Quickly wash the pumpkin in cool water to rinse away any dust, dirt, or debris from the outside and dry it off with paper towels. If the pumpkin has a long stem, go ahead, and trim it off.

Place the pumpkin on a stable surface and ensure it is stabilised. You can stabilise your pumpkin by cutting off the stem end, then turn it so it is cut-side down—you'll be much less likely to lose control of the pumpkin when it isn't wobbling on your cutting board.

Use a sharp chef's knife and halve the pumpkin. Depending on the size of the pumpkin, you may have to cut the pumpkin into smaller wedges. Once you have cut the pumpkin into manageable chunks, use a spoon and scrape out all the seeds and stringy pulp from the cavity.

Remove the skin form the pumpkin pieces. If the skin is tough you can place the pumpkin pieces flat and use a large sharp knife to carefully remove the skin. If the skin is not too tough you can use a potato peeler to do the job.

Cut the pumpkin chunks into desired pieces, give it a good wash, drain, and keep.

There are two ways for you to cook your pumpkin. You can either boil it or steam it. I recommend that you use the steaming method because when you boil pumpkin, it absorbs quite a bit of water and it also tends to loose some of its flavour.

Steam the pumpkin for about 20 minutes or until tender.

Remove the pumpkin for the steamer, set aside to cool completely and to drain off any excess liquid. Place in a bowl and use a fork to coarsely mash or purée.

Some pumpkins contain more liquid than others and you may find that the purée is a bit watery. If so, transfer the purée to your strainer or cheese cloth-lined colander and let it drain for at least an hour. You can accelerate the draining process by covering the purée with plastic wrap, then place a plate over it weighted down with some cans to press out the liquid.  Too much water will affect the texture of the cake.

Preheat oven to 180 °C

Grease the inside of a round cake tin, (approximately 22cm in diameter and 7cm deep) and line the base and the sides with baking paper.

Soften the butter until it starts to melt.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, eggs and melted butter together in a bowl and add vanilla essence, orange zest, cinnamon  and nutmeg powder.

In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add the flour to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly with a large spoon.

 Pour mixture into the greased tin and place in oven

Bake for about 45 minutes to one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean

When cooked allow to stand in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely

Serve with honey or maple syrup and cream or ice cream