Spelt, Carrot and Parsnip Cake (Recipe)
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Most baked goods (like cookies) taste best right out of the oven. Carrot cake, however, always seems to get better over a few days.
I wanted to try my hands at making a healthy cake (or is it more of a bread?) that I could eat either for breakfast or as a mid-day energy snack. I wanted this cake to look and taste healthy, yet still be addictive.
Usually, I grate the carrots so small you can hardly tell they’re there. This time, I was going for a hearty texture, so I used a bigger grate. This also let me see the colorful combination of veggies I put in the cake – for I didn’t just use any old carrots! No, in addition to an orange one, I also used one purple carrot (according to this site, all carrots were purple up through the Middle Ages!) and one parsnip.
I didn’t use much sugar in this recipe. For one, I was going for healthy. For two, carrots are naturally sweet. They were once used to sweeten desserts in medieval Europe (sugar wasn’t readily available). While I didn’t altogether get rid of it, there’s much less sugar in this recipe than in any others I know. Also, I used “cassonade” (raw, unprocessed) sugar.
For the salt, I used “Diamant de sel du Cachemire” or pink-colored diamond salt from Kashmir that we found at G. Detou here in Paris. This had to be crushed with a mortar and pestle.
For the frosting, I used the French cheese “St Môret” in place of cream cheese (but either would work). I whipped it with a little bit of agave syrup and fresh lemon juice to taste.
The two longest steps were opening the fresh walnuts – a slightly tedious task, but worth it – and waiting for the cake to cook – about an hour.
Did you know that February 3 is National Carrot Cake Day in the US? I hold carrot cake in pretty high esteem – glad to know I’m not the only one!
Shopping List
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 carrots and 1 parsnip (about 3 ½ cups when shredded)
2 cups whole grain spelt flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
½ cup raw sugar
¾ cup olive oil
For the frosting:
250 grams soft cheese
Agave syrup
Fresh lemon juice
Recipe:
1. Prepare nuts and carrots.
2. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry.
4. Add carrots and nuts.
5. Line a cake mold with parchment paper and bake at 180C or 350F for about 1 hour (a knife should come out pretty clean).
6. Let cool and frost (see above).
Keep covered in the fridge and enjoy over several days.
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