There’s something strangely satisfying about sneaking root vegetables into cake, don’t you think? Carrot cake has been part of my repertoire for so long that I sometimes even forget that it’s made with carrots. Today it’s time to get a little sneaky with another root vegetable, the parsnip, which can show some resemblance to a carrot but has a starchier flesh and a slightly more complex and herbal flavour (think carrots meet parsley). I know you may be wondering what business something parsley-like has in your dessert, but I promise you that the magic of cake-making will take care of it, just like it does with carrots.
I’ve been hanging out with the thought of a cellar cake for a few months now, the idea being a simple and flavourful “banana loaf meets carrot cake” style dessert that takes advantage of winter goodies-i.e. root vegetables and citrus fruit. I wanted something less indulgent than a frosted carrot cake, but a little more decadent than a banana loaf, somewhere on the line between breakfast and dessert. It took a few tries of fusing my best banana bread and carrot cake recipes, but I’m super happy with the result. The cake is rich and moist with relatively little oil…and guess what? I used extra-virgin olive oil, which despite my hesitation, ended up being BFFs with the other flavours in the cake. The frosting is quite rich, but with only a touch of maple syrup for sweetness, making room for all the wonderful cake flavours to come through.
I used a 50/50 blend of grated carrots and parsnips, but I encourage you to experiment with different ratios. If you’re a little nervous about the parsnips, go with a carrot majority, and if you’re feeling bold and brave, you can even do 100% parsnips. You can substitute orange zest with lemon and play around with the spices as well. Go nuts with the flavours and tell us about your adventures in the comments below. Super bonus points if you sneak in another root vegetable!
[amd-yrecipe-recipe:14]
Leave a Reply