Bake!

Hello to everyone – it’s good to be back blogging once more.

The weather has all changed now, and it’s all Autumn colours and cooler breezes, time for scarves, gloves and hats – and some cold weather cooking at home. It’s also the season of new cookbooks, a couple of the stars for me are Nigella Christmas and Rachel Allen’s Bake. Expect to see more about Nigella Christmas soon!

First though I’m going to tell you about a cake that I found in Rachel Allen’s Bake, her latest book published a couple of weeks ago. It a cosy baking book with many recipes for all manner of baked goods – even some savoury suppers in one chapter.

I’ve made a few recipes so far and more of some of them later on; the one I’m focusing on here is her Carrot and Pecan cake, there is also a carrot cake recipe in the book, but this one is made with wholemeal flour. It’s a bit denser than regular carrot cake, but this is a positive comment because it’s not heavy, just tighter crumbed and very moist to boot. It’s paired with a classic cream cheese icing, and I also used some marzipan carrots that I was given by a friend (thank you again!), which finish off this cake perfectly. This is a slightly spicier cake and very good it is too.
Here is the recipe, which I have adapted only a little by reducing the salt from ½ to ¼ teaspoon and added the marzipan carrots on top. Also I cut it into 12 larger squares rather than 16 smaller, as I served it as a lunch time pudding.

Carrot and Pecan Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Slightly adapted from Bake by Rachel Allen 2008

Makes 12 to 16 squares
Cake
175g wholemeal self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
50g raisins
150ml sunflower oil
150g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g finely grated carrots
50g chopped pecans
(1)Preheat the oven to 180oC / 350 oF of Gas Mark 4. Butter the sides of an 8" / 20cm square tin, and line with greaseproof paper.
(2) Sift the flour into a bowl then add the salt, baking powder, mixed spice, ginger and raisins, stir together to mix very well.
(3) Whisk the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla in another bowl, then add the carrots and pecans. Add this mix to the dry ingredients and mix well, pour into the tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the cake is cooked. Let the cake get cold before icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
25g butter, softened
75g cream cheese, from the fridge
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g icing sugar, sifted
(1) Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together, then gradually add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.