with Rosie at LoveJars
Our recipe section has a range of home-style cooking and meal ideas to use those delicious organic vegetables you have worked so hard to grow. Now time to reap the benefits!
You can of course, use our recipes as a guide and tweak them to suit your own tastes. They are in the main, written by somebody who loves food and doesn't measure anything (Carrie) so we hope you enjoy our 'rustic' take on the selection of dishes here. We have recipes by vegetable, fruit, nuts or herbs and soups, which are extremely versatile as well as some fabulous and inspiring Canning & Preserving recipes and information from our lovely friend at LoveJars - Rosie.
You can also submit your recipes and we will share them on our Growers' Recipes section!
For the cake
4 large eggs
175g (6oz) caster sugar plus 75g (3oz) light muscovado sugar
250ml (9fl oz) sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
150g (5oz) carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
275g (10oz) self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp mixed spice
55g (2oz) walnuts or pecans, finely chopped, plus a few extra for decoration
For the cream cheese frosting
250g (9oz) butter, softened but not melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
350g (12oz) icing sugar
350g (12oz) full-fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)
Please note that our recipes are an approximate guideline - Quantities along with ingredients are totally adaptable to suit personal taste, consistency and density as well as portion sizes.
To make your cake
Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4.
Grease and line the bases of two 20cm (8in) loose-bottomed sandwich tins.
Break the eggs into a large bowl and beat.
Add the sugars, sunflower oil and vanilla. Mix well into your egg mixture.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and whisk until just combined. Be careful not to over beat.
Divide the mixture between your two prepared tins and level off the surface.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 35–40 minutes until well risen and lightly golden. Listen for your cake "singing", if you can still hear the cake bubbling, it's not quite ready.
Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
To make the frosting
Measure the butter, vanilla and icing sugar into a large bowl and whisk using an electric hand whisk until combined.
Add the cream cheese and beat until creamy and light. Make sure you are using full fat cream cheese as non or low fat will become runny.
Finishing the cake
Peel the paper from the bases of the sponges and stand one onto a plate. Spread with frosting.
Place the other cake on top and use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides. Decorate with walnuts or pecans to serve. Or how about trying out some candied carrots!
This recipe is adapted from Mary Berry
