Ulterior Motives

When my daughter was younger we went through a stage where all she would eat was cheesy pasta and beans on toast. There was no way she would even entertain the idea of trying any vegetables! Instead of spending my days trying to force feed her foods she obviously didn't want to eat I decided to be a little bit sneaky!!

Carrot Cake!!

Ok, so it's a cake but it was the nearest I was going to get to feeding her veg. I found a recipe and, hey presto, she loved it! Four years later and (this may be a total coincedence) she is now a fantastic eater and has a particular fondness for, yes you've guessed it, carrots (raw and cooked!)

Fortunately my boys have been good eaters since they were babies so I haven't had to resort to these tactics again but carrot cake remains a firm favourite with the whole family (closely followed by courgette cake!!)

Here's the carrot cake recipe;

140g unsalted butter
140g soft brown sugar
2 large free range eggs
225g SR Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Juice of 1 orange
175g grated carrot
1 teaspoon vanilla essence


Heat oven the 190C/Gas Mark 5
Grease and line 7in tin

Cream together the butter and sugar.
Beat in the eggs
Fold in the flour, baking powder, orange juice, grated carrot (if necessary pat it dry first) and vanilla
Place into tin and bake for 45-50 mins until golden brown

Cool before removing from tin

I don't think it is really necessary to top the cake with anything as it is lovely and moist as it is. If you really want icing how about making a glace icing using the juice of an orange rather than water!!