Tuesday 16 November 2010

Taking the lead

Carrot Cake

A dog gives you a great excuse to play truant while appearing to be busy. At 3pm, the sky cleared, looked blue for the first time in days. I grabbed the lead and took Barney for a walk in the cemetery. For his benefit, right? Not to get away from teetering piles of paper on my desk, books that defy shelving, the list of phone calls, the conked out dryer, the leaking washing machine and the problem of what to do about the vanished accountant.

Through the Egyptian gates, the air is heavy, damp. Barney weaves his own eightsome reel through the dripping nettles and worn tombstones. There is a sweet smell of rotting leaves, faintly spicy like gingerbread.

I have never seen a hound look quite as pathetic as mine does when wet. Fur sticks out in uneven clumps. His legs look spindly, his eyes huge, pleading. He could head up a Dogs’ Trust campaign. The hardest of hearts would read in his soft brown eyes a life tied to a lamppost, abandoned, not one of tweed-lined baskets, woollen blankets and organic dog food.

Barney

We get home and he runs along the hallway rubbing his head and body against the skirting as if possessed, a foxy little dervish drying himself on the carefully chosen Farrow & Ball (can it be long before Dirty Dog nestles on the paint chart between Mouse’s Back, Cat’s Paw, Dead Salmon and Pigeon?).

I make a cake. Barney sits on his favourite chair, the one that’s so tatty my friend’s eight-year-old daughter asked, worried, ‘What’s wrong with it?’. It’s been a busy afternoon.

CARROT AND WALNUT CAKE

Carrot & Walnut Cake

I created this recipe a couple of years ago for my friend Mark Diacono’s book, River Cottage Handbook No4 Veg . It’s not very refined, in the manner of grandly iced carrot cakes, but nor is it tiresomely worthy like those annoying confections whose highest ambition is to form one of you five a day. It’s spicy and rich and keeps very well for up to a week in a tin. Serve it warm as a pudding with a generous spoonful of crème fraiche, or cold anytime.

Either make your own apple sauce by simmering peeled, cored Bramley apples with a little water until light and fluffy or use good-quality ready made.

Makes 12 squares

80g sultanas
A slug of apple brandy or cognac (optional)
Knob of butter, softened, for greasing the tin
220g wholemeal self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
Good pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground cardamom (optional)
220g light muscovado sugar, plus an extra 3 tbsps for the syrup
120ml sunflower oil
Finely grated zest and juice of a large orange
2 eggs, lightly beaten
225g apple sauce
270g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
80g walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3. Put the sultanas in a small bowl, pour on hot water to cover and leave to soak for 20 minutes or so. You can add a slug of apple brandy or cognac at this point if you like.

Lightly grease a loose-bottomed 20-22cm square cake tin, about 8cm deep. Line the base with greaseproof paper and butter the paper. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, cloves and cardamom if using.

In a large bowl, whisk together the 220g of light muscovado sugar, oil and orange zest until well combined, then whisk in the eggs until the mixture is creamy. Fold in the apple sauce, followed by the flour mixture until just combined. Next fold in the grated carrots and walnuts. Finally, drain the sultanas and fold these in.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake for about 1 ¼ hours, until a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, without any crumbs clinging to it. If the cake appears to be overbrowning before it is done, cover the top loosely with foil.

While the cake is in the oven, make the syrup. Put the orange juice into a small pan with the 3tbsps of light muscovado sugar and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Warm over a low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat and simmer until slightly syrupy, about 4-5 minutes.

As you remove the cake from the oven, run a knife around the edge and pierce the top a few times with a fine skewer. Now pour over the syrup, trying to make sure that you cover the surface fairly evenly. Stand the cake tin on a wire rack and leave to cool for a while before cutting into squares.

19 comments:

  1. Aha, THAT cake. Jut as time was running out, with the deadline approaching, needing something veg but sweet for the book...too tired to think beyond saying 'Debora...you're great...whats a brilliant thing thats veg but sweet and not dull ...and dont say carrot cake cos its usually dull' 'Ah yes, but you've not had THIS carrot cake' came the reply. And since then neither will I try any other. It is the best...by a mile

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the idea of this, a carroty, spicy, apple saucy drizzle cake. I'll definitely give it a try. I've never thought of adding leftover apple sauce to a cake, I always make too much.

    Ernie wipes himself on things to dry off too :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Barney, I fear that all you are is an excuse to walk in the moody rain. or not. If I cooked I might bake this cake. It has an authentic medieval look. wx

    ReplyDelete
  4. That cake looks good for the soul. And, oh, Barney...
    x

    ReplyDelete
  5. So glad you're back! This cake looks ace - a great way to use up those hundred of carrots that arrive in all my riverford boxes. Lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mark, In the words of Eminem, I won't steer you wrong...
    Claire, I freeze leftover apple sauce in batches so there's always some to add to fruity, veggy cakes like this - it keeps them really moist. Pleased to hear Ernie is also a terror of the skirting boards.
    Mum, They did make cakes with carrots and parsnips and other sweet veg in the days before sugar was readily available. I am optimistic that if I dress it up as a history lesson you might actually learn to love cooking. I'm a fool.
    Salty, Thanks chica. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
    Love, Dx

    ReplyDelete
  7. great cake and my its been ages since I have visited you so so sorry Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  8. That cake looks delicious. If they do make that paint I am going to paint every one of our rooms that colour. Will balls of dog hair gathering in corners ever become fashionable though I wonder? I do hope so.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The description of your dog hit very close to home... my little nuisance is exactly the same. Totally cosseted and loved, yet manages to convince everyone he meets that he's abused and must be rescued. I think it's his only real survival skill - looking pathetic.

    The carrot cake looks lush...

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's a lovely post. Beautifully written!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Marvellous cake and beautiful post. What a find you are! Pointed in this direction by MarkD whose taste is entirely reliable of course!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Rebecca, Lovely to see your comment. I hope all's well with you.
    Kath, Shall we call the clouds of fur eco room insulation?
    Cullen, Mine combines looking pathetic with love bombing anyone who shows him the slightest bit of attention. You'd think no one even patted him in his life before.
    Jane, Thank you so much. Coming from you, that is quite the accolade.
    Dx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Heavens, I love your writing. And I love your cake--can't wait to try it!

    And did you get my heart-pouring-out email about my new leash (!) on life??? I hope so, it took forever to type!

    xoxox Karen the Lucky Duck

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hmmmm, i read this two times and I dussnt see final instrukshuns for shovellin cake into wet dog. You amend and let me kno....

    ReplyDelete
  15. Elisabeth, Thank you.
    Karen, Noooo. Didn't get email. Can you resend?
    Marley, Barney's not allowed the cake because of sultanas, but in my experience you seldom need special instructions for getting border terriers to eat stuff. He does get plenty of treats, despite what mournful picture might suggest, promise...

    Dx

    ReplyDelete
  16. Okay, check your mailbox...it's simmering in there!!! Love KM

    ReplyDelete
  17. I did mention, didn't I, that I am a household organizer PAR EXCELLENCE??? I'll happily tackle all your organization projects if you feed me and let me hold kitties when you're trying to type. We'll work out the details come Spring, as we stroll St. James' park and admire the flowers and birdsong. XOXO K.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now closed.
This site has migrated to http://www.deborarobertson.com

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...