This pumpkin, mushroom and hazelnut cake works well for dinner as well as a first course at any meal. It is a salty cake for which you will prepare the filling very quickly, and the result is spectacular. A wonderful combination of autumn flavors in a surprising cake.

You can choose the finish - you can give it this air more carefully with the detail of the dough cut into a thousand sheets (it is what will take you to invest more time, as you can choose to cut the dough in a less worked design... Or without cutting! That would be the fastest way to do it. How will you dare to do it yourself?

Ingredients

• 1 small pumpkin
• 260 grams of cream cheese
• 4 eggs
• Salt and pepper
• Nutmeg
• Oil
• Half an onion
• two cloves of garlic
• 250 g of mushrooms
• 150g shiitake mushrooms
• Parsley
• Two shortcrust pastry sheets*
• Two handfuls of toasted hazelnuts
• Butter to spread the mold

*If you finish the cake by covering the cake with the shortcrust pastry sheet whole or in strips to make a framework, 2 shortcrust pastry sheets will suffice; If you intend to cut the sheets in the form of leaves like in the video, you will need 3 sheets.

Preparation

1. Peel the pumpkin, cut it in half and make pieces lengthwise, like large segments. Arrange them in a baking dish or tray (the Emile Henry ceramic dish was used in the recipe), season with salt and pepper, apply a splash of oil and bake in a preheated oven at 180ºC, for 10 minutes on each side. You only want to pre-cook the squash to ensure that it is tender after the final cooking - after the indicated baking time, remove and reserve.
2. In a bowl, mix 4 eggs and cream cheese. If you want, you can add a little cream to cook. Season the mixture.
3. Heat a frying pan or sauté. Add a few tablespoons of oil and brown the finely chopped onion and minced garlic (you can use the garlic press ). Brown a few minutes.
4. Cut all the mushrooms into slices and add them to the pan, along with the garlic and onion. Sprinkle salt, pepper, half a teaspoon of nutmeg and parsley sprinkled on top. Let them reduce and remove from heat.
5. Prepare the Emile Henry round ceramic dish, smearing it with a little butter. Arrange the shortcrust pastry sheet on top.
6. Put the mixture of cheese and eggs in the mold, place the pumpkin segments on top, distribute a handful of hazelnuts, add the mushrooms.
7. On top, lay out the second sheet of shortcrust pastry (punch a hole in the center for steam to escape), or cut the shortcrust pastry into strips to make a lattice. Or cut the dough into sheets and lovingly arrange them on top of the mold as they have done in the video! Start by placing the leaves from the outer edge and make smaller and smaller circles.
8. Cook for 40 or 45 minutes at 180ºC.
9. Remove on a cooling rack, a kitchen cloth or a wooden board to avoid a sudden temperature shock, let rest for a few minutes and you can serve hot... Or reserve to serve the cake warm after a few hours.

Grades

In the recipe they have used the 28cm tall Emile Henry ceramic mold, this one here .

You may like the traditional model of the same mold better, this one .