I don't know where you stand on the 'cold fruit' issue but I stand firmly against unless it's in a Daquari. Peaches, strawberries and other berries in particular do not taste of much atall unless they are at room temperature in my opinion and in this hot weather they last about as long as my new year's resolutions (about half a day) before developing a mushy and furry sort of texture so what's a girl to do in such conditions to ensure that she is getting her 5-a-day?
At the same time we realised that the bread in the cool breadbin in the usually cool kitchen just wasn't coping well with the increased temperatures either, transforming from fresh to blue-mould in the blink of an eye, so it was decided that the oven would go on and I would risk heat exhaustion for both causes.
First of all I made some brilliantly easy bread (although I haven't told the husband yet that the lovely cream Kenwood Patissiere he bought me for my birthday started to smoke after 5 minutes with the dough hook ...) from a recipe on the side of the Strong Brown Bread Flour packet from Sainsburys. It is basically flour, oil, yeast, salt, honey & water and a few minutes pretending to be Paul Hollywood - but I forgot to take a photo. Trust me though, it has stayed fresher than a bought loaf and is much more substantial so a few small slices filled up hungry boys and husband more effectively than even our favourite Hovis wholemeal. Also in this weather you can cover the dough with clingfilm and put it out in the sun to prove which is marvellously good for your soul and feeds your inner Doris Day.
Now to tackle the fruit 'n' veg issue. This took a little more effort but is well worth it. I was lucky enough to have decided to keep 'emergency' carrot cake ingredients in my store cupboard some time ago and I was happy enough to sacrifice some of my 'I will always keep fresh carrots to make my own carrot sticks in my fridge instead of cheesy crackers to eat with my houmus' (lol!) carrots; so armed with a grater, my American cup measurers and a big whisk I set about assembling Kim Cathcart's famous enormous fruity carrot cake which is taken from her Mum's recipe. It is fairly low fat too if you don't add the cream cheese frosting (but I always do).
Kim sent me an email with the recipe followed by a section called 'What I do ...' - which is genius.
Kim's Carrot Cake
3 eggs
1 20oz can crushed pineapple (drained)
1 1/2 cups oil
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
Method
Beat the oil and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, still beating & then the vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients. By hand, mix in the pineapple, nuts & carrot.
Bake in 2 x 10" pans until cake springs up in the middle (approx 35 mins at 160 fan or 180 normal)
What Kim does ... Drain the pineapple and use this juice in the cake instead of a lot of the oil. You will probably have to add a bit of oil to meet 1 1/2 cups of liquid (max half a cup usually) or use pineapple juice from a carton. Use at least 2 cups of carrots or more if you like. Vanilla is a must and add more rather than less. I also quickly toast the pecans and then chop which adds flavour.
What I improvised ... I didn't have any pecans but had a packet of walnuts so toasted those and then blitzed fairly small in my 'mini chopper' - I think it's Braun and I bought it in a supermarket as I don't have room or money for a fabulous food processor at the moment! I also had a courgette (zucchini) in my fridge which had seen better days so I grated it and added it too. In the past I have added a generous handful of sultanas or raisins too but my kids aren't fussed on them.
The icing
Shop bought cream cheese or vanilla style frosting is fine - I tend to add some lemon juice to the mix if I am using this to make it a bit more tangy and less artificial tasting. If you want to make your own there are lots of recipes - mine is a bit general! Cream some soft butter until really smooth and then add some soft cream cheese, add icing sugar, a dash of vanilla and some salt. I also add lemon juice to taste. I then refrigerated this overnight before spreading on the cakes. Yum.
Will take a better photo next time! The good thing about this weather is that our appetites have been much smaller but we have waded through this cake as we are having it for lunch or dinner instead of a sandwich or wrap, not as dessert or as a snack!!!
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