Spiced Parsnip & Orange Cake

A cake designed to get my kids to eat a vegetable!

And to be honest, I’m not a massive fan of parsnips and this cake turns them into something rather delicious. Winners all round!

Makes a rectangle cake 20cm x 30cm

230g plain flour
3 level teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
200g granulated sugar
zest of an orange
3 medium eggs
150ml sunflower oil
500g parsnips

For the drizzle:
juice of 1/2 lemon
juice of 1 orange
50g sugar
2-3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

1) Peel and roughly grate the parsnips
2) Preheat the oven to 180*C
3) Line a baking tray (20cm x 30cm) with baking parchment and/or oil it well.
3) Put all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, spices and sugar) into a large bowl and whisk to break up any lumps.
4) Measure out the sunflower oil, then add the eggs and orange zest into the measuring jug and whisk
5) Add the grated parsnip and the oil/egg mix into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well. Make sure there are no dry patches of flour.
6) Pour the parsnip cake mix into the baking tray and flatten out with a spatula
7) Bake for 30-35 minutes until the cake is golden on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8) While the cake is baking put the ingredients for the orange drizzle into a small pan - the orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, cloves and cinnamon stick. Heat over a medium heat while stirring regularly to dissolve the sugar. Once disolved, simmer for a couple of minutes then take off the heat.
9) Pour the drizzle over the cake (mainly around the edges so the middle doesn’t get too soggy) while the drizzle and the cake are still warm.
10) Enjoy with a dollop of creme fraiche or yoghurt.