Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Regular readers and friends of mine will know that my Mum was the cake baker in our family! And amongst many of her lovely delights was this very special recipe; Carrot and Pineapple Cake. I tend to find with carrot cake, people either love it or they hate it. When I was really young, I could not bare myself to try this creation.... carrots? in a cake? with fruity pineapple? Who on earth thought up that idea?! But as I got older and became more adventurous, I gave it a go. Ever since, I have had an addiction to carrot cake. Every time I go out for coffee to somewhere new and I see that they serve carrot cake, I HAVE to try it....it has become an obsession of mine to find one better (if not just as good) as my Mum's. To this day, I have still not found one that even rivals it!! 

This is the perfect cake for when you are in the mood for a bit of summery, zesty escapism.... perfect for January!

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Ingredients

200g peeled carrots, grated

200g tinned pineapple chunks

100g chopped walnuts (or other variations if you fancy)

300g plain flour

200g light soft brown sugar

4 eggs

250ml sunflower oil

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
300g full fat cream cheese
60g icing sugar
150g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 130degreesC. This cake is a low and slow bake!!

2. Find and line a cake tin... I used a 24cm one for this recipe.

3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb of soda and sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir until completely combined.

4. In a measuring jug, pour the oil, beaten eggs, lemon and orange zest as well as grated carrot. (This is my favourite part of the recipe, as the smells and textures are amazing.)

5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until it resembles cake mixture and none of the dry ingredients are viewable.

6. Add in the pineapple and walnuts and fold until combined.

7. Pour into your cake tin and place on a baking tray in the oven. Allow to bake for about 1 hour and 15mins. (Keep checking on it depending on the size of your tin - the deeper the tin, the longer the cake will take to cook.)

8. Meanwhile, make your cream cheese frosting. Beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the cream cheese and cover. Place in the fridge until hard, but pliable.

9. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 5mins. 

10. Remove from the cake tin and place onto a wire rack until thoroughly cool.

11. Once the cake is completely cool, use a pallet knife to smooth the cream cheese frosting all over the cake. Decorate as you wish, I chose to use some left over walnuts to make it look pretty!!

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I am soooooo proud of this cake!! It was absolutely scrummy and tasted just like my Mum's used to. I took half of it into school...little sceptical of how it would go down, but man, everyone loved it! Some people even had seconds...made me very happy. Found it such an easy cake to bake and was really impressed with the results. Don't think it looks half bad either, even if I do say so myself!! Go on, give it a go!!

Bon Appetit!!

Boozy Bolognese

My favourite home cooked dinner when I was a child had to have been my Mum's Bolognese. Normally we would have it with spaghetti, but now, whilst I am a student, it will often be spooned over a couple of jacket potatoes, or maybe some pasta. Her recipe was amazing...even to this day I cannot get it right. Still not sure what I am missing out. But mine is a pretty good second best...plus, it's more mature now with the extra indulgent ingredient - red wine!! As I have previously said on many blog posts - my sister and I were not afraid of vegetables so my mum would chuck EVERYTHING that we had in it...carrots, mushrooms, celery - the lot! My mum would let it simmer for aaaages, which would always lead me to temptation, so whenever she wasn't looking I would grab a spoon and give it a little taster...just to make sure it was okay, of course!! 

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Ingredients

330g Minced Beef

1/2 White Onion

2 Garlic Cloves

3 Carrots
150g Peas (I use frozen)

1/2 Tin of Sweetcorn

6 Mushrooms

1 Tin of Peeled Tomatoes

2 tsp Sunflower Oil

1 Generous Glass of Red Wine
1 tbsp Tomato Puree

Salt

Pepper

1. Pour the oil in the pan and gently fry the garlic and onion until transparent. 

2. Add the mince and cook until browned. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato puree for colour.

3. Add the tomatoes from the tin (but keep the juice separate for now) and red wine. Bring to the boil.

4. Add the chopped carrots, peas and sweetcorn. Place the lid on the pan and allow to simmer for 40mins.

5. Throw in the chopped mushrooms, stir and simmer for a further 10mins. 

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Serve piping hot with grated cheese with either jacket potatoes, spaghetti, pasta or rice. (You may also find it necessary to finish off the bottle of red, with your meal!!) You will find that the bolognese is full of depth and flavour and is far superior to any of those ready made jars of rubbish, which are simply full of salt and have no texture or punch to them. This is one of my favourite 'cosey up infront of the telly with someone special' dinners. And you really can chuck any form of vegetable in with it. I dare say it is nothing like an Italian Mumma would make, but I've never been fortunate enough to go to Italy to experience the 'proper' version. (Plus, I think mine is simply delish anyway!!)

Bon Appetit!!

Sweet Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

When applying for Uni, there were many reasons why Sunderland swung the decision for me (one of them being to get as far away as possible from 'home') one of them being that I had some friends of a friend that lived pretty much in the city centre, that I know would be more than willing to help me out, if ever I needed to be. When I moved up here they invited me round for dinner and asked if there was anything in particular that I would like to eat I obviously suggested a roast!! (I feel like it is important to add here that these friends were American.) When I arrived I was greeted by a whole table FULL of food with lots of different vegetables. My favourite had to be their sweet roasted carrots and parsnips....a modern twist on a classic accompaniment to a roast, but something I find typically American - sweet and calorific!!

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Ingredients

3 Parsnips

3 Carrots

1 tbsp Golden Syrup/Honey

2tbsp Sunflower Oil

Salt

1. Pre heat the oven to 200degrees C.

2. Pour the oil and syrup into a roasting tin and heat in the oven.

3. Chop the parsnips and carrots into thin slices/chunks. Boil in a pan of salted water until soft to the touch.

4. Stir the carrots and parsnips into the syrup and oil mixture, making sure all sides of each piece is coated in the sugary goodness. Cook for about 30mins or until roasted and crispy. The sugar will boil and burn so the veg will look dark and flipping gorgeous!! TUCK IN!!

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Perfect if you are trying to impress, or just fancy something different with your roast. Plus, if you have these with your main, I tend to find that you don't really need/fancy a dessert afterwards.

Bon Appetit!!

Cottage Pie

One of the nicest, typically British dinners that I regularly bake is a Cottage Pie. I must admit, I do cut corners with my recipe, but for me, it is perfect! Without sounding pompous, I have never tried a Cottage Pie that is as tangy, smooth and blooming scrumptious as MINE!!! This is my special recipe and something that one day I would love to share with my family. It has some perhaps 'odd' or 'different' ingredients, but that's what makes it so great. The perfect autumnal dinner. 

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Ingredients

(Serves 2-3 or 3-4 if served with trimmings)

330g minced beef                                             1/4 pint beef stock

1/2 white onion                                                600g potatoes

180g tinned carrots                                           2 knobs of butter

180g frozen peas                                                2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp brown sauce                                           1 tbsp sunflower oil

1/2 - 1 tbsp branston pickle                                  Black Pepper

2 tsp wholegrain mustard                                    Salt

2 tsp tomato puree                                               2 cloves of garlic

1. Peel and chop the potatoes. Place them into a saucepan of boiling salted water. Allow to boil for the whole duration of making the minced beef filling. Preheat the oven to 200degreesC.

2. Fry the onion and garlic in the sunflower oil until sizzling. Throw in the peas and carrots and fry. Add the minced beef and stir continuously so that the meat is cooked evenly.

3. Add in the brown sauce, mustard, pickle, puree, black pepper and stir. Add the beef stock and allow to simmer for 20mins. Stir every few minutes.

4. Drain the potatoes and add butter, salt and milk. Mash until soft and fluffy.

5. Put the minced meat into an oven proof dish. Flatten to avoid the gravy boiling over the potato. Add the mashed potato on top of the meat and using a fork, flatten and make a pretty pattern! Bake in the oven for about 20mins or until the potato has gone golden and crispy.

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Serve super piping hot and if you fancy, with fresh veg and yorkshire pudding (see previous blog post) if not, just treat yourself to a super massive portion!! The brown sauce and branston pickle really make a difference and add a little sweetness to the meal. This is a great family recipe, wholesome and filling and a great way to sneak in some veg if you have sprogs that are opposed to anything green!

Bon Appetit!!