I think there are two types of people: those who can bake and those who can't.
I'm one of those people who is definitely not a baker and I admit I get flustered having to follow really precise recipes.
I'm more of a music blaring, running about doing four things at the one time, with my fifth coffee of the day in hand whilst making a dish and just throwing stuff in, taste it, maybe add more, or maybe change the dish completely.
I pride myself on being able to make amazing stuff from the weirdest of cupboard contents.
When it comes to being regimented and having to stick to a set amount of ingredients in a cake recipe, I do get a little stressed if it's going to work.
However, with cakes that contain vegetables, for some reason I like making.
I think for someone that isn't naturally a baker you can get away a little bit more with being free with what you put in them, and you can sense more what the mix should feel like or if it looks like something isn't right you can salvage it more easily.
Also if you want to get creative there's a lot of different vegetable combinations that work in baking, some might sound odd but cakes like aubergine, fig and dark chocolate, classic pumpkin and cinnamon or beetroot and raspberry, these all taste so delicious and its also a very sneaky way to get kids or fussy adults to eat more veg.
This week saw the Soil Association 2014 Organic Market Report reveal growth in organic sales for the first time in four years: Scots spent £56million in 2013. In the recipe, then, I've used organic flour and vegetables - and next week's recipe will also how you can use organic veg in a wholesome, delicious dish.
Ingredients
4 large courgettes (grated)
Zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
720g plain flour
480g dairy free margarine
200g apple puree
800g caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tub of tofutti cream cheese or any other dairy free cream cheese
4 cups of icing sugar
1 cup of crushed walnuts
Method
1 Mix all of the wet ingredients together: courgette, lemon zest, apple puree, margarine and vanilla essence till all coated.
2 Add the rest of the dry ingredients and then lastly sieve the flour through and mix well.
3 Grease your bundt tin and empty the mix into it, tap it a few times to get any air out.
4 Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees or gas mark 4 for 40 minutes.
5 Check with a skewer and if the mix is still wet bake until fully cooked. You can cover with baking parchment so the base of the cake doesn't brown too much.
6 When ready you can set the tin aside to cool whilst you make your icing.
7 For the icing you will need to blend or mix together the cream cheese a little bit of lemon juice and some lemon zest with 4 cups of icing sugar, you can add more icing sugar if you feel its too runny or add more liquid if you prefer it less thick.
8 Top the icing off with some crushed walnuts.
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