samedi 20 juin 2009

a gal can have too much of a good thing!


and here I am talking about carrots. Yes those of you who argue that a vegetable box can mean that you eat the same veggies for weeks on end may have a point...I have had; steamed carrots, carrot, sesame & chick pea salad, carrot batons with houmous, vegetable flan with carrots and courgette and well you get the picture I am all carroted out!!

So yesterday evening when the vegetable box arrived and there was more carrots I almost couldn't face taking them out of the box and then it hit me, we had friends coming for brunch on Sunday and I had carrots and I was inspired then and there to make my mam's legendary carrot cake!! I don't know where she originally got the recipe but I have it scribbled down on the inside cover of the The Naked Chef cookbook.

By the way the type of carrots you use make a real difference to the cake, I used the ones from my vegetable box which were fresh and sweet , not like some of the bland carrots you sometimes pick up in the super market.

My mam's legendary carrot cake

Wet stuff

1 carton of hazelnut yoghurt (150g)
6oz sunflower oil
4 eggs (free range)
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Dry stuff
9 oz wheaten flour
9 oz brown sugar
3 oz coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
11 oz carott grated
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg

(I normally reduce the sugar to 6oz and add 3oz golden raisins)

Couldn't be simplier, you beat the wet stuff together then add it to the dry stuff and stir it up, it will be quite sloppy but that's ok trust me, then you pour this all ino a silicon loaf "tin" (which I normally oil lightly first) then stick it all in preheated oven (150 °c) for about 1 1/2 hours (test with a skewer - the cake is done when it comes out clean) in my oven it was done in one hour. Let cool on a wire rack.

You can choose to "top" the cake or not, for those of you not going for the whole hog option, it is quite nice served with some greek yoghurt or creme fraiche (with some orange juice added) for those of you not concerned with your waist bands tough luck - you will have to find a good frosting recipe yourself!

While the cake was in the oven I was browsing the internet and came across a recipe for a mango cake from joy the baker (http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/05/fresh-mango-bread/), no I know mangos don't grow in France and I really do try and make an effort to buylocally bu honestly I was really only trying the recipe out from my brother living in Pakistan who has more mangos than he knows what to do with....anyway highly recommend this receipe and can easily be made into muffins perfect for a Sunday brunch!




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