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I got the basic recipe for this cake from Joy of Baking, one of my favourite blogs for cake porn. I’ve made carrot cake a few times before, but I like trying out new variations when I come across them, and the tip of adding crushed pineapple was tempting. Then, because there was a small beetroot in the fridge, I reduced the amount of carrot required and made up the deficit with the beet, grated. Well, why not? I just wanted to see if the beetroot would make its presence felt and if anybody would object to it in a cake.
As it turned out, nobody could tell there was beetroot in it. The batter turned pink thanks to the addition of the beetroot but the end result didn’t have the red colour that I imagined would show up. I could taste the beetroot, but perhaps it’s because I knew it was there.
I do like to sneakily make people eat things they profess not to like, wait for them to say “mmmm… that’s nice” and then hit them with the reality. (It gives me a certain satisfaction which probably has its roots in sheer meanness!) This formula worked perfectly with Pete and his daughter (yet again, haha).
Unfortunately for Pete, he cant play that trick on me… that sort of thing doesn’t work because my palate is very discerning and can pretty much always tell if there’s something I don’t like in my food. Nobody but NOBODY can sneak aubergine/brinjal/eggplant into anything I eat - and folks, this aint a challenge, so don’t force me to throw up a rainbow-coloured yawn. (I came across that phrase recently in a novel set in Australia – isnt that just the prettiest euphemism for a very unpretty physical reaction? I just HAD to use it myself!)
As far as beetroot in cake is concerned, I would say that a judicious use would be the best way. I don’t think I would care for a cake made entirely with beet – that would most likely be a bit too strong a flavour to mask with anything else.
Recipe for: Pineapple-beet-carrot cake
1/2 cup brazil nuts and walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup carrots, grated
1/2 cup beetroot, grated
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp allspice + 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
6 tbsp oil vegetable of sunflower oil
1 heaping tbsp ghee
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Spray 8” round pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with silicone paper.
2. Toast the chopped nuts on a skillet, stirring constantly, till the nuts are lightly browned and fragrant.
Let cool.
3. Peel and finely grate the carrots and beetroot. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and allspice & cardamom. Set aside.
5. Beat the eggs until frothy.
6. Gradually add the sugar and keep beating until the batter is thick and light colored.
7. Add the oil in a steady stream and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.
Add the ghee and mix in.
8. With a large rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and beet and chopped nuts.
9. Stir in the crushed pineapple.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 5-10 minutes invert the cake onto the wire rack, remove the pan and silicone paper, and then cool completely before cutting.
I’m pretty sure I don’t have much to say in this post, so of course I’m going to try and say it in as many words as possible. It’s obligatory to do so, the First Law of Writing (except that it’s always been an unwritten law, ironically) which I am now vocalising via the written word. The self-styled “expert” analysts who contribute to newspapers, especially in the political and economic areas, are the most obvious propagators of this law. The less you have to say, the more verbose you get. You might have noticed that your favourite writer pretty much always leaves you wanting more. On the other hand, the boring ones just as predictably can lay an entire rainforest’s worth of trees to waste with just one article.
Now I’m beginning to feel like A A Gill, the food and restaurant critic of The Times. He’s supposed to review different restaurants but usually writes for more than half the article (every single time, too) about something completely irrelevant and as far off the topic of food and restaurants as... let’s say, as far off as Big Brother is from an intelligent programme. As one of his readers put it: “I think I finally have the hang of an AA Gill "restaurant review". Talk about something that has nothing whatsoever to do with restaurants (hernia operations, personal loves and loathes, politicians, etc.) and then, at the end, write the name, address and a brief, caustic opinion.
Louise, London, UK”
So, now that we have the “nothing much to say” out of the way, let me say a few brief words about this biscuit/cookie: It’s eggless, it’s nice, it was made by my cousin Hema during her visit to Shrewsbury, and she took it home with her so that her lucky parents could have a taste of her first baking efforts.
That’s all I really had to say in the first place.
Recipe for: Cranberry orange cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup milk
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tbsp yogurt
1-1/2 cups plain/all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped nuts (we used pistachios and cashewnuts)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.
3. Stir in milk, orange juice and yogurt.
4. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
Add cranberries and nuts
and stir lightly into the dough.
4. Form dough into balls (approximate will do) with slightly wetted fingers and drop onto cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until light brown around the edges.
Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool.
After a long time I felt like baking something, and since Pete likes fruit cakes a lot, I decided I would try a new recipe - an eggless one because my mother was coming here (just for a day en route to Chennai). As with any cake recipe I try for the first time, no matter how simple it looks, I was a bit apprehensive about how the cake would turn out, given that it didnt involve eggs. (I've had a few disasters with eggless cakes, as regular readers might know!)
Luckily, fruitcakes are fairly forgiving in the sense that they dont have to be light and airy - a little denseness can be overlooked. But only a little. If a fruitcake feels heavy like a brick and looks like and overdone brick, my suggestion would be not to eat it, but to use it in some kind of construction - perhaps as part of the foundations if you're building a house. Or you could treat it as "dwarf bread", that wonderful baked item that makes its appearance in Terry Pratchett's books - dwarf bread is edible - just - and can be used as emergency rations as it lasts forever... but it is also hard enough to be used as a deadly weapon. Some fruitcakes I've eaten over the years could well have evolved from the Discworld's original dwarf bread!
However, to get back to my cake, this was a keeper of a recipe! The cake was moist and nicely chewy, with a little crunch from the addition of roughly chopped brazil nuts (because my pecans had gone rancid, unfortunately. I hate when that happens.) It was lovely, and the texture and flavour has only become better in the three days since I baked it. Plus, as an added bonus, it's easy to make.
I'll have to admit one thing, though... the cake isnt photogenic, especially when cut into chunks. It's so VERY knobbly and bulging in all directions with fruit and nuts that I just couldnt take a pretty picture of it. I tried and tried but finally had to settle for the piece as it was - bulge, bumps, warts and all. Either that or not post a photo at all, which is unthinkable except in the direst of situations (viz, if there isnt a photo at ALL! *gasp*).
So please, dear readers, dont judge a cake by its outer appearance. Dont bring it out for guests, if you're the kind who only showcases the prettiest and bestest of your attempts in company. But DO try a piece of the cake with a cup of coffee at home, share it with your uncritical loved ones, shove it at family and friends... but do, do, DO try it! It's a pretty gorgeous cake!
The original recipe was apparently taken from a vegetarian cookbook and it says that to make this cake completely vegan, you can substitute the butter with vegan margarine.
Recipe for: Eggless fruit cake
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp mixed spice
2/3 cup margarine
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups dried fruit (I used sultanas and currants)
1/4 cup chopped brazil nuts
1 cup + 2 tbsp water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Method:
1. Grease a 7" square or round tin and line with greaseproof paper to come an inch above sides of the tin. Spray lightly with Pam.
2. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice.
3. Rub in margarine, then mix in brown sugar.
4. Stir the fruit and nuts into the mixture.
5. Make a hollow in the centre of the mixture, pour in the water, and stir in lightly.
6. Warm 2 tbsp water slightly and pour over the bicarbonate of soda, then stir it thoroughly into the mixture (but dont beat).
7. Turn mixture into prepared tin.
8. Bake cake at 180°C for an hour or till it is cooked.
Leave in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Cut into pieces when cool.
It isnt often that I take part in the cooking events that occur so regularly in the food blog world. But sometimes - just sometimes - thought and deed come together in a happy coincidence with a new event to which I can contribute... and this time it's the JFI: Banana event announced by Mandira of Ahaar. And as everybody knows, the event originated from Indira of Mahanandi and has been taken up faithfully every month by various food bloggers.
I didnt know the banana would be the topic for September's JFI.. but it turned out very lucky - both because I love bananas and because I have a lovely banana bread recipe that I fortunately tried out just yesterday.
I might just be the first person to send an entry to Mandira for this JFI - I hope so anyway! Of course this means I have to wait pretty much an entire month before I can see the round-up... but I guess that is the drawback to being an early bird!
Recipe for: Nutty curranty banana bread
Ingredients:
1/4 cup margarine/butter
1/2 c. sugar
1-1/2 cups flour (I used 3/4 cup ap flour and 3/4 whole wheat))
1/3 tsp. salt
1 egg (optional - can be replaced with another mashed banana)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used brazil nuts and pecan nuts)
1/2 cup currants
1/4 cup milk (if required)
2 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Cream together the butter/margarine and sugar.
2. Add the egg and beat well (if using). Otherwise add mashed bananas, currants and chopped nuts and mix.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
4. Pour the banana mix into the flour and mix lightly. If batter seems too thick or there isnt enough liquid, add 1/4 cup milk little by little to get a pourable (but still thick) consistency.
5. Pour into 8x4x3 inch loaf pan sprayed with Pam.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or till the bread tests done (it should have pulled away from the sides a little).
7. Cool on wire rack 10 to 15 minutes before removing from pan.
8. Complete cooling and store overnight, wrapped in clingwrap, before cutting.
I dont know why banana bread is usually baked like actual bread, in a loaf shape. I've tried it baking it in a round tin and in a square tin and really they taste exactly the same, except that you get wedge-shaped slices from a round cake, square or rectangular slices from a square cake - and slices from a loaf, obviously. I dont know why it isnt called banana cake - but it isnt, for some obscure reason.
Anyway, this time I opted to bake it in a loaf tin, as tradition seems to call for. Of course, I added cardamom powder again - I cant resist it. It smells so heavenly along with the banana smell as the cake cooks in the oven. And man, were my bananas ripe! They were so ripe that I think it was only the skins holding the pulp in. Yucky to eat and rather gross to look at, but in a cake or a smoothie, overripe bananas are so aromatic and add so much sweetness. I hardly even had to mash them :)
Recipe for Easy Banana Bread
Ingredients:
3 overripe bananas, mashed
2 cups plain or cake flour
1-1/2 cups caster or granulated sugar (I used 1 cup light sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened but not melted
2 eggs
1 tsp powdered cardamom seeds
1/2 cup pecans/walnuts/macadamias/brazils, roughly chopped (any or all of these is ok to use)
Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
3. Add the mashed bananas and mix well.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
5. Add the flour, nuts and cardamom powder to the banana mix, stirring only to mix. DO NOT BEAT.
6. Bake in a well-greased loaf tin for about an hour, or till done, in a 180 C oven (350 F).
7. Let the bread remain in the tin for a couple of minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool. It can be eaten warm (rather nice that way).