Parsnip Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
March 24, 2007 at 1:40 PM
by Ashleigh
Did you know you can substitute parsnips (pastinaak) for carrots in carrot cake? I did.
The husband was rather unsure. He didn't believe me and said, 'you keep putting all those weird vegetables into cakes, like the beetroot cake.'
Of course, he subsequently scoffed up a slice and there will, no doubt, be more scoffing later.
Little does he know the plans I have involving courgettes ...
The parsnips make for a sweeter cake, and they seem to make the mixture less damp than carrots in a carrot cake. The texture of the cake is more crumbly, but I think that offsets the icing perfectly.
I was inspired in part by the lonely bunch of parsnips sitting in the bottom of the fridge and in part by a carrot cake recipe from the Good Food magazine this month.
I doubled the recipe to get two loaves, one of which is destined for the freezer.
Parsnip Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
100g sultanas and dried cranberry/red berry mix
juice and pulp of one orange
180g wholemeal and white flour mixed. (gebuilde tarwebloem)
1 tsp baking powder
180g soft light brown sugar (lichte basterdsuiker)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice (koek en speculaas kruiden)
1/2 tsp salt
125 ml liquid margarine or sunflower oil
2 eggs, beaten
200g parsnips, finely grated
200g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla essence
icing sugar
- Soak the fruit in the orange juice. You could do this overnight. I left mine for about 20 minutes.
- Heat oven to 180C/160C fan oven. Spray a 900g loaf tin. Did you know the ones from Ikea are the perfect size?
- Mix together the flour, sugar, bicarb, baking powder, spices and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the margarine and eggs and mix well then add the parsnips, fruit and orange juice. It will start off looking too dry, but as you mix it in you'll see that the mixture becomes easily spoonable.
- Place the mixture in the tin and smooth the top. If you've doubled the recipe and you want to make sure both loaves are the same size, pop them on the scale as you fill them up - it's amazing how the eye can misjudge how much is in one tin versus the other.
- Bake the loaf for 1 hour until firm and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. This cake doesn't rise much. The top stays quite flat. Leave to cool in the tin.
- Turn out once completely cold. I left mine overnight.
- Using a food processor, or a whisk if you have strong arms, whisk the cream cheese and the vanilla together then add as much icing sugar as you like to make the frosting. This means lots of tasting.
- Decorate the cake.
- Enjoy the superior feeling that hiding vegetables in cake brings while you watch your kids stuff themselves.
Comments
Yay! Odin cake! How clever, and yes I love to serve carrotcake and tell guests afterwards.
Mmmmm. I love carrot cake. I like parsnips (though I am too lazy to use them often) ... sounds like a winner! :)
Working in your garden tomorrow?
It sounds absolutely delicious but it would soooooo not fit into my weightwatchers regime...
Oooh, I LOVE baked parsnips, and carrot cake, so I'm about to find out if that combination is taken up in this household! My Ken is a bit like your guy - "Weird vegetables in cakes - aren't cakes only supposed to have flour and sugar in them?" Yes darling.
Courgettes, now they are a great addition to cake mixture - the taste is not obvious, but the texture is moist and light.
It is so funny to me you should write this. I just baked parsnips for the first time last night and they were so good! I was very pleased. :) Your cake looks wonderful, as always.
And I am envious of your garden. Can't get a thing to grow in the desert. A trade off for no snow.
The carrot cake is divine! Also thanks for the Good Food link, hadn't tried there before. Good luck with the garden.
i am a 14 year student currently doing a GCSE course in i.t i would like to use this picture for parsnip cake however i need the site owners permission to avoid coyright laws and so i dnt get a 0 on my coursework. please can i have an email allowing me to use this picture. Thanks in advance
Andrew Banks
Ash, this looks and sounds great.
I just had a parsnip cake for dessert the other night, and have been wanting to recreate it at home. A little time with a calculator (doing the conversion) and I should be good to go! Thanks! :)
Ja, je moet toch ergens naar toe met zo'n groente-abonnement!
March 24, 2007 1:52 PM