I had 180 g of pumpkin purée left over from making cheesecake (don't get too excited, I'm talking about the real fat and sugar bomb) and was incredibly pleased with how well the whey protein version of the oat cakes supported apple chunks, so I gave another fall flavor a try.
TL;DR version: Replace part of the water by the same weight in pumpkin puree (60 or 120g - just under 1/4 and 1/2 c, respectively?) when assembling the wet ingredients for a basic whey protein-enhanced oat cake. I did not bother pressing water out of the purée as I do for cheesecake. You'll want to thoroughly combine the puree with the other wet ingredients before adding the dry, or you'll end up with a splotchy look as I did. No matter, still tasty.
To each batch, I added 1/4 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger, and 1/4 t mixed pumpkin spice I had sitting around. Both batches got vanilla extract, and one a hit of rum flavor as well. Why not?
The color differential is more pronounced in real life, but both the 60g and 120g versions were tasty. The higher pumpkin content one clearly has a closer texture and moisture. It also sank less. This is more pumpkin-y in flavor than most pumpkin spice baked goods I see floating around, and might be too gourdy for some palates. I wonder about a variant that also uses applesauce? If you're wondering why the lower pumpkin content loaf has a concave bottom, let's just say I have been brushing up on my pastry basics. Angel food cakes rely primarily on egg whites for structure and need to cool upside-down, maybe that's the answer to my collapsing oat cakes? Nope.
Here are the loaves displayed with some proatcakes made with the darker, heavier oat fiber and birthday cake flavored whey - just because. Fun fact: that's what a slender incision made on top of the loaf before baking looks like. I might play around with that.
