Try these Mini Persimmon Spice Cakes as a holiday treat for dessert or as a seasonal breakfast alongside a cup of coffee!
Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a super fabulous weekend.
This weekend we finally got around to putting up our Christmas tree and all our lights and decorations. It was a festive weekend and now I’m 100% in holiday mode. Bring on the Christmas music!
We also attempted to take a family picture for our Christmas card. This was no easy task with our easily distracted mutt and little miss grumpy cat. After lots of attempts, we finally got a few decent ones.
Ironically, after all the effort to get the perfect picture, we ended up using one of the funny outtakes for our Christmas card! I figured if I’m going to subject my friends to displaying me and my pets up on their fridges, might as well add a little humor to it.
Anywho, continuing on with a little more holiday baking!! These little cakes are so moist, almost like a bread pudding. The sweet persimmon and spice flavors are perfect for the season.
Persimmons are a fruit I had never really had, and barely even heard of before moving to California. But they grow all over California and we are often gifted the fruit from friends’ backyard trees.
There are two types of persimmons: Fuyu persimmons and Hachiya persimmons. They are a bit different and can’t always be used interchangeably.
For this recipe, though, either will work. You’ll just have a little more prep if you use Fuyu persimmons (which I did).
Fuyu persimmons are short and squat and look like a regular tomato while Hachiya persimmons are more elongated and look like a Roma tomato with a more heart-like shape.
Fuyu persimmons taste great straight from the tree while still crisp and crunchy. Hachiya persimmons, however, are very astringent unless they are completely soft and overripe. If you can slice them, they aren’t ripe enough. Hachiya persimmons are ready to eat when they are mushy and creamy.
If you use Hachiya persimmons in this recipe, you can scoop and mash the flesh to get your “pureed” persimmon. If you use Fuyu persimmons, as I did, you’ll want them to be fairly soft and ripe but you’ll still need to puree them in a blender or food processor.
These could pass as dessert or breakfast (I’m pretty sure cake for breakfast during the holidays is totally legit). I definitely ate a few with my morning coffee. Busted.
Hurry up and try these while persimmons are still in season!
- 2 cups pureed persimmons (about 4-5 persimmons)
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- Pinch ground nutmeg
- Pinch ground cloves
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Use a food processor or blender to puree persimmons (stems removed) into a smooth pulp.
- In a bowl, whisk together persimmon puree, eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt and spices.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
- Scoop batter evenly into about 18 non-stick sprayed muffin cups (fill about ¾ full).
- Bake 20-25 minutes, until cakes are set.
- Let cool in muffin tins 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.
- Serve warm or cool.
It’s a great pic Jess. 🙂 I’ve got to do a little holiday baking myself. These spice cakes sound amazing.
Thanks, Kathy! It was fun wrangling the furry ones. 🙂
I love that cute family picture! Your pets are too cute. One of my favorite pictures of me and Shawn is an outtake from our Christmas card photo shoot last year. It’s us laughing way too hard at how silly we felt wrapped up in this blanket in the middle of the park, and I just love it. So us. It’s framed on our wall. Can’t wait to see the winner! These persimmon spice cakes sound delicious!
Thanks! They’re cute when they’re behaving! 🙂
I have never had a persimmon. These cakes look super cute. And your Christmas card photo is adorable.
I hadn’t had one until recently either, but now I am obsessed! They are such a fun fall fruit!
Love the pictures, and these spice cakes look delicious! I love baking with persimmons, and I really need to try these cakes! 🙂
Love your Christmas card picture, Jess! Funny ones always seem to be the best, especially if they weren’t meant to happen! These mini spice cakes look incredible! I Foods in mini form are so fun to eat and easy to pop ‘n go. I love the persimmon flavor, too!
Oh my gosh, I love your Christmas card!!! And you cat is adorable!!! Your dog too, but I have an extra special place in my heart for cats, lol! I also love these persimmon cakes! I just saw my first persimmons and I keep thinking I need to make something delicious like this with them!
These little cakes are beyond adorable, Jess! I really need to get my hands on some persimmons so I can try all these great recipes that keep popping up everywhere!
Aww you are so cute! And I LOVE those persimmon spice cakes – persimmons are one of the best things about winter in my opinion! And put into a cake, well, this sounds perfect!