NEEDS IMAGE Parsnip Cake

It is all the rage to experiment with different vegetables in sweet-baking, so we thought we’d have a go ourselves.

Ingredients – Cake

2 large parsnips, peeled and grated,

250g of Demerara sugar,

175g of butter,

2 tablespoons of golden syrup,

3 eggs,

250g of self-raising flour,

2 teaspoons of baking powder,

1 teaspoon of cinnamon,

1 teaspoon of ground ginger,

½ teaspoon of nutmeg,

1 apple, peeled and grated,

1 orange, juiced and zested.

Ingredients – Icing

300g of cream cheese,

100g of caster sugar,

150g of butter,

1 orange.

Method – Cake

1.     Preheat oven to gas mark 4.

2.     Melt the butter and the sugar in a pan with the golden syrup.

3.     Let this cool for a few minutes but not so much that it solidifies.

4.     Meanwhile, mix the flour, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon into a bowl.

5.     Whisk the eggs into the cooled sugar mix and then stir in the flour mixture.

6.     Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Decant into a round baking tin.

7.     Bake for 1 hour or until the top of the cake feels spongy. If it begins to brown quickly cover the cake tin with foil for the remainder of the time.

8.     Allow the cake to cool for an hour.

Method – Icing

9.    Beat the butter and caster sugar for 2-3 minutes

10. Whisk in the cream cheese until smooth.

11. Cut cake in half horizontally.

12. Spread half of the icing mixture evenly on top of the bottom half.

13. Place top half on top of the bottom half and ice the top of the cake.

14. Grate the zest of the orange evenly on top to finish.