Jamie Magazine
By Henrietta Inman
Apricot & root veg cake with honey yoghurt icing
With dried apricots, maple syrup & edible flowers
1 hr 15 mins plus cooling
Not Too Tricky
serves 8
About the recipe
Gorgeous root vegetables keep this cake deliciously soft and add a subtly sweet, earthy flavour, while apricots and pumpkin seeds give it a lovely texture. The creamy, slightly tangy yoghurt icing rounds it off perfectly.
Recipe From
Ingredients
70ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
2 medium carrots (100g)
1 beetroot (100g)
2 parsnips (100g)
1 orange
120g quality maple syrup
2 large free-range eggs
150g wholegrain spelt flour
1 pinch of mixed spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
60g dried apricots, preferably unsulphured
40g pumpkin seeds, plus extra to decorate
edible flowers, to decorate (optional)
YOGHURT & HONEY ICING
150g cream cheese
150g Greek-style natural yoghurt
25g clear runny honey
½ teaspoon quality vanilla extract
1 lemon
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Grease the base and sides of an 18cm loose-bottomed cake tin with a little rapeseed oil, and line the base with baking paper.
- Peel and grate the carrots, beetroot and parsnip into a large bowl. Finely grate the zest of the orange and add two-thirds to the veg (reserving the rest for the frosting) along with the maple syrup, eggs and rapeseed oil. Fold in the flour, spice, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
- Finely dice the apricots, then add to the bowl along with the seeds. Mix everything until well combined.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the tin after 20 minutes, until the top is light pinky-golden and bounces back when pressed lightly, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
- Meanwhile, to make the icing, whisk together all the ingredients except the lemon, and most of the reserved orange zest, until completely smooth. Squeeze in a tiny bit of lemon juice and whisk in. Cover and pop in the fridge until needed.
- When the cake is completely cool, transfer to a plate or stand, then finish with the icing, smoothing it all over the top of the cake with the back of a spoon.
- Decorate the cake with the remaining orange zest, extra pumpkin seeds and edible flowers, if you like, then serve.
- This cake will keep for up to five days in a sealed container in the fridge.
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