Pumpkin cake with maple syrup punch, pumpkin seed praline and pumpkin chantilly

Cook the pumpkin puree with dark brown sugar, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger and carrot juice for about 20 minutes to drive off most of the moisture and make a concentrated pumpkin paste.

Sift the flour with the baking powder and baking soda.

Remove the vanilla pod; beat the pumpkin paste with the remaining sugar and the eggs on full speed about 8 minutes.

Incorporate the oil, then the sifted dry ingredients.

Bake at 350F / 180C in a bundt pan, savarin mould or cake rings for about 45 minutes; rest 10 minutes and unmould.

For the punch, bring the maple syrup, water, dark brown sugar, star anise, cinnamon, vanilla and orange zest to a boil; cool to room temperature, soak the cake and refrigerate overnight.

Praline (optional): toast pumpkin seeds with hazelnuts until the seeds pop; cook sugar to a dark caramel, add the nuts and cool completely on a silicone mat. Break up, save some pieces for decoration and process the rest to a paste with a drizzle of oil.

Chantilly: reduce half a cup of carrot juice to about two tablespoons. Heat half the heavy cream and infuse with vanilla, star anise, cinnamon and nutmeg; add the carrot reduction, strain over white chocolate and mix; add gelatin and the remaining chilled cream. Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, whip the chantilly to medium soft peaks on medium speed, which takes longer but gives a smoother, lighter texture. Top the cake with praline, then the chantilly.