Spring into Action

Bake a cake

A delicious and beautiful cake for those who’ve worked hard in their garden and deserve a treat. It’s also free from refined sugar if you use maple syrup and coconut sugar. Our preference is to use honey in the icing. Fresh blueberries also make a lovely decoration if you don’t have flowers to hand.

Ingredients

120g finely grated, peeled, trimmed parsnip
120g finely grated, peeled, trimmed carrot
120g peeled, cored and grated eating apple
50g pecans or walnuts, chopped
150ml mild oil such as rapeseed, sunflower or vegetable
100g coconut sugar or soft brown sugar
100ml maple syrup
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange juice
250g wholegrain stoneground spelt flour
4 level teaspoons baking powder

For the icing

175g slightly softened butter
225g full fat cream cheese
3–5 tablespoons mildly flavoured runny honey or maple syrup

To decorate

Herbs and edible flowers such as viola, primrose, borage, nigella, mint, rosemary, nasturtiums, or fresh blueberries.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas mark 3. Grate the vegetables and apple