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.