EASTER CRAFTS
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.
108 THE ENGLISH GARDEN APRIL 2021
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 and mix together, with the nuts, in a bowl. Put the oil, sugar, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla and orange juice into a mixing bowl and whisk well for a minute or so. Fold in the grated vegetables, apple and nuts. Sieve over the flour (return the grainy bits to the bowl once sieved), two pinches of salt and the baking powder. Fold in until just combined. Spoon into a greased and lined, deep, loose-bottomed 20cm cake tin. Bake for one hour or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and cool. Whisk the butter and cream cheese until smooth then add honey or maple syrup to taste. Slice the cake horizontally then sandwich the layers with a heaped tablespoon of icing. Smooth the remaining icing over the top and sides. Chill for ten minutes, then decorate. Adapted from: The Little Grower’s Cookbook by Ghillie James & Julia Parker. Photography by Ali Allen. Lettuce Publishing, £20.
