Parsnip and maple syrup cake

I've been wanting to bake this cake since November last year and finally got round to it. At that time, I was looking for a gluten free recipe and somehow this came up in my google search but it is definitely not gluten free although it can be adapted to be gluten free. Anyway, it has been in my bookmarked recipes for months and I'm so pleased I finally got a chance to try it out as it was absolutely stunning. Everyone loved the cake and kept asking for the recipe. I omitted the pecan nuts as someone in the office is allergic to them but I would definitely recommend them as it will complement the flavours of the cake well and give some added crunch and texture. The cake is quite sweet from the parsnips, apple and maple syrup but not overly so and it paired well with the mascarpone cheese filling. I'm not sure that everyone would have guessed it had parsnips in them if I didn't tell them. 

I'm entering this to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes.

I'm also sending it to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior.

Finally to Tea Time Treats guest hosted by Jane from The HedgeCombers and run by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is eggs, eggs, eggs! This would be the perfect tea time treat and of course contains eggs!

 cook butter, sugar and maple syrup 

 add flour 

 add grated parsnips, apple and orange zest

 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 
The only change I made was to omit the nuts.

Cinnamon, Fruit & Nut Mix Cookies

These cookies are inspired by a pack of fruit and nut mix with cinnamon dusted milk chocolate almonds that I found in the shops. I decided to add in more cinnamon, some chopped chocolate as I had a bit leftover and leftover berry mix (raisins, sultanas and dried cranberries). I also used wholemeal flour and oats to make it seem healthier! They were absolutely delicious. I love the cinnamon which was strong but not overpowering and it was the perfect balance of fruit, nut and chocolate. 

I'm sending this to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... who has chosen the theme "Spices" The recipe contains quite a bit of cinnamon which is perfect for this time of the year. 

I'm also sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. I used up my leftover chocolate and berry mix. 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

225g butter
220g dark brown sugar
180g wholemeal flour
250g oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
2.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 eggs
150g fruit & nut mix with cinnamon dusted milk chocolate almonds
70g chocolate, chopped
100g berry mix (raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries)

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 baking trays.
• Cream the butter and sugar for a few minutes.
• Add in egss one at at time a mix well.
• Mix in flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and oats.
• Finally stir in the fruit, nuts, chocolate and berry mix. 
• Using a small ice cream scoop, place round balls of dough spaced apart on a baking tray.
• Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• The cookies will harden as they cool. 

Apple, Pear and Raspberry Yoghurt Muffins

I created this recipe based on ingredients I had in my fridge/cupboard.  I tried to make this as healthy as possible by incorporating fruit, wholemeal and spelt flour and a minimal amount of sugar. I even left the skins on the fruit for added fibre!  The end result was quite tasty although it was slightly dense in texture, almost like a bread and butter pudding. The sprinkling of chocolate chips and mini cornish fudge balanced out the flavours well and were a delightful hidden treat if you got some in your muffin! I'm sure it would have tasted a lot better with butter but these are a reasonable substitute if you want to watch the calories. 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by myself and Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter this month is "Y". You can use the letter Y as the name of the bake/dish or as the main ingredient. The Y here is of course yoghurt. 

I'm also sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. I created this recipe to use up the end of bags of flour, chocolate chips, mini cornish fudge and leftover fruit in my fruit bowl. 

And to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is "Free From".  This recipe is free from butter/oil/fat and plain flour. 

And to Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and eating this definitely makes me feel virtuous.

 

 wet ingredients, dry ingredients and fruit 

 love the colour of the fruit 

 ready to go in the oven 

 yum! 

An original recipe by  bakingaddict
Note - the quantities may seem odd as I used up what I had leftover but feel free to change it around or make substitutions.

Makes 12 muffins 
150g spelt flour
150g wholemeal flour
85g dark brown sugar
50g honey
2 eggs
165g fat free raspberry yoghurt x 2
70g fresh raspberries
1 apple - cored and chopped
1 pear - cored and chopped
20g mini cornish fudge
20g dark chocolate chips
50g milk chocolate chips
flaked almonds to decorate (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Sift the flours in a medium bowl and stir in brown sugar, mini cornish fudge pieces and chocolate chips.
• In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs and add yoghurt and honey and mix. 
• Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and finally stir in the fruit. 
• Spoon into muffin cases and sprinkle a handful of flaked almonds on top if using. 
• Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tray for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Tiffin or refrigerator cake

I've been baking mostly healthy treats this month but I did promise a few naughty treats as well. This is so easy to make but oh so naughty. It's a refrigerator cake or tiffin and it's a really simple no bake recipe which you can easily prepare in advance. I used digestive biscuits, rich tea biscuits, marhsmallows and mixed fruit and nut. I gave these away as gifts and they were very well received.

I'm entering this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake as these take less than 30 minutes to make excluding chilling time.

150g milk chocolate
150g dark chocolate
100g butter
150g golden syrup
100g mixed fruit and nut
140g digestive biscuits, lightly crushed
140g rich tea biscuits, lightly crushed
100g mini marshmallows
50g raisins or dried cranberries

*note you can use any combination of fillings that you like - fruits, nuts, seeds, biscuits, honeycomb. Just ensure there is enough chocolate mixture to cover the filling

• Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients.
• Pour into a square tin and level with a palette knife.
• Allow to set in the fridge for a few hours or preferably overnight.
• Cut into squares and enjoy. 

Orange Squash Cupcakes

This month's Random Recipe Challenge hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen is "New Year, New Book". I received 1 cookbook for Christmas last year which has been on my wishlist for a while so I was extremely pleased to add it to my collection. It's red velvet chocolate heartache by Harry Eastwood. Its full of natural and healthy recipes that mainly use vegetables instead of butter or oil in cakes. It's brilliant for January baking when everyone is on some sort of diet or the other but this will definitely be used year round. It's particularly good for gluten free recipes that taste good. 

I opened the book to a random page and got page 18 which is Orange Squash Cupcakes. The cupcake contains eggs, sugar, butternut squash, white rice flour (I used brown rice flour as that was all I could find), ground almonds, zest and juice of an orange and baking powder. The icing given is a butter icing but I decided to keep it completely butter free so I made a simple glaze icing with icing sugar and fresh orange juice and orange zest. The verdict - absolutely delicious!! You will not believe that these cakes contain no butter or oil. It was moist and flavourful with a slight grainy texture from the ground almonds. I can't wait to try more recipes from this book! 

This recipe will also fit in nicely with a few other blog challenges this month. Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea to make everything from scratch.

Cooking With Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. She has chosen the theme citrus this month and this contains fresh orange zest and orange juice.

Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and these definitely fit the bill. 

 Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is "Free From".  This recipe is free from butter and oil and it's gluten free! 

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and Laura from Laura Loves Cakes. The theme this month is "If it makes you happy..." These little cakes made a lot of people happy and I love the brightness and freshness of it which reminds me of spring.

 

 adding butternut squash to the egg/sugar mixture. I couldn't find my grater attachment so had to grate it by hand which is why it's coarser than I'd like 

 ready to go in the oven 

 decorated with simple glaze icing and an orange slice 

Recipe from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood page 18. It has been republished here with kind permission from the publisher. 

Orange Squash Cupcakes

THESE CUPCAKES BELONG to July picnics with squashed sandwiches, cotton

dresses, Scotch eggs and cartons of juice.

MAKES 12

2 medium free-range eggs

160g caster sugar

200g peeled and finely grated butternut squash

finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange (juicing varieties, such as Seville, are best)

100g white rice flour

100g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

FOR THE ICING

75g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

200g icing sugar, sieved

finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

FOR THE TOP

a little grated orange

zest

YOU WILL NEED

a 12-hole muffin tray

12 paper cases (see page xxvii for exact size)

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and line the muffin

tray with paper cases.

2 Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes,

until pale and quadrupled in volume. Add the grated butternut squash

and orange zest, and whisk again. Mix in the flour, ground almonds,

baking powder and salt, along with the orange juice, until they are

well introduced.

3 Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, aiming for it to come

four fifths of the way up each case. Place in the oven for 20 minutes

until risen and cooked. Don’t be alarmed that they are flat on the top

rather than dome shaped. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before

refrigerating until cold enough to ice.

4 Whilst the cupcakes are cooling, make the icing. Whisk the butter

in a large mixing bowl with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy

before adding 100g of the icing sugar. Whisk again to incorporate the

sugar. Add the orange zest and juice, as well as the remaining sugar.

Beat once again to combine. Refrigerate until the cupcakes are cool

and ready to ice.

5 Ice when the cupcakes are cold, with the help of a small knife

or spatula.

TRUST ME TIPS

Don’t worry if the icing curdles when you add the orange juice.

It will come right and give up the tantrum when you add the final

batch of icing sugar. If for whatever reason it doesn’t quite right itself,

simply add more sugar until it has calmed down and is unified again.

Yorkshire Tea Biscuit or Fat Rascal

This month's AlphaBakes which I am hosting is the letter Y. I looked through my cookbooks as usual to look for inspiration. Yoghurt was the only choice in most books until I came upon Yorkshire tea biscuit otherwise known as a fat rascal. It originated in Yorkshire and is similar to a scone in taste and ingredients. The Fat Rascal is a bestseller at the ever popular Bettys Tea Room in Yorkshire, a place I've never visited but would love to particularly for the food! 

I used a recipe from the Hairy Bikers in the end instead of the recipe in my book as I wanted to use ingredients I had to hand. Most recipes call for a mix of currants, raisins and sultanas but this recipe asks for mixed dried fruit. It's also the perfect recipe to use up leftovers from Christmas. The recipe was simple and straight forward and was fairly quick and easy to make. It expanded a lot in the oven and I wonder if this is the reason it's called a Fat Rascal! 

I was really surprised at how tasty these were. I'm not a huge fan of fruit cake and I have to say I wasn't sure how these would taste but it was delicious. It tasted like a light fruit scone and I loved the hint of citrus and spice as well as the crunch of the almonds. The tin was empty at the end of the day so I'd say that everyone else enjoyed it too! 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which is hosted by myself and Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter this month is "Y". You can use the letter Y as the name of the bake/dish or as the main ingredient. 

It also fits in nicely with a few other blog challenges this month. The Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this month is spices and this recipe contains ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

 Cooking With Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. She has chosen the theme citrus this month and this contains the zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon.

Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is Virtuous Food and I'd say all the fruit and nut in here makes it virtuous. Plus it's not terribly sweet. 

 Tea Time Treats guest hosted by Jane from The HedgeCombers and run by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is eggs, eggs, eggs! I have to send it to them as Karen has a fat rascal in the logo picture below and has a delicious recipe on her blog.

 I thought they looked really pretty before baking 

 And then they expanded massively! I'll have to make the Betty's signature face next time.

 yum! 

Recipe is from BBC Food - The Hairy Bikers

I followed the recipe exactly and made 14 Fat Rascals.