Day 10: Mmmmm, cake
In fairness, I started this cake on Thursday evening, but it took until the wee hours of Friday morning to finish it, so I'll post it here. We didn't really get a lot of pictures of Eila yesterday because her main activity was crying (and thus ours was shushing and worrying).
Jill came across the Groaning Cake online. It's a traditional Cornish cake made for women after giving birth. It turned out well!
GROANING CAKE
Ingredients
For the Cake Batter:
3 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Spice mix: 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp ground fennel seeds, 1 tsp ground fenugreek
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoon molasses
4 eggs
2 Tablespoon rum (optional)
1/3 cup whole milk yogurt
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup grated apple (loose, not packed in)
1/2 cup grated carrot (loose, not packed in)
1/2 cup grated zucchini (loose, not packed in)
1/2 cup grated coconut
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
For the cream cheese icing:
1 x 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
3 Tablespoon maple syrup
[I also added 1-2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla]
Directions
1 Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spice mix, and walnuts (if using).
2 Put the butter in a medium metal bowl and place it in the hot oven until it begins to melt a bit. Remove from the oven. Add the honey and molasses and whisk until blended. Add the rum and mix well, until heavy and silky.
3 In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the yoghurt, milk, grated apple, grated carrot, grated zucchini, and coconut. Add this to the honey-butter mixture and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold gently, until the batter is homogeneous. Be careful not to overmix.
4 Pour into an oiled and floured 10-inch springform cake pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes in a 350F oven. The cake is done when the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Cake should be cooled for about 10 minutes in the pan, and then removed from the pan to continue cooling on a rack.
5 To make the frosting, blend the room temperature cream cheese and maple syrup, using a hand blender or electric mixer. Refrigerate until cake has cooled. Once the cake has cooled, butter the frosting on top of the cake. Slice and serve.
6 This cake can be made ahead and wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum and kept for 1 to 2 days at room temperature. The cream cheese icing should be kept in the fridge until ready to use.