sharp eye on this as it can tend to boil over!

8. Once the cake has been baked, pour the syrup over the cake in the tin.  You can also poke some holes in the top to let the syrup really get in there.

9. Invert the cake onto a serving plate once the syrup has soaked in.  Then, pour the remainder of the syrup onto the cake.

This cake is glorious when served warm!