In Good Taste #50: Carrot Kraut Cake
Yes really; ;
Well, hello there! How are you?
Good I hope. Thank you so much for being here.
(Not up for the chitchat? Completely get it. Click the email title to go to a web-based version then jump straight to the recipe or Cultural Fun.)
We have reached the turning point of the Traditional British Summer. No, not the solstice, the moment when we stop making jokes about the rain and start complaining about the heat.
This kind of seasonal ingratitude seems to be deeply embedded in the national psyche. I am very guilty of it. In the weeks leading up to my supper club at Lizzy’s on the Green I was anxiously checking the forecast multiple times a day, stressing about whether the sun-behind-cloud symbol or the drizzle icon was showing for the hours between six and nine pm. On Saturday itself it was absolutely beautiful and I was delighted. The very next day I was griping about being too hot.
I’m sorry British Summer! I love you really…
I’m doing it again on 20th July. Due to popular demand, some of the menu will be the same (cocktail, eggs, choux bites) and some will be brand new. The full list of treats is as follows:
Welcome Drink
Elderflower Champagne & Fig Leaf Kombucha Cocktail
Snacks
Cheese & hazelnut choux bites, carrot & cumin purée
Kimchi devilled eggs
Preserved Lemon & Saffron Dolmades
Freshly baked focaccia
Sharing Plates
Slow roast lamb/roast mushrooms (V) with fava bean pureé
Smoked aubergine & ricotta ravioli with lacto-tomato butter
Braised leeks with green romesco
Charred summer greens, peach & mozzarella salad
Dessert
Apricot noyaux ice cream pavlova
It’ll be lovely. Do come and join me…
Seriously though. The heat! I am a very pale person who burns easily and doesn’t function well above 22°C. If you are a sun bunny you can move right along to the recipe. But otherwise this is my annual public service announcement about putting ice packs under your pillow:
Being able to turn the pillow and always have a cool side makes sweltering nights more bearable and means I can actually get some sleep. You’re welcome!
Recipe: Carrot Kraut Cake
So, we’ve actually made a cake with kraut before: the sauerkraut chocolate cake. It was a riff on historical recipe and was nice enough but I’ll admit I’ve not made it since. I had a real craving for carrot cake the other day though and thought, given it was made with veg already, why not got one step further and make it with a carrot kraut.
I used to make cakes for a local cafe and the carrot was always popular. My recipe is based on Felicity Cloake’s.
I used kefir in the frosting because I have loads (the warm weather has made my grains go crazy) but cream cheese would obviously be good too.
Ingredients
160ml vegetable oil
160g light brown sugar
3 eggs
200g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cardamom
½tsp ground nutmeg
1 inch ginger, finely grated
zest of 1 orange
200g carrot-based kraut
100g sultanas
100g chopped walnuts
For the frosting
100g butter
200g strained kefir (see note) or cream cheese
200g icing sugar
tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C and line two 8” cake tins.
Beat the oil, sugar and eggs together. Use an electric whisk if you have one. It’ll take a few minutes. The mixture won’t really get fluffy in the way butter-based cake batters do but it will get pale and even-textured.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Fold them in carefully.
Add the other ingredients. Mix in the ginger, zest, kraut, sultanas and nuts. Stir only enough to get them evenly distributed then divide the mixture between the two tins. Work quick as the bicarb will be reacting with the acid in the kraut and you don’t want to lose the lightness that creates before the cake goes in the oven.
Bake for 20-25 mins. Until the cake is firm and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
Make the frosting. Put the butter in a heat-proof bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. It shouldn’t melt but should be so soft you can whisk it to smooth really easily. Add the cream cheese and, again, whisk to remove lumps. Then add the icing sugar, salt and vanilla essence and mix well. Chill until ready to use.
Construct the cake. Spread half the frosting on one cake and sandwich the other on top. Finish with the rest of the frosting.
Notes (If Ifs And Ands Were Pots And Pans…)
If using kefir, strain it overnight in a muslin-lined sieve over a bowl. Even after straining, it’s looser than cream cheese but will firm up slightly in the fridge.
If you want the sides of the cake to be iced too then double the quantities of frosting. The kefir version is probably too loose for this.
Cultural Fun
We went to see Inside Out 2 last week. It wasn’t as good as the first but that’s a very high bar. Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarassment join the original emotions Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear inside Riley’s brain as she goes through puberty.
The original Inside Out was so inventive - whilst seeming so intuitive - that a follow-up was always going to be hard. Apart from Anxiety the new emotions are a bit underused and there weren’t quite as many imaginative ways to depict different parts of the psyche. But I still laughed a lot (especially at Lance Slashblade, the handsome computer game character with a lame power move) and the social agonies of puberty were horribly recognisable.
I like clothes but don’t really consider myself a fashion person. So it’s not a topic I’ve touched on here before. I’m not really sure if this counts as culture or just shopping but I bought a jacket the other day and loved it so much I wanted to give a shout out to the tiny company that made it.
GoGoMilo seems to be just one woman in Glasgow, upcycling blankets and quilts into one-of-a-kind jackets, kimonos and bags. She sells on Vinted where I got this jacket (which is made from an Ian Mankin blanket) and I am so, so pleased with it. Comfortable and flattering and totally unique. Of course it’s far too hot to wear now but for the weird chilly bit of June I was very snug and stylish and it’s something to look forward to in autumn.
Bye! See you next week!
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In Good Taste is a Sycamore Smyth newsletter by me, Clare Heal.
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Oooh, I love the idea of baking with kraut. But mostly, I'm just popping in to say I have MAJOR jacket envy. What a find!