African Vanielje on Nov 17 2007 at 5:54 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
As a general rule the men in my family follow the tradition of not eating certain vegetables because of their colour. Totally unrelated to taste or vitamin and mineral content, they dislike pumpkin, hate sweet potato, loathe butternut and refuse any dish containing cooked carrot.
My husband will eat raw carrot only if inextricably mixed into a salad and generally gags at the sight of any cooked yellow and orange vegetables.
Imagine my surprise (read: I know my man!) when the first thing my husband does as he walks into the kitchen is wolf down one of the miniature carrot cakes impatiently awaiting their lemon cream cheese party dresses. Yes, they are going to the SHF Beta Carotene Party, hosted by the indomitable Leslie of Definitely not Martha. And although their gorgeous, earthy wholesomeness is undisputed, you would be forgiven, if upon tasting them, you mistook them for something altogether more sinful, despite their angelic looking frosting.
In fact, each mini serving is jam packed with goodness - not only carrots, but pineapple, wholemeal flour, bran and nuts. Goodness me, that sounds like a wholefood commercial not like a Sugar High Friday entrant. Well never let it be said that your excuse for not trying these cakes is that they are too healthy, because these little babies can more than stand up to anything more refined and sugar loaded.
Garnished with some lemon zest and slivers of candied peel, they bring a ray of late Autumn sunshine to our rainy afternoon cuppa Joe, and for once I don’t mind how many cakes my daughter eats. Good thing I’ve already taken photographs.
You can find the recipe in the Vanielje Kitchen Cook Book or you can go straight to Kassie’s Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing. Enjoy!
Reminds me of Moms carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Im hoping someone has some around this Thanksgiving!
I have made it this far in life never having made a carrot cake - but you’re tempting me to give one a try here.
My middle daughter as a baby refused all orange food, whether vegetable or fruit, butternut, carrot or melon. She has relented to a certain extent now but still isn’t too keen on cooked butternut or carrots - maybe there is an anti-orange veg gene out there.
Yum!! Sorry you had to move - I’ve updated my feed. Don’t worry - I won’t let you get away!!
Welcome to Wordpress! We are carrot cake fans, so will give these ones a go …
Oooh, I’ve always loved all orange food. Funny, isn’t it. Carrots (and peas) were some of the first vegetables I willingly ate. I had carrot cake for my wedding cake - still a fairly scandalous idea at the time - that’s how much I love it. But I have never made it for myself! I love the sound of yours with nuts and pineapple in it though
And how pretty they look, all dressed up.
Glamah, I’ll say a prayer for you that someone has remembered.
Kit, this is a must try recipe. You can ditch the icing and just make it as muffins if you want. Your kid’s will love it.
Miss Eliza - thank you so much.
Charlotte, thanks, I’m slowly settling in. We’re Carrot Cake fans too. Let me know what you think
Jeanne, you’re obviously at the other end of the genetic spectrum to my husband, and I think it’s just osmosis with Dakota
I somehow missed this post with all of your moving excitement… and just now noticed that you did a carrot cake for SHF! Oddly, so did I! I suppose it isn’t really very surprising, given the theme… I know I’ve gotten a little burnt out on squash and pumpkin.